Pinata Sales

Startup Costs: Under $2,000
Part Time: Can be operated part-time.
Franchises Available? Yes
Online Operation? No

What a great business and concept'-home based, unique, low overhead, minimal startup costs, virtually no competition and no limitations on business growth and expansion. Thousands of children's parties take place every day, and tapping into this very lucrative market is easy. Simply develop samples of your products and start knocking on doors. I will guarantee that you will find little resistance to your product, and chances are the biggest business challenge you will face is trying to keep up with the demand for the piñatas. I suggest that you strictly focus on the wholesale market and establish accounts with retail children's stores, party planners, and e-tailers. Try to get your product into as many mail-order catalogs as possible. Requirements: There are very few requirements in terms of qualifications to start and run this business. The largest would be your creative ability in both manufacturing the piñatas and how you will market the product. Of course, there are always the safety concerns, so be sure to place prizes inside that cannot harm, spoil or create potential liability for you. Start-up costs: It should cost you less than $100 to develop your samples and possibly another $200 to begin marketing your products. This is the ultimate quick return on investment business. Profit potential: After an exhaustive search I finally found a piñata for sale in a children's retail store (in excess of 30 telephone calls and an hour's drive). The piñata retailed for $80 and was based on a birthday sports theme. Upon returning home and careful examination, I determined that it would require about an hour to make the piñata, and $5 worth of materials. Inside this particular piñata was hard candy and a toy prize, maybe another $2 to $3 worth. Even at $25 per hour, the total cost to manufacture this product would be in the $30 range. This still allows for a 30 percent markup on your material costs and labor, while the retailer can maintain a 100 percent markup. Now you see why there will be no problem in establishing wholesale accounts with retailers.