Sometimes our blog posts from last year are so relevant and so canny that we just have to post them…again. The following post was posted on December 12, 2008, and by golly, we can’t find a good way to say it anew, so we’re just going to say it over.

New Year’s Eve plans? Check. Champagne? Check. A reliable, experienced babysitter? Oh, right. With the chaos of the holidays and the speed with which December moves, some parents forget or put off this crucial part of the New Year’s Eve puzzle. Because the holiday season is hectic enough, here is a complete guide to finding and hiring a great babysitter for New Year’s Eve.

WHEN TO POST YOUR BABYSITTING JOB

In a word? Now!

Interestingly, Sittercity polled parents two weeks before New Year’s Eve a few years ago and found that 77% still did not have their New Year’s Eve babysitter lined up. It’s a common procrastination among parents, which makes it even more important for you to be ahead of the curve so you’re not stuck in a last-minute scramble with all of the other sitter-searching families.

WHAT TO PAY A NEW YEAR’S EVE BABYSITTER

Because babysitters like to celebrate the holiday too, they’ll need extra (read: financial) incentive to forgo their own plans in favor of a New Year’s Eve babysitting job. To figure out what to pay, you must first decide if you will need the sitter for a few late-night hours or if you will need her overnight.

A few hours
If you plan on coming home after your New Year’s Eve celebration, you will pay your babysitter an hourly rate — a higher hourly rate than you’d normally pay. Most parents typically add an extra $5 to $10 per hour onto their standard hourly rate. If the children are allowed to stay up until midnight, you’ll want to fall on the higher end of that range to compensate the babysitter for keeping the children entertained the entire time.

Overnight
If you’ll be spending the night away from home, you won’t pay your babysitter an hourly rate all through the night; instead, you’ll want to offer a flat rate. To determine this flat rate, first figure out what the babysitter’s hourly rate would be between the time she comes over and 10pm. For example, if she comes over at 5pm and you typically pay her $10/hour, she would earn $50. Then add a flat overnight rate — typically between $40 and $100 — to that number. Again, since this is a special New Year’s Eve babysitting job, you’ll want your rate to fall at the higher end of that scale. With the total hourly rate added to the overnight rate, you can clearly state the flat rate offer to your babysitter.

What you pay is up to you and your budget, so use this strategy as a guideline to determining a rate that both you and your babysitter are comfortable with.

Check out our Babysitter Rate Calculator to see what the average, non-holiday pay is in your area.

SAMPLE JOB POSTING

We are looking for a babysitter for this New Year’s Eve, starting at 8pm in Evanston, IL. Our two boys are 6 and 8, and are very sweet with no allergies. You must have enough energy to stay up with the kids until midnight (if they last!) and your own transportation, as we will be celebrating the evening with champagne. We also have an older dachshund who is no trouble at all, unless you’re allergic. We will return by 1am and are offering $18/hour. If interested, please contact Parent at 847.555.1234 between 9am and 5pm on weekdays, or email fake@email.com.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 9:30 am and is filed under Child Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.