How much to offer a teenage babysitter?

[gingernut]

For around 4 hours, finishing at 11.30 with a taxi home.

I pay £6 an hour,regardless of age.

I'd probably pay £20 plus the taxi fare ... although the only time I've ever used a teenage baby sitter it was the girl next door, who idolises dd and wouldn't take a penny (I did buy her a present though).

I pay £20 and dh doesn't drink much so he gets a lift home.

a bottle of lambrini and a packet of fags

ooooh tamula, not sure we can stretch to that .

Thanks for the replies. We had thought maybe £20 plus taxi home so it seems we are in the right ball park. This will be the first time we've paid for babysitting as we usually use my babysitting cirle (antenatal group friends) so I didn't really have a clue.

Your sitter will be well pleased with that. If you get a good one best to keep them sweet Only one I get free is my mam and she isn't over keen, would rather go to the club

I cringe at the contrast between my pre and post going out state.
Always insist on showing them something on the computer for some odd reason,stabbing blindly at keys and swaying while they stand by politely smiling and holding their breath.

Gaaaahhhh!!!

Oh I'd love to be a teenage baby sitter again the prices have really shot up since I done it 8yrs ago. I used to get a tenner and taxi home! Which was loads to me! lol

I pay mine, daughter of a neighbour 15.00 plus we see her home.

She comes after DS is in bed though and if we are later that midnight it goes up. Think it's a fiver an hour. Never came home after midnight so not sure.

Mind you, we have been out twice since we had DS (2). Which says a lot.

£5 per hour and see her home or pay for the taxi.

And yes I have also done the let me show you somwething mind blowingly boring on the computer whilst I laugh my head off in a very pissed up state. Very hilarious!

Glad it's not just me then QE.

I pay £4 an hour and the taxi home (if necessary). They all live within spitting distance

OMG!! I used to babysit for my next door neighbour..they had 5 kids..and only 2 were ever in bed... I got £5!! FOR THE WHOLE NIGHT!!!!!!
And if I was lucky a bottle of coke and a bag of crisps threw in...

And to think I used to REFUSE the money...she would have to argue and run out the door after me with it....

This was when I was 16/17.. I am now 27! So in 10 or 11 yrs the pay has increased fantastically!! And can I just say that one day I kep all 5 of them from 12.00 noon until 2am and got £10! (they were at a wedding!)

Does the rate differ depending on the amount of kids you have? The fiver an hour I quoted was for 4 kids including the baby who she would bathe and give a bottle before putting to bed and the others had staggered bedtimes up until 9pm. So after that she had the night to herself and free access to the contents of the fridge.

£10

mu dd gets about £3.50 an hour,mind you she is 14 and has only just started babysitting.she got £4/hr and thought she'd died and gone to heaven because the kids were in bed and they put out bowls of sweets for her!

wow - loads of replies, and a bit more of a range.

dh was worried £20 wasn't enough but I think it's fairly generous, esp given that she's only 15 and has never babysat before. I should add that she's dh's niece and will be doing for us because we are staying up near where they live (nowhere near where we live) and we just need someone to sit in the hotel room with them (hopefully we'll get a suite) while we party downstairs. The kids should be in bed but ds1 might not settle straight away. We were going to give her snacks and drinks to stop her raiding the mini-bar!

I think we'll offer 20, that way she'll be pleased as punch but we're not going to end up always paying that because she'll probably never sit for us again (due to the distance).

Thanks all.

well I had a teenager (16yr old) looking after my boys this evening for 1 1/2hrs while I went to a meeting (with her mum and a few others) until DH came home - we left at 7.50 and got back at 10.50.......and I didn't pay her a penny - but then she is a very close friends daughter who practically begged me to let her look after them, and who was bitterly disappointed when I told her I'd put them to bed before I left (so I did'nt - I let her do it).

If we had more money I probably would have given her £5 or £10, but I don't.

£5 an hour, rounded up
I pay them all the same regardless of age too

i pay around 15 bf midnight and double after