So you’ve finally worked up the courage to leave the little one at home and are planning a night on the town for two (after all, you can’t remember the last time the two of you made eye contact, let alone canoodled over a glass of wine). But what’s the going rate for reclaimed sanity? You can’t just double the tax at the end of the night. Below, a guide to figuring out what a sitter is worth.

• Expect to pay a minimum of $40 per night. The going rate for a single child ranges between $10 and $15 per hour (with a minimum of four hours) for a college student or young professional. You’ll probably have to fork over another $2 per hour for each additional child. Offer anything less, and you may have trouble attracting a sitter. Note: It’s especially uncool to say you’ll pay a sitter for a certain number of hours, then pay her less just because you decided to make it an early night.

• Experience matters. Eight to $10 per hour is fine for anyone under 18. You’ll pay more for special skills, from $12 for a sitter who cooks, cleans, and drives to $18 for someone who brings her own bag of games and goodies and is either certified in infant CPR and first aid or adept at handling more than two kids.

• Pay for the ride home. Safety is important to sitters, who are often single women heading home late at night. It’s pretty much standard to slip in an extra $10 to $20 (depending on where the sitter lives) if your night runs later than 9 p.m.

• Feed them. Since baby-sitters are usually working during meal times and preparing food for the kids, parents should allow access to the fridge or leave extra cash for takeout.