One of the best jobs for teens is babysitting and you’ve seen throughout this website how easy it is to start your own teen babysitting service.

But have you ever considered taking the babysitter “career” and giving it a twist? Specialty babysitting could be the answer for you if you really love kids and love babysitting and want to do more of it – and make more money at it!

Simply put, specialty babysitting is taking the regular “I’ll come watch your kids for a few hours while you go out for dinner” and turning your services into an event service.

Here are some basic ideas of specialty services you can offer to set yourself apart as the coolest babysitter in the area:

Spa Sitter – Bring along supplies to give the kids you are watching the spa treatment. This is especially great for your girl clients but will work for the boys too. Do a foot soak, a hand treatment, put cucumbers on their eyes while they lay on the couch, etc. A great way to help young ones wind down before bed. Make sure you check with the parents for any skin allergies and use all natural products only.

Game Goddess – Pack up your “briefcase” with some of the best games around and turn the evening into a game night. Pop up some popcorn, put on some background music and let the tournament begin!

Storyteller – Young kids love stories but you can take this one step further and add in storytelling puppets or felt storyboards as your specialty.

Culinary Caretaker – have an arsenal of kid-friendly recipes and tools in your stash. Bring along kid-sized aprons and have the kids help you whip up something special to hide in the fridge for their parents when they return for the night.

Photo shoot – bring along a digital camera and a tripod and snap the night away. Have the kids make a list of fun photos to take. You could even take this a step further and purchase a small photo printer, print out the “keepers” and then take some time to make a small scrapbook of the evening’s festivities

Clown or other characters – dress up as a clown or other character and dance and play with the kids or do a comedy act.

Face Painting or temporary tattoos – bring along face paints (please get the paints specifically made for face painting) and let the fun begin!

As you can see, the sky is the limit for what you can do to “specialize” your babysitting. You can even take a combination of these and other ideas and give your clients a choice of what type of event you’ll be doing when you babysit.

And remember, as a specialty babysitter you can ask a premium price for your services too. Not only will you have more fun during your work hours, but you’ll be getting paid more for every hour you work – not bad!

And as you grow your business you can use the skills you’re learning in each specialty to expand out beyond just babysitting – summer camps, day care centers and corporate picnics come to mind!

So have fun and Specialize!