Babysitting - Going Rate

[Polotoo]

Hey all

Have also posted this in Parenting, but thought I'd try my luck here too!!

Hoping for a quick response as someone is going to ring me shortly and they are bound to ask how much we want!

A family friend's son is getting married shortly and they do not want any children at the Reception. Therefore my husband and I have been approached and asked to babysit. Potentially for upto 5 children between the ages of 3months-6years (or thereabouts!). We don't have kids and other than being realible adults we have no qualifications for looking after children!!

We've been asked to tell them how much we want-and I have no idea! There may be feeding, burping and nappies involved..... yuck. Also, they may want us to look after the kids during the ceremony so could be a long day (from 1pm ish til 1am ish I guess).

Don't know if to charge more for after midnight/extra for the number of kids/ and for the length of time involved, as going to take up more or less a whole sat!

Any clues, tips, advice etc would be great!

Thanks a lot, Polotoo

[Scarlett]

This is quite a big undertaking. I think you should structure the day so that it is a treat day for the kids too. Like they would at nursery school. Have set times for eating, playing, reading, going for a little walk, sleeping, maybe some entertainment like a video, bath rota, stories and bed!

In an ideal world each parent would pay you at least �3 an hour per family. After midnight you should get double time. So.. 12 hours...�80? Plus any expenses. Would you do it for �80? Would you do it for less? That is still only �40 each for a very long day!! Why not ask the parents what they would normally pay the babysitter for 12 hours including after midnight, and see what they say?

[Polotoo]

Hi Scarlett

Thanks for the rota idea - hadn't thought about that at all, I'm waiting for the lady to phone me and confirm details, so I'll find out a bit more about timings and the number of children then.

I can then have a think about fun things to do - might be back here posting for ideas!!

Thanks a lot. Polotoo

[lizwizz]

Have a big bottle of wine in the fridge for later!