Wednesday 31 August 2011

The Friendly Party Bag Co 's ideas for Kids party food.

We all know kids can be funny about food, usually wanting to eat there body weight in chocolate rather then eating anything green! So when it comes to having a kids party, when they are bouncing off the walls as it is, getting them to eat anything slightly heathy can be a mission!

We have put together our favorite fun foodie ideas, found from our favorite place at the moment, you've guess it...... Pinterest!

A little inspiration, we hope it helps! just a note we advise parents not to put sweets out at their party, if they are giving out the our party bags during the party for the kids to play with as we fill our bags with individual hand weighed candy striped sweetie bags (hot pink for girls, colbolt blue for boys!) filled with just the right amount of Haribo sweeties which contain no artificial nastiness, just to limit the amount of bouncing!! Have fun at your party! x



Top left Lion bento box Kpolizzi
Middle left Milk shots  saras party perfect
Bottom left Rainbow fruit platter Tangled and true
Top Right Monster cup cakes Better Homes and Gardens
Bottom right Heart fruit kebabs  We Heart it

Thursday 25 August 2011

From Party Bags to Shoes ......... Again!

For those of you who follow our blog often, you will know that, apart from our passion of all things Party, we love shoes too!!

My other Job is a Children's Footwear and Accessories Designer, and last week I was lucky enough to visit Ruston Ablett LTD a Footwear suppler and one of the few UK shoe factories still running. The factory and offices were originally build in 1902 and was a wooden last factory, moving into out soles in the 70's and then moving into wellington boots. In its hay day Northamptonshire was the mecca of the shoe manufacturing world, sadly one after the other the factories slowly closed, as production moved first to europe then east to China. Ruston Ablett also produce out of the far east for customers including, Barbour, Superdry, Vivienne Westwood, and Marks and Spencer.

Down a sleepy side street in Northampton in a beautiful victorian building you will find a work force of only 10 producing PVC wellies and Jellies for the UK market.


Outsole Moulds originally made in Italy.

Production being made.


Injection Machine for making PVC Wellies.


After a delicious pub lunch in what use to be the old BARRETTS  Head office, we then visited the Northampton Museum which explains the history of the Shoe industry and production as well as impressive collection of shoes through the ages. It was amazing to step back in time and in a way an nostalgic reminder of why I love shoes so much.


A few pictures from the Museum, love the Dr Martens stilts and the 1970's M&S high tops which are very much on trend now!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the guys for spending the day with us and showing us around!





Tuesday 23 August 2011

Happy Customer Feedback!!!

What a fantastic start to the week! When we logged on Monday morning,trawling through our emails we found an email from a very happy customer, with some cute pics of the birthday girl giving out our Party Bags!! We love our jobs!! x


......"SUPERB. We ordered 16 personalised party bags and a string of bunting for my daughters 3rd birthday party last weekend, they went down an absolute storm not only with the kids but with the mothers too. We handed them out at the end of the party, by holding each bag up and saying oooh, an M –who's name begins with an M, then the relevant child came forward to take the bag, great for sneaking a bit of alphabet recognition in at a party! The kids loved having a special bag with their own initial on. The parents loved the whole ethos behind the company, being able to re use the bags and the idea of them being made from pre loved garments, they all wanted the bags for themselves –we actually had a spare L because 1 child didn't attend, this was nabbed by an L named mum, who went home ecstatic with her booty. The contents were superb and immediate, the first thing the kids did was pull out the masks and put them on. The sweets were in paper bags which meant they could all open their own. The mums cooed over the cuteness of the hand tied bundles of crayons, the kids asked for the gliders to be opened. The bags were full but there was still the right amount of room for the cake to be added.
The brown card labels with the company stamp on were really useful because we had different age bags but 5 A's, I wrote the names of the kids on the labels so we didn't get any mixed up.
I was really impressed with the bags, contents and the kids (and parents) reactions to them. It left me feeling really warm and like we'd really ended the party on a high.
The bunting was the best I've had, tonal pinks working really well together to make a really pretty long string of flags. The wording was neat and the whole thing was folded and pressed. Lovely. It's now decorating my daughters bedroom –we've turned it round so you can't see the happy birthday, but next year we'll take it down and re-use it.
We've been to quite a lot of parties this August and I can honestly say that all the other party bags my kids brought home were binned, along with most of their contents within 24 hours. We use the bags all the time, we have a T bag which was my husband's but is now designated for holding 'T'rains if we go out and about. A C bag (mine) which my daughter is allowed to fill with things for the 'C'ar. An A bag which gets filled with spare pants etc for nursery and an R bag which holds bangles and hair slides and hangs on the back of my daughters door. Brilliant.

Just a point to mention, for which I am grateful, the sweets are Haribo which usually are Gluten and Dairy free (both my children suffer from intolerances) so this was great for us and incredibly inclusive, no need for me to switch the sweets under my daughters nose making her feel different to her friends.

Thanks Friendly Party Bag Company for making my daughters special day even more special! I'm a convert to cloth party bags and will definitely re order from you again".............



Sunday 21 August 2011

The Friendly Party Bag Co 's ideas for up cycled flower decorations.

As you will know by now, we love a bit of up cycling! On one rainy afternoon I was editing the fridge and couldn't believe how many old jar of stuff were out of date! (disgraceful I know). So I emptied the jars, gave them a good wash and randomly started sticking flowers in them! Finished off with an old ribbon and you have got yourself a cute little flower arrangement that doesn't cost the earth. I've place them around the house, used them for an extra table decoration for a party (colour coordinated ribbon of cource), and even given them as a little gift. x



Monday 15 August 2011

The Friendly Party Bag Co Bring out the Bunting!!!

We have been busy this week bringing out the bunting!!! Soon to be added to our Esty Shop (bare with us!!) All of our Bunting is made from unwanted garments, and measure's approx 2.4m perfect for the children's bedroom, for a party or  the garden! £16 each.
















Saturday 6 August 2011

The Friendly Party Bag Co's Up cycled wrapping ideas.

You can not have a party without presents!

I have notice that when you stick wrapping paper into the recycling bins, the bin folk don't collect it! (the glossy coating must have something to do with it, need to research that!) What a waste, I love wrapping presents, I know slightly sad isn't it.  I have bags of ribbon that I have bought, saved and collected over the years, which I reuse time after time. When I give someone a present and they put the wrapping in the BIN (ekk!) I dive in afterwards to save it!

I wrap my gifts in brown parcel paper (defiantly recyclable!) with a silk bow, however always looking for new ideas, I found some fab ones on pinterest. Bring on the next birthday!




Top left up cycled magazine bows wholeliving.com
Top right up cycled bits and bob wrapping ohhellofriendblog.com
Bottom left woven paper gift topper minieco.co.uk
Bottom right rainbow yarn bows cataloguedlife.blogspot.com

Friday 5 August 2011

The Friendly Party Bag Co's Folksy Shop now open!!!!

We have opened our Folksy Shop this week! we will be selling our up cycled fabric star and heart bags for £2.50 each and our personlised up cycled fabric bags £2.75 each in packs of 6.
We will be listing bunting soon. Be sure to ad us to your favorites!


Wednesday 3 August 2011

The Friendly Party Bag Co's the inspiration, Mothers 60th Party In The Park.

The inspiration behind The Friendly Party Bag Co London, started when planning my Mothers 60th birthday, family get together. With five children aged 5 years - 8 months and 9 adults aged 30 - 63 years I struggled to find personalized filled fabric party bags, so I ended up making them! I didn't have any fabric to hand so I raided the chucking out pile of clothes to make the applique letters, each bag filled with top quality fillers, suitable for each person.  Beautiful up-cycled party bags!

Party in the park went off with a bang, bunting, tents, windmills, rounders, giant 60 balloons (the 6 blew off before Mother arrived!!), giant 60 strawberry pavlova, (amazing!) home made cup cakes, nibbles of all variety, fizz, cocktails, beer, juices and pass the personalized parcel.

As usual I got a bit carried away with the mojito fizz and didn't take that many photos, however there were a few good ones, see below, Happy Birthday Mum! and thank you for being an inspiration as always xx