Spa Party Business: Problems I've Run Into

Spa Party Problems

I dreamed about opening my own spa party business for a long time. While I worked as an esthetician I always knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to open a spa party business, but it took a long time to plan and tweak what I was going to do. When you dream the dream, it is hard to get past the blissfulness of the dream and deal with the realities of the business.  My realities of my business might not be yours, but they are some things that I thought I would share with you so you can avoid the same pitfalls. I don't want to scare estheticians away from spa party business at all, this is not meant to do that, it is just to give you an insider's look. I love doing spa parties, the few nuisances I encounter is well worth the creative-fun of doing these parties and the compensation. I love doing them! But to keep it real, let's dive in for the uglier side of the diva biz!

(1) People STEAL-Not very often, but it happens. I went to a party with eleven spa robes and came home with ten. Another time, I had games ready for kids and my bag of candies that I had were gone! I made an announcement that whoever might have inadvertently taken my candy please return it so I have prizes for the party--no luck. At the end of the party,  I saw a mom sucking a lollipop and all f her kids were too--pretty sure she is the one who got away with my lollipops!

(2) People ask if they can keep things from spa robes, to mirrors to nail polish. Yep. They think in their infinite wisdom that it might be business savvy to give away your supplies LOL.

(3) People will treat you, some, not all like you are the hired butler and expect that you pamper them.

(4) Then there are those dummies that you e-mail a confirmation letter to, speak with them on the phone and give them all the details and they still fail to understand your basic rules. I have a rule that only snacks can be served during my parties--they can serve meals and cake after the spa party portion--good reason for this (1) food will stain my robes and (2) some kids will eat and other kids will want to do spa stuff and I will end up being there for a much longer amount of time to make sure each kid has had an opportunity to do spa party stuff--Of course, I had one mom who not only served food when I was there, but her pizza guy was late and I had to wait. Now, I have a fee associated with breaking that rule--$25.00 WASTE MY TIME fee (not what I actually call it).

(5) Then I had an OCD type of mom who decided with her friend that they would host a spa party for their girls. I told the mother who did the contract that I bring table cloths and that you have to have an area with tables at least, but preferably with chairs to do the spa party portion. Enough for each child in attendance. Then I get there and the OCD mom says she doesn't want to use her furniture for party and she thought I was bringing tables and chairs. Apparently she thought this was a WEDDING and that I would supply tables and chairs. After that event, I made sure my website states clearly and BOLDLY that I do not provide table and chairs!

(6) Then their are the parents that think I am offering a full-service spa treatments at parties with 25 plus kids--I offer nail painting, team facials and hand sugar scrubs. Then towards end of party we wrap it up with games. I do manicures and pedicures. This is actually on my website but they still ask--I even have on my website and e-mail confirmations that my parties are strictly for entertainment purposes and do not include full facials or manicures/pedicures.

So is the business of dealing with the general public, but dealing with spa mamas is even crazier. With that said, most of the moms are very sweet and kind, it is just the food bad apples that make me CRAZY!