How to Find a Date Night or Occasional Babysitter

3 parent questions ▼

Parent Q&A

Select any title to view the full question and replies.

  • Childcare for a 4/5 year old for a week in May?

    –
    Mar 25, 2024

    I am reaching out to our wonderful community to seek assistance with a childcare challenge my family is facing.

    My son attends Growing Light preschool in Oakland, which will be closed from May 14th to May 22nd due to the Greek Festival. During this period, I will need care for my 4-year-old son while I am at work. However, our home hosts his two-year-old sister and her nanny share friend, along with the nanny herself.  Unfortunately, the limited space and demands of caring for two active toddlers make it impractical to add another child to the mix, even if we were to hire another caregiver just for the 4-year-old. Asking our nanny to manage an additional child would be unfair and overwhelming.

    With traditional camps unavailable in May, I am seeking suggestions or resources from the community to help tackle this childcare conundrum.  Any advice or recommendations would be immensely appreciated.

    Mar 25, 2024

    No responses received.

    Reply now  »

  • Rate for occasional babysitter

    –
    Jan 21, 2024

    Hi!  We recently moved to the area, and don't have any family here.  My husband and I have never had anyone look after our toddler before, but are at the point where we are ready to try a baby-sitter for the occasional date night/night out with friends.  I have no idea what the hourly rate should be for this area and was wondering what others pay per hour for evening babysitting?  We live in the Alameda area.


    Thanks so much!

    Jan 21, 2024

    I think it depends on whether you’re looking for an experienced nanny who also does occasionally babysitting or a less experienced high school/college student. In my experience, more experienced folks charge $30-$35/hour for 1-2 children. I’ve seen rates around $20/hour for less experienced sitters.

    Jan 24, 2024

    Ours charges $25/hr for babysitting. She's a nanny during the day to another family so this is supplemental income for her. We're in Berkeley for reference. 

    Jan 24, 2024

    $25-30 per hour is the most common range I've seen for watching one child (in Berkeley). Some college students I interviewed with asked for $20 an hour. Some experienced sitters and nannies have asked for over $30 per hour... 

    Jan 27, 2024

    Hello! We have a person in her mid-twenties, not a childcare worker professionally, but she likes to make some extra money on the weekends. We give her $25/hour. On urbansitter I have experienced similar rates for adults that do not work in childcare. I have seen some college students charging a few dollars less per hour on urbansitter, and childcare professionals charging a few dollars more per hour (close to $30/hour). I would suspect that a responsible, high-school kid in your neighborhood would be a good, less-expensive option, consider putting out a question on Nextdoor or to your neighbors in-person!

    Jan 28, 2024

    Our babysitter charges us $30/hr plus we usually give her a tip. Hope you find someone and can a much-deserved date night!

    Feb 7, 2024

  • Where do you find (very) part-time or occasional babysitters?

    –
    Apr 13, 2021

    Does anyone have some good East Bay resources (for reference, I'm in El Cerrito) to post jobs or find occasional babysitters? I have been using Sittercity.com, but finding that most of that site is geared toward identifying career nannies. I need to find regular, after work childcare for a couple hours, a couple days a week.. are there message boards for local community colleges or the universities that anyone has found successful? Other sites? Or is it all word-of-mouth and friends-of-friends? TIA for any ideas.

    [Moderator note] The listing "Nannies & Sitters available" on BPN's website contains posts from babysitters currently offering care - BPN has more than 350 nanny subscribers and 200 college students who subscribe. Parents can also post a message to the listing to look for childcare.

    Apr 13, 2021

    I've used the app urban sitter to do occasional date night babysitting. It does have a fee, I can't remember how much. Now that I've found a great sitter of the app, we just use her each time since shes typically available. 

    Apr 14, 2021

    Care.com and UrbanSitter are similar. I haven't been on them in a while but I think they typically skew toward folks looking for occasional babysitting (vs. career gigs). I wonder if the balance has tipped over the past year due to COVID (former career nannies lost their jobs when parents went remote and went on those sites to look for new ones; occasional babysitters dropped off because fewer people were hiring for that). Hopefully it swings back in the coming months! 

    I would also suggest posting your specific needs (hours, days) to both BPN and to the Bananas childcare forum if you haven't already. 

    Apr 14, 2021

    Hi! I got a great list from the Kensington Community center, all had been counselors at summer camps in years past. So far every sitter on the list has been great. 

    Apr 14, 2021