Going on a jungle safari

There is something so special about a first birthday party; the parents have survived their first year of parenthood, the baby is at that super cute age and the family is ready to party!

This first birthday was a little special. The clients live in Queensland, but all their family is in Melbourne. Wanting to have a party but not burden the family with all the plans, Mary engaged us to help pull it together.

Working with Mary we organised; spit roast catering, hire of equipment, the fabulously huge dessert station, beautiful kids table and even a Jungle Explorer, who made balloon animals with the kids and did face-painting for everyone. Her family all pitched in and sourced a marquee, chairs and a gorgeous cake.

On the day, Mary and her family were able to enjoy catching up with family and friends - and showing off their little monkey - perfect!

As usual I have taken way too many photos (please excuse the quality of them - the inside of the marquee was very dark!). Tonight we will share the kids table and tomorrow, the dessert table. Come safari with us....

On the kids table, we had orange table cloths, brown runners and a green grass centre runner. 

The jungle plants were accessorised with little green, orange and yellow tissue paper pom poms, with stripy straw sticks. 

Place settings were in yellow and each child had a set of wooden cutlery. These will soon be available in our store.

Jungle gift bags for each child to fill up with lollies

These jungle plants took up residence on the presents table

You may notice some of the designs and products are from our Jungle Safari theme in our store... these are all available for purchase here. 

Tomorrow night we promise to share the dessert station!

Cheers,

Inspired Suppliers - Squiggle & Stitch

With the launch of our new online store, Inspired Parties, we wanted to share the lovely ladies behind some of the gorgeous products we are stocking. We kicked it off last week with Amy from Giggleberry.


Tonight we are so pleased to introduce Tania from Squiggle & Stitch.

Squiggle & Stitch are fairly new to the world of Mumpreneur business, but they are already doing wonderful things. Tania created the most beautiful range of fabric table cloths and table runners for our store, all to complement our Inspired Parties range. You can check them out here and here. 


Not only are these a fun addition to a party, but the quality of them is just first class. I can't tell you how impressed I was when we received the sample, it's obvious just how much care is taken when making them. They are sure to become heirloom items - pulled out each year for your occasions. What a nice tradition to have!


Thanks for taking part in our Inspired Suppliers series Tania!

  

Who? Tell us a bit about yourself... 
I guess first and foremost these days I'm a mum. I have 2 beautiful girls who have me wrapped around their little fingers and I wouldn't have it any other way. I always loved art and textiles at school and knew that I wanted to make a living out of it somehow. As a young girl in my 20's I found trying to make it as a designer tough so I took up teaching instead and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I have been teaching art and textiles at a secondary school in Melbournes Sth East for over 10 years. After having my eldest daughter I returned to teaching part time but I am yet to head back in to the classroom since having my youngest. I love nothing more then getting comfy on the couch and watching a good dose of television (nothing to serious), and coming from an Italian family of course I love my food. I hate winter, don't understand science fiction and politics bores me. Finally, I like to think I'm a pretty good wife, a loving daughter and baby sister and a very loyal friend. 


What inspired you to start your own business? 
I love teaching but have not found as much satisfaction from it since only working part time. After so long working in schools I have also found that dealing with discipline issues, school politics and all the 'extra' stuff you do as a teacher such as assessment and reporting a little frustrating. I don't have the time or patience for it that I once did. After having Bianca (my 4 yr old) I started running school holiday workshops at my local neighbourhood house and really enjoyed it, the kids enthusiasm is infectious. I also discovered the world of facebook businesses and I have to say I became a little obsessed. So many beautiful things made and sold by mums like me in the comfort of their own homes. I couldn't believe how successful some of these business were and so I began to wonder if I could do it too. 


Beer, wine, bubbles or soft drink? 
Definitely bubbles but I won't say no to a nice glass of white wine or a cold beer on a hot day 


How do you stay innovative and ahead of the pack? 
Honestly, I am new to this so I'm learning as I go. 


What is your greatest indulgence? 
Ice cream 


What difference has being in business for yourself made in your life? 
It's given me a creative outlet again and a rare chance to do something for myself. It's also made my home life a little more crazy and the house a lot messier but so be it!

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/squiggleandstitch

Made It store: http://www.madeit.com.au/squiggleandstitch
Email: squiggleandstitch@hotmail.com

Cheers,

Inspired Parties is live!

We are very proud to announce that our new online store, Inspired Parties is now live! 

www.theinspiredoccasion.com.au/shop.html

Over the past few months we have been working hard on designing, selecting and sourcing a range of high quality party stationery and accessories (you may have read about it here).

Alongside our own products, we are very proud to be offering products created by other Australian mums, which are both of an extremely high quality and completely divine! We will be featuring each of these fabulous suppliers in our Inspired Supplier blog series over the coming weeks. You can read the first one here, which was with Amy from Giggleberry Creations.

We have also designed a range called Inspired Parties in a Box, which contain everything you need to style your very own Inspired Occasion, just add food! We know that finding a coordinated set of party accessories can be both time consuming and frustrating - that's where our Inspired Party in a Box can save you time, yet still giving you the opportunity to style an Inspired Occasion all of your own!

Don't forget we now also offer all our delicious Edible items directly to our customers as well (cooked freshly in our safety certified kitchens). You can get a copy of our Edibles price list by clicking here.

Anyway, we would love you to drop by the new shop and support your favourite party planners ;)

Cheers,

Inspired Suppliers - Giggleberry Creations

Earlier this week we shared a little more insight into our new online store, which will be launching next Monday!! As we put the finishing touches on it, we thought we would start introducing you to some of our fabulous Inspired Suppliers.


We are very proud of the suppliers we have carefully chosen to be a part of our Inspired Parties range. Each of them is a small Australian business, many of them mums. They, like us, pride themselves on quality and we are very excited to offer their products to complement the rest of the range.


First up, we would like to introduce Giggleberry Creations. Many of you will already be familiar with Amy's wonderful work. Not only is it fun and a perfect match for any party, it is so well made. In fact when we needed bunting created for our own market set up - who did we call? Amy, of course!

Who? Tell us a bit about yourself...


My name is Amy. I am a wife to one gorgeous man a step-mum to 10yo Felicity and mum to 3yo Milla & Harrison who is 2. I am also the driving force behind the fabric bunting banners of Giggleberry Creations. I love 'getting in and getting things done' and taking on a good challenge. I prefer winter to summer. I believe happiness is a choice. I collect hippos. My favourite colour is purple, I could eat prawns by the bucket load and any excuse to go shoe shopping is a good excuse ;)


What inspired you to start your own business?

When I was pregnant with Milla I was looking for ways to decorate her bedroom that were unique & fun. I took some off cuts to a quilt my mum had made for her and after a play with the random bits of fabric and my sewing machine the first Giggleberry Creations bunting banner was created! 

I made a few more for nieces and nephews which then had family and friends asking me for bunting to match their kid's decor and parties. From there Giggleberry Creations was born and grew into the WAHM business I absolutely adore today 3 and a bit years on! 

Beer, wine, bubbles or soft drink?

Hmmmm bubbles or wine - how to decide? depends on the weather. Bubbles are perfect with a plate of prawns in summer but a glass of good shiraz is just too fabulous on a winters night.

How do you stay innovative and ahead of the pack?

I think there are allot of different factors to staying innovative. Believing strongly in your product and brand is on the top of the list. Keeping an eye on where and how my products are used is a great help in deciding on new items and styles. Also my customer feedback is invaluable - listening to what customers do or don't like can make or break of a product or business.

What is your greatest indulgence?

Chocolate. In any form I'll take chocolate but if it's a warm gooie centered chocolate dessert I'm in heaven!

What difference has being in business for yourself made in your life?

Giggleberry Creations - the "micro-business" was never planned as such. I have been super blessed to have the well known successful business it is today and it is because of this I am able to be the stay at home mum I have always wanted to be since playing with dolls as a little girl - I sew, network, promote, blog etc etc when it fits around my family and can still be the mum I so adore being. That is a true gift I am grateful for with every bunting sale!!

Website: www.giggleberrycreations.com

Blog: www,giggleberrycreations.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/giggleberrycreations

Twitter: www.twitter.com/giggleberryamy

Thanks for being a part of our Inspired Suppliers series Amy - can't wait to see your wonderful bunting in the store next week!

Cheers,

It's almost time...

It's been a busy couple of months here at TIO headquarters. While we have been busy with our wonderful client's events and baking delicious Edibles, we have also been working away on developing our new online shop.

It will be filled with our very own range of products, along with an exclusive range of handmade party accessories from wonderful Australian small businesses and some of our party favourites.

We have shown you a few sneak peeks over the last couple of weeks, but it's almost time to launch... working with the wonderful Tiff from Pink Ink Designs, we are putting on the finishing touches and can't wait to share it all with you soon!

As we prepare to launch, we thought we would introduce our lovely suppliers to you; those who have seen our vision and created items to compliment and enhance our range.
So, over the coming weeks, each Thursday, we will feature each one.

Make sure you pop back and help us to support other small businesses!

Cheers,

Sugar & Spice and all things nice...

Sorry for the quiet week over here on the blog. We have been so busy preparing for our first market outing at Sugar & Spice Children's Market this Sunday, that the week seems to have slipped us by!

We are so thrilled with how our new Inspired Parties range is coming together and can't wait to share it with the visitors at Sugar & Spice. With a mix of products designed by us, as well as complementary items from other (very talented) Australian small businesses, we are hoping that everyone will love it as much as we do!

{sneak peek of our new Inspired Parties range - coming soon}

Finally, we had such a great time at last weekend's Sunny Mummy dinner in Melbourne. We loved meeting all the wonderful mums and business women, all with their own special and inspirational story to tell. We really enjoyed being a part of this dinner and can't wait to do it again soon!

In the mean time, we would love to see you this weekend at Sugar & Spice! If you come along, make sure you pop over and say hi!

Cheers,