Babysitting Fees

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This year is the first year that I will be having a babysitter on New Year’s Eve. I know that I will be paying her more than usual, because it’s a holiday, but the question is, how much?

Is there some kind of standard for New Year’s Eve babysitting pay? The sitter (SDMBer xploder’s eldest daughter) is a great kid, and my kids love her to bits. But this is a business transaction, and I want to make sure that she receives appropriate compensation.

What do you guys normally pay your sitters for a New Year’s job?

2

I get around 6 dollars an hour for normal nights, so you should probably bump it up on or two dollars more.

3

6 BUCKS AN HOUR!!!???

WHAT???

Thats more than minimum wage here!

I pay $3 per hour, when I was a sitter (15 years ago) I got $1 per hour, $2 after midnight. I used to get $50+ for the whole evening on New Years Eve.

Whatever you would normally pay her - I would double it. And make sure she has good snacks etc.

4

Kelli, I know what you mean about babysitting fees 15 years ago. I charged a buck an hour, too!

Our sitter tonight normally gets $5. I called my mom, and she was no help–New Year’s when I was a kid were spent at family parties, so my parents never needed a sitter (“oh wait,” she said. “I think once we went somewhere else, and we gave her an extra $10”). But obviously, that isn’t enough.

So, I called xploder, and spoke to Mrs. xploder. She said it was the first time they’d gone out too, so she didn’t have any idea, either. The xploder piped in from the backgound “why don’t you just give her a buck or two extra per hour?”

So we’re combining hypergirl’s suggestion with kellibelli’s. A couple bucks extra, plus munchies & pizza for dinner. :smiley:

Does that sound about right?

5

Pers, I think that sounds about right. Around $7 an hour would be a great haul for someone her age, the extra cash being fair for such a special night.

6

Up here in Canadialand, most people pay beaucoup bucks for someone on New Year’s Eve. The going rate in my little corner of Southern Ontario is 100$ for the whole night.

7

I just wanted to let y’all know that when I read this last post to PD, she thought I was talking about callgirls.

After drying my eyes of tears from laughing so hard, I told her this was in actuality referring to a BABYSITTER.

Anyway, re: the OP . . . I’d think $50 would be more than fair. Keep in mind, though, that I have very little sense of money.

I’d go with the following equation:

Let X=number of kids. Let Y=your combined annual salary in thousands. (Y/2)*X + 25=Amt your babysitter should get.

From PD:

Iampunha is just wrong, but I’m used to that. :slight_smile:

Let the record show that when iampunha first read me the post, he did not specify that he was talking about babysitters. He just said that to hire somebody for a night would cost $X. Now, if you were talking to a 19yo man, what would you think? Certainly not kids, right? :wink:

My feeling is that one’s income has nothing much to do with what one should pay for a babysitter. The going rate has a lot more to do with it.

There is a base rate for one child, weekend night, no special occasion. Add to that for more kids. Add to that for overnight (hours the babysitter is expected to be asleep are paid slightly less than hours the babysitter is expected to be awake). Add to that for New Year’s Eve. Add a nice tip to that if you ever want to use this babysitter again. Be sure to provide lots of good food like chips, soda, ice cream, etc. Cable or satellite is nice. Easily-managed kids are wonderful. Brats cost extra and may cause the babysitter never to babysit for you again.

phantomdiver
ex-babysitter

Now back to punha:

PD is out of her gourd, but we’re used to that by now.

8

A babysitter is a self-employed person and should tell you how much they want for the job. I realize that this may be a foreign idea to a young lass but you might introduce the concept. It can be a great boost to the ego to set your own compensation. It could also be a real education if she happens to set it too low.