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.....

BW I’m IThinkThatsWeird with a name change 😊

I think £15 is a lot. There’s 5 us so that £75 before I’ve even started. You’re proving people out of the market I think.

That’s meant to be pricing, not proving.

It wil totally depend on the folk you are planning to sell tickets to, and what you think they normally pay fro an evening out, but I'm with Sadik on P1 - any more than £7 or so and the evening out becomes a great expense. Therefore people don't come, and not only do you not cover the costs you have outlaid, it isn't a great night out so no-one will come to the next one you put on.
As others have said, you need to get the crowd in, in the first place, then make your money from the bar (you can apply for a license (well - in England, I know various laws are different in Scotland), and from a raffle - or even an auction.
Of course, there are folk who will pay a lot of money for a ticket - but that is, as said initially, down to knowing your crowd.
I would look into finding a way of cutting your expenditure though. That is a lot of money to pay out if the aim of the evening is to raise funds.

Re getting a cheaper Ceilidh band - I've just googled and come up with these - they are more expensive than the band I have selected

going rate for Ceilidh

To get an alcohol licence you have to have a licensing qualification i.e. a Level 2 Award (National Certificate) for Personal Licence Holders (checked on my local authority website)

I am anticipating that mostly adults will come rather than lots of families with children. At a barn dance held by a friend a few years back it was mostly adult couples and I think £15 for a night of entertainment with a ploughmans will be acceptable around here

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions

I think there must have been some cost inflation with ceilidh bands over recent years as they have become more popular at weddings

I organize a fund raising Burns Night every year- it’s become impossible to make a profit without charging so much for a ticket that lots of people can’t come so we don’t have a live band any more . So we have a caller who brings a sound system. Not anything like as good, but we actually make a profit now!

We get a singer from the local folk club to sing while we’re having supper, and we have a good raffle and a few “heads and tails” type games to boost the funding.

I play in a ceilidh band and round here, bands tend to charge per band member.

£425 for a 4 piece is less per band member than I was getting paid in the 1990s, so really not that expensive if they really are a good band.

Where are you based? I know plenty accordionists who can play for dancing solo, including the calling, which keeps the price down.

Yes, it’s one of those unsquarable circles, isn’t it? A reasonable payment per band member works out as a lot for an event intending to make a profit. Different for weddings and such.

It really depends. If I was in Scotland, I wouldn't pay that much because in my area, we have them pretty frequently and always have them at weddings and stuff like that. For charity I'd pay 20 quid or so though.

I do think having no booze would put a lot of people off though. Most people need a drink in them to get up the courage to properly get into it.

I live in Seoul now and they have one here twice a year and it costs 150,000 won per head which is about 90 pounds! That includes food but it's so pricy. I kind of get it though cos it must be a right faff to organise.

I think having a raffle/some easy to set up 'fete' type games (rubber duck fishing or whatever) would be a good way to make some extra money.

That's interesting Bertrand - the sound system and caller combo

Mawbroon I am on the Hampshire / Wiltshire border, between Southampton and Salisbury. A solo accordionist sounds like a plan

ThatIs - it wouldn't be no booze, it would be 'bring your own' which actually makes it a cheaper evening for people?

Ah, decent solo accordion players might not be so easy to find down south...

We also have dp’s famous Scottish tombola! He buys Scottish things on EBay and from charity shops all year- a mixture of silly oddments like soft toy Nessies and some lovely silver jewellery and things. And the local wine merchant always donates a bottle of whiskey. Always makes lots of money.

Aha, that makes sense then, definitely, I'm always up for a bring your own booze party.

How about some kind of pound-a-go game like identifying famous people as babies/identifying photos of cities in the UK/just Scotland, everyone gets a sheet and has to write the answers, winner gets a tenner/20 quid or whatever.

Or a 'beetle drive' but instead of making a beetle, you make a little man wearing a kilt?

Or if most guests aren't Scottish, or are from different parts, a dialect quiz, like guessing the English meaning of Scottish words? That's always a laugh because English people are always flabberghasted at how many different words we have for things.

“Ah, decent solo accordion players might not be so easy to find down south...”

Eh? Sorry, I don't get it.....

In your area about £15 inclusive of supper sounds about right. We paid a similar price for a decent band and caller last year in Herts.
Is it a Ceilidh or a Barn Dance? There is a lot of overlapping but often a Ceilidh has a dance spot in the interval but if you're using that for supper than that will be fine.
Definitely have a raffle as that will bring in a lot of money; lots of advertising and good luck with it all.

Sorry . I was a singer in a folk band for ages and there were always jokes about accordions and banjos- an accordion player’s car was broken into and they left 3 more on the back seat. What’s the difference between a banjo and an onion- you cry when you chop up an onion...........and so on.

I paid £10 on Saturday - band with caller. No food, but there was a bar. East Sussex village

Ha haha ha. You mean bodhran jokes

Oh no-they aren’t jokes when it’s a bodhran...........

They certainly are not.