At least this year I finally gave in to the temptation that I've had now for several years to premium price my Saturdays. You really only have 3 Saturdays per season because it's hard to get companies to shift their parties back to the last Saturday in November. So this year I've been able to book multiple hour Saturday events with the two biggest law firms on Island and a really big event hosted by the Ritz Carlton, all for USD 400 per hour. Up until last year, I was still treating Saturdays like any other day and booking my time at KYD 150 (which is about USD 195), plus they were smaller events that didn't give me any particular exposure either.
It's not so much about the money (although more is always good), but about "stepping up the game" and changing up the mix of events that I do such that it will be more to my liking. My favorite events are still the big grade school assemblies (think 300-500 screaming kids) and also the home visits, especially the big happy extended family gatherings. That's where my heart is at, not so much for the public events where long lines form for pictures, or the corporate events where there is a commercial aspect to it. But if I'm going to do the corporate events (less interesting to me), I might as well charge them a premium price on weekends (my billing rate for Friday nights and all day on Sundays is also up this year, but not as high as Saturdays).
This then allows me to do more charitable events and deeply discounted family events (for people who don't have good jobs, but still love their kids), but I'm no longer willing to schedule any such events during the weekends. Just tonight, I told a friend, "On a Tuesday night, it will cost you either $50 or a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black. On a Saturday afternoon, it will cost you $400. Professional Santas aren't cheap, and cheap Santas aren't professional."