The best face painters in Melbourne
The thing that ruins this booking is almost never the painting, it is the queue. One painter, two hours, thirty children, and a third of them go home with a plain face while a parent stands in the sun explaining why. Work out faces per hour first and the rest of the decision follows.
In Melbourne the weather adds a second question, because the paint and the painter both want to be out of the sun and out of the rain, sometimes within the same afternoon. The painters who work here constantly will ask about your indoor option before they ask about your design ideas. If yours does not ask, raise it yourself.
Top picks in Melbourne
Top picks are the acts in this category in Melbourne, without a review, rating or premium ranking: all these sort keys are tied.
Questions people ask about face painting in Melbourne
How many children can a face painter do in an hour?
Ask each painter directly, because it varies with detail and with how fast they work, and it is the single number your booking depends on. Take your invite list, add a third for siblings who tag along, and divide by the figure they give you. If the answer needs more hours than your party has, book a second painter or shorten the designs.
What check should a face painter in Melbourne hold?
A current Victorian Working with Children Check held by the individual who turns up to paint. Some painters take work across the border and hold a second state's clearance too, which matters if your event is out near Albury or Mildura rather than in town. We screen nobody here, so the card is a thing to ask for and look at, not a thing to assume.
Is the paint safe for children with sensitive skin?
The paint a professional uses is cosmetic grade and formulated for skin, and any of them will tell you the brand if you ask. Ask as well about a patch test for a child you are worried about, and what happens to brushes and sponges between faces. Someone who answers straight away has thought about all of this long before you raised it.
What do school fetes and community days need that a party does not?
Somebody managing the line, and paperwork organised in advance. A Melbourne school or council usually wants liability cover and clearance details in writing weeks out, which is a fine request at booking and a stressful one on the Thursday before. Find out too how the painter controls an open queue, because a fete line in a park will run for hours if nothing shapes it.
Booking tips
Sight the Working with Children Check yourself
Victoria issues this clearance to an individual, not to a trading name, and the card carries a photo and a number. So ask for the one belonging to whoever is actually turning up, and match it against the person on your doorstep. This site lists acts and checks none of them, so that look is yours to take.
Set a table up indoors or under cover
A hot Melbourne afternoon makes paint set badly and a sudden shower closes the stall entirely. Put the painter somewhere with a roof from the start rather than moving them mid-queue, because a queue that moves loses the smallest children first.
Agree the design menu before the day
A full face runs to several minutes each, while a cheek or an arm is done in well under one. If your headcount and your hours do not meet, a smaller menu gets everyone painted, and that is a better conversation to have at booking than at the table.