IN HUGE DEMAND: BABY SITTERS WILL CHARGE MORE THIS NEW YEAR'S EVE

The shortages and resulting inflation predicted by Y2K doomsayers already have struck one market: baby sitters.

Though polls and slow ticket sales to big concerts indicate that many people intend to spend the millennial New Year's Eve at home, finding a baby sitter is still an adventure that might be more costly than champagne.

Juan Crites of Cape Girardeau tried all four of her regular sitters but all had other plans. She then contacted someone who used to baby-sit for her in the past and got lucky. "She was excited to do it," Crites said.

A month before New Year's Eve, the baby sitter canceled because of an operation in her family.

Checking the local word-of-mouth baby-sitting circuit, Crites miraculously located a college student who was willing to baby-sit for multiple children and would spend the night her parents didn't want her driving. Crites' 6-year-old twins will be among five children ages 2 to 12 the sitter will be watching that night.

The director of public services at Southeast Missouri State University, Crites and her husband, Rick, are going to the Y2K Eve Party of the Century at the Show Me Center.

Patricia Keener, founder of a nonprofit organization in Indianapolis that trains baby sitters, advises talking about the possibility of Y2K trouble such as blackouts just so no one panics.

Crites is not worried about her sitter or Y2K. "She has three numbers to call," she said, referring to each pair of parents.

In appreciation, Crites is giving the baby sitter four times the amount she regularly pays for baby-sitting. "I usually pay double for New Year's Eve anyway," she explained.

In some areas of the country the cost of hiring a baby sitter for this special New Year's Eve has skyrocketed. Some baby sitters are commanding $200 to $300 for the evening. In California an agency called Sitters-By-The-Sea doubled its rates to $40 per hour for the first child and $10 for an additional child.

Annie's Nannies, an agency in the ski resorts of Telluride, Colo., and Park City, Utah, has a waiting list for sitters "30 families deep," according to owner Tom Ward. He initially raised rates from $16 an hour to $100 an hour for the millennium eve but backed off to $65 an hour when accused of price-gouging.

In San Ramon, Calif., a cheerleading team raising money for a competition is charging $75 per child. They plan to care for up to 100 children until 10 a.m. New Year's Day. But those parents whose children are still in diapers need not apply.

Baby-sitting is mostly a teen-age, free-lance business in Southeast Missouri.

Sixteen-year-old Marquita Brookins will be spending New Year's Eve with 10 children between the ages of 1 and 10.

She has a simple entertainment plan. "I will get lots of movies and games," she said.

At that age, both boys and girls like the same movies, she said. "Usually they like to watch Pokemon.'"

Brookins baby-sits regularly, just about every weekend. She likes children and she likes the money, though she isn't charging any more than usual that night.

She also likes the idea of staying in instead of going to a party herself.

"I don't want to get into any trouble on New Year's," she said, laughing.

Her father, Central High School football coach Lawrence Brookins, approves of her choice of activities for New Year's Eve.

"He likes me to have fun, too, but he'd rather I do this," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.