If you don’t usually celebrate occasions then the Royal Wedding is probably the exception. We have everything you need to decorate your home and your head, from flags to hats and even coloured hair spray! It can all be found in our Royal Wedding section and with our quick turnaround and express delivery options you will have your order in plenty of time. Stock is limited now so don’t leave it too long to place your order.

Christmas and New Year went by in a flash, and we are now the other side of Valentines Day – so time to take stock, get our breath back and launch into Mother’s Day products and a face lift (more about that later).

As usual we are offering our ever popular balloon in a box gifts for mums, but we will also be bringing you some of our favourite picks for Mothers Day from other internet businesses we like.  If you struggle to find something different for your mum please take the time to follow this blog.

So, back to the facelift.  For a while now I have felt that we needed a new look, with a new product range to match.  Don’t worry, some of our best sellers will be staying, but on the whole I want to bring you party ideas and products you can’t get elsewhere.  I have been doing a lot of research over the last month and have some fab ideas to bring to the new site.  Sneak previews will be added here, to facebook and linked on twitter so make sure you are following us otherwise you will miss out!

While the new shop is being designed please keep shopping from our existing store.  The sale section has some amazing discounts on most popular branded ranges so now is the time to stock up for your kids party!

I have been browsing one of my suppliers websites today for some well made, affordable stocking filler ideas, both to sell at local events and to add to our shop. While I work on finalising the range why not take a look at the fab balloons and decs already on the site – these are our most popular sellers so grab them while stocks last.
party supplies and christmas decorations

With half term looming and the start of the party season at the end of the month we are busy, busy, busy at Party Sprite!  Whether you are planning a Halloween party or trick or treating with the kids we have everything you need to spook up your home (and kids!)

Our range of cello party bags are great whether you are expecting trick or treaters or looking for party bags to give away.  Simply fill with sweets and toys and tie with the twist tag included.  Pack of 20 in either Ghost and Pumpkin (pictured), Enchanted Pumpkin or Spooky Eyes.

No party is complete without some balloons, and our pack of 10 assorted halloween balloons is perfect to spook up the party.  Make sure you buy some of our balloon hangers to make fixing them easier and team up with our halloween banner for complete party fun!

Fun and funky for children and adults too these diamante head boppers are the perfect head wear for any party at Halloween!  They sold really quickly last year so snap up yours now!

I hope we can given you some ideas for your Halloween celebrations; remember, whatever you are doing have fun and stay safe!

Things have been a little quiet on the Party Sprite front over the summer – for a few very good reasons!

Firstly we had a house move to arrange.  After looking at costs we decided to hire a van and do all the work ourselves which sounded not only cheaper but a lot easier.  It took us a whole month to get everything transferred only a few miles down the road, meaning the children missed out on summer holidays and also had to put up with mummy and daddy screaming and fighting over lots of large furniture and negotiating stairs.

Anyway, we are all moved now and with just a few boxes left to unpack I have slowly eased myself back in to work.  The girls are back at school (lil sprite has settled in nicely in reception class – bless!) and mummy is now making the most of the child free time to work which leaves the post 3 o clock time totally kid orientated.  Prior to the house move my work/life balance was anything but balanced – too much work crammed into every spare 5 minutes I had with both the kids and my marriage suffering as a result.  The change has been fantastic – more fresh air on the walk to school clears my head and spending quality time with the girls means I have rediscovered my playful side and have started to feel young again.

This was no more evident than when the postman knocked at the door and handed me a parcel the other day.  I knew what was inside but had to wait until the girls got in before I could enjoy my delivery!

Lil sprite saw the brightly coloured CD case and shouted ‘Zingzilla’s!’

Now if you aren’t used to keeping up with children’s tv characters then this won’t mean a lot to you, but to my girls it meant everything.  I have battled many times in our local supermarket trying to prize them away from the display of soft toys, books and more so of course the CD was straight out the case and in my laptop.

The familiar theme tune got the girls dancing and it wasn’t long before mummy was joining in – who said you have to be a child to have fun?

Some of the songs were not quite so well received but that is hardly surprising considering the wide variety of music genres this quartet cover.  Seems my children don’t share my love of the classical sound!  I think Santa will be buying them a CD player this year so they don’t keep monopolising my laptop!

I am really enjoying work at the moment.  My daughters playgroup are organising their 30th birthday celebrations and I have been called upon to supply bunting, balloons and all sorts of party bag fillers – just the sort of thing I thrive on!  I will be in need of some mighty lung power on the day though with 100 mini foil balloons to inflate ready to sell on their behalf.  It has been lovely to help them make this event happen, and I hope for all involved it proves to be a huge success!

I don’t know about you, but when money is a bit tight I find myself planning ahead and budgeting.  With Father’s Day the next big money expense (apart from the usual bills of course!) I knew I needed to come up with something soon.  My dad has everything he wants, has few hobbies, wears his clothes/footwear until they are falling apart etc so any present buying is a nightmare that usually results in sweets and something he will never use.

Then I had an invitation from The Star Almanac – I had previously ‘bought a star’ for my husbands 30th birthday and when they mentioned they wanted a representative in the UK and would I be interested I jumped at the chance.  They were offering a more affordable way of naming a star than the one I had splashed out on all those years ago and I knew other dads would be as thrilled as my husband was when he received his gift.

Now as the official deputy registrar in the UK I am happy to be able to offer the same amazing gift at a fantastic price to my customers, and the best bit is there are so many stars up their without a name that we will never run out!

Please take a look at our example star certificate – your star name will have a place in history, making this a truly unique and thoughtful gift.

While everyone is wondering how their loved ones/colleagues/neighbours are going to get home from their Easter break, I am wondering how to keep my customers happy.  This erupting volcano in Iceland has caused disruption up and down the country (and abroad too) yet the news seems to have not noticed how small businesses are also being impacted.

To be honest it hadn’t occurred to me that there would be any problem at first, I don’t know why really as I get a large percentage of orders from the USA.  It wasn’t until I needed to send an urgent parcel to Cumbria (a journey of around two hours) that I found out how the postal services had been disrupted.  Royal Mail were no longer guaranteeing their special delivery service and this could mean my urgent parcel wouldn’t arrive on time. Well sure enough despite the fact that I honestly couldn’t see how my parcel would require the services of an aeroplane to make that trip, when I checked the tracking online it had been held over until Monday.

So how do you keep customers happy when a Volcano erupting in Iceland disrupts the daily running of your business?  I immediately posted a note on our website and I can certainly see the impact of it – orders from outside of the UK have ceased and as a large proportion of our orders are time sensitive even those have dwindled.

Frustrated and a little bit angry I responded to a post on facebook about the extension of the no fly period.  I felt a little better and carried on with other things.  Then earlier today the phone rang.  The local radio station wanted to interview me as everyone had been focussing on stranded holiday makers and they thought I had a different angle which was newsworthy.  I duly gave my business focussed answers and it will hopefully be aired tomorrow on the breakfast show.  I will try to post the link if it is available online so you can have a listen.

Perhaps this is the silver lining to my great big cloud (of ash!)

We have finally got our Christmas tree up – it is so hard to find time around all the christmas parties, events and school runs.  It is a bit sad to see my work things being banished to my stock room, but at least the house finally looks reasonably tidy and ready for the chaos that is Christmas Day.

the easy way to hang your party balloons

I finally tried out the balloon hangers- we were looking for a way to fix a garland in swags to our wall and didn’t think drawing pins would hold it so I suggested using the corner balloon hangers.  We put the garland through the centre balloon holder and then added two of our Christmas latex balloons to the other two and it looks pretty good.  Was really easy to do as well – will definately be using them next time!

We have also put up one of the Christmas ceiling decorations – the santa and snowmen one.  These are a fun way to decorate any room and the kids love it (grab them while they are reduced- only £5.56 in our sale).

Thursday and Friday sees me messing about with balloons for the school and playgroup Christmas parties.  I love to help the school in any way I can and I think the idea of a party for each class is lovely.  Helium filled balloons all round!

We don’t have a New Year party but if we did I would definately have one of these banners up – I have had them out on display at recent events and they are fantastic!  Team them up with the giant blowouts and this kiss me at midnight badge and your party will go with a bang!

We are closing for the holidays soon, last posting day is Monday 21st December and with the winter sale in full swing now is the best time to place your last minute orders.  Whatever you are doing this festive season, everyone at Party Sprite would like to wish you a very happy and healthy Christmas and New Year.

Do you look forward to the school nativity, or are you filled with dread at how to create the perfect costume for your little sheep or angel?  I had my first experience of pre nativity stress last year when my eldest was chosen to be a star.  I had ideas of card and glitter/tinsel combinations, but Christmas is the start of my really busy season workwise so I had no time to create anything amazing.  Fortunately a fellow mum mentioned a shop that had some basic costumes in.  We hot footed it down and bought one which I customised later.

Cow Costume from While Shepherds Watched

I wish I could have had something a bit more special for her though, they only do nativity for three years at our school and it would have been nice to have made the most of her first time on stage.  Well for this year I have the perfect website up my sleeve and am happy to share it with all the other busy mums out there.  This lady produces the most amazing nativity costumes – so much so that she gets very busy very quickly which is why I am sharing this with you now.  With first class delivery being included in the price it is certainly well worth a look!  My particular fave is this funky cow costume, available in sizes 3 to 5 years and 4 to 7 years.  The fabric is soft making it a hit with the wearer, and the outfit is finished off with ears, horns and a long tail.

I am just waiting to hear what role my daughter has and then I will be hotfooting it to While Shepherds Watched!