What ticket price would you pay for a ticket to a Celidh (with a proper, decent Celidh band and caller)?

[hmcAsWas]

I don't know what the going rate is?

Organising it for fundraising purposes.....

Most fundraising ceilidhs around here would charge about £25 for an adult ticket and maybe half that for a child/student. (NE) It can be more though - sometimes about £25 per ticket regardless of age, even when it's advertised for families. It doesn't sound a lot, but when you're a family of 6 £150 for a night out is A LOT!

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Am in Scotland. For a bog standard ‘social’ ceilidh I’d say £10 pp. For a fundraising one, I’d say £20 maybe £25 tops. I’d expect some stovies halfway through at that price and I’d also be expecting a raffle of sorts where I could give you even more cash if I wanted to!

That is a lot Rylan. Its a fine line - I need to make a profit and the band alone is £425 but at the same time I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by pricing too high

I was thinking £12.50 per head but had no clue if that was sensible or not. With the hire of the hall I would have to sell 36 tickets before I broke even, and would raise £175 if I sold 50 tickets, £300 if I sold 60 tickets and £425 for 70 tickets etc

Okay thanks Piff, maybe I will go for £15 per ticket with a light buffet of snacks thrown in (I will cover that cost) and a complimentary cider on arrival?

Do people tend the do BYO for alcohol?

Oh, there will most definitely be a raffle...

Where are you hmc? I think that makes a difference. We're in a city - I would guess that events in more rural locations might not charge as much. I don't know - just my hunch. In Aberdeen everything's expensive! £10 for a cinema before you've paid for parking or any food. If you go for a meal first you are easily looking at £30 per head just for a bog-standard dinner and film. £25 for a whole night of entertainment, when it's for charity, doesn't seem seem so bad then, but it does add up if you're aiming it at families. (And yes - at that price I'd expect stovies too)

We are semi-rural Rylan

The one I went to a couple of weeks ago was £30. Including unlimited champagne reception, two course supper, coffee and chocolates with an honesty bar for extra alcohol. Proper ceilidh band and caller.

Goodness - that sounds quite ambitious tobee. The one you went to was good value including the champagne, two course supper etc but I think providing that might add an extra layer of complexity for me

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Yes, I’d say keep it relatively simple. Definitely £20 if you are doing a buffet, and reduced price of £10 for kids.

I do love a good ceilidh!

Ah that's how you spell it Piff, I was wondering why it kept coming up on my spell checker when I was emailing friends about it

Thanks for you help all

I hadn’t noticed you’d spelt it wrong. And my job requires a large degree of proofreading skills...

Wow! I'd expect to pay around £7- £8. Maybe £10 if for a good cause and food included, kids a fiver tops (free if no food). You wouldn't sell many tickets at £20 around here! I'd expect a raffle and/or a fundraising auction though, so I guess you just get the money out of people in a different way . . .

Sadik - have you seen the bit about the cost of the 4 piece band and caller? With the hall rent included at £8 per ticket I would have to sell 60 tickets just to cover costs. If I sold 70 tickets I would make a teeny £80 from fundraising

My kids attend a Youth ceilidh in London which costs £6 a ticket. No food, but there is a proper band and caller. If it was for adults too, I would expect that £12 per adult would be fine. If you are offering something extra like food or drink, I think you could go to £15 a ticket or more. Partly I think it depends on how many people in your area are likely to attend!

I guess the difference Wiifitmama might be that the organisers put it on as a good thing to do for the kids and attempted only to cover costs rather than fund raise? I could charge that amount if I didn't want to make any money at all

Have chatted to my core friendship group who seem to be concurring £15 per head including a ploughmans half way through. They will come and bring their family and friends and we hope others locally will be up for it too. We think we can sweet talk the local cheese producer and local farmers butcher to helping us out a bit with cheese and ham. Local demographic is fairly affluent (although not exclusively)

The cause I am fundraising for is pretty popular too....

I guess it just depends on what the norm is where you are. Its definitely an issue here - on the whole for a fundraiser I would tend to look for small bands (ie cheaper as only paying say 2 people) or someone willing to reduce their costs because they support the cause.

Also as above, actually the main fundraisers tend to be raffle / auction etc with the event itself mostly covering costs. (Advantage there I guess is that everyone can come, so you get the community benefit of the event, and those who can afford it put in more towards the cause. )

Something to think about - thanks Sadik

We did a 'penny social' auction at an event last year which raised an amazing amount of money - might be worth considering something like that as an add on?

The link explains, but you sell raffle tickets, then have a selection of prizes with a 'hat' beside each, people choose which item they want to put their tickets into, and each prize is drawn individually. Individuals can put as many raffle tickets into each hat as they want - depending on how much they want to win the prize. We also had a kids table with tickets for 20p each I think, and it entertained small ones for ages choosing how to divvy up their tickets amongst the pots.

You could always have an add on and tickets at a decent price given it looks like your market will pay!

I’d say £10.00 or £12.50. You can make your profit with the booze, other drinks and extra things like raffles.

Cannot make profit with booze - to sell it you need an alcohol licence

Tbh if I can't sell tickets including ploughmans at £15 the profit (even with a raffle) is going to be desultory and it wont be worth the effort

Can’t you get an alcohol license? That’s where the money is.

Or can you get a cheaper band. £425 for the band is a lot to get back from ticket sales. What about a quiz night instead?