About Party Favourz

The hectic pace of modern life can seem relentless at times: "Time waits for no man" says the Proverb. "It doesn’t give mums much of a break either!" says Sue Heaney of Party Favourz, a company based at the ever popular business estate in the Nazeing Glass Works, Hertfordshire.

Trying to organise the kids and their hectic social lives or to keep on top of the household chores and to manage to fit in work as well? All take time and effort and that leaves precious little left over to organise the more memorable things in life, like the children’s parties that seem to fill up the calendar on the kitchen wall or weddings which once seemed "just around the corner" but are suddenly only weeks away or even the sometimes feared Christmas Dinner with all the family in tow, sneakily looking at your table layout and eyeing the quality of your Crackers!

Working mums, Jane Wood and Sue Heaney know all those feelings and worries. With four kids between them ranging from 13 to 16, their lives have been, and continue to be, dominated by the need to juggle a whole host of tasks which essentially combine to ensure the smooth running of family life so that to outsiders (and husbands) all appears calm and under control, like a serene swan gliding through the lily pads whilst paddling like billyo underneath the surface!

So, resolved to help themselves and others in the same predicament, they formed Party Favourz in 2006. "Initially", says Jane, "we just wanted to put together a decent party bag without any of the cheap gifts that you sometimes see or perhaps without some of the poor quality sweets, so that our children’s friends could take a nice party bag home with them as a thank you for coming to whatever party or get together. We didn’t want to have to spend the earth or spend too much time out of an already busy week trying to sort it, either".

That basic concept spawned a multitude of ideas which led to the two of them creating the company. Having discarded the generic, impersonal party bag approach favoured by larger organisations, they created a range of party cones, each hand made from quality card and containing individually wrapped sweets and quality, contemporary toys, wrapped in cellophane and finished with a hand tied ribbon, all colour coordinated to match a party theme or venue colours. From the very beginning flexibility was a prime factor; with one of their kids having diabetes and another a severe peanut allergy, the ability to cater to various dietary requirements was very important as was being able to personalize the party cone to the relevant party guest to add that finishing and thoughtful touch.

"After a short while, having really just aimed at kid’s parties with party cones, balloons and table ware, we soon started getting asked about other parties and weddings and the like," says Sue "and so, our range just grew from there, driven by what people wanted or would like to see".

The company now offers bespoke wedding favours for couples, creating unique and personalised favours for the special day. Traditionally, almond favours have been a favourite but in addition to their almond range, with a modern interpretation, the company offers bespoke favours with, essentially, an endless range of fillings according to the customers’ requirements. Hand written tags can also be attached with the wedding guests’ names, personalising the favours even further. "These favours", Sue explains, "can either be used as place settings or, if placed within, for instance, Champagne Flutes, can contribute to and enhance the colour scheme of the tables themselves". The company also produces matching confetti cones and table plans to compliment the wedding theme and colour.

Personalisation and colour coordination, it would seem, are important. "When you are talking about your wedding day, then everything has to be perfect doesn’t it?" says Jane. "Why would you go to the trouble of choosing a colour scheme only to find that the off the shelf favours and table decorations you have bought don’t match? That’s why we match our product colours to the colours already chosen by the happy couple".

Another product proving to be in demand is the activity cone produced for the younger guests at weddings. These are larger cones containing gifts and toys to keep the kids entertained whilst the speeches are underway thereby hopefully preventing the bored infant cries and the whispered mutterings of "you take him out will you" and "no, he’s my friend, you take him out". Even these cones can be matched in to the colour scheme of the day and finished off with the child’s name on a personalised tag.

More recently, the company has started to offer a wide range of centre pieces for wedding, parties and other events and a number of these products can now be hired as well as purchased, thereby helping to minimize costs of what can be a very expensive occasion. A recent trend has seen "fish bowls" become a must have centre piece on wedding tables and the company can offer a wide range of bowls which can be filled with either fresh or artificial flowers or even Loveheart sweets or the like for the kids or all guests if you like! "We can also supply a wide variety of fresh flower centre pieces or even candles" says Jane, "it just depends on what is needed. We supply to the corporate and hotel based markets too so office parties and the like can also be catered for".

Ideas for Christmas can be a problem as well and the company has put together a range of age appropriate fully wrapped stockings for girls and boys at budgets to suit all as well as especially themed table presents and the like.

"We are also selling a range of pre wrapped Christmas presents aimed at Schools and hotels this year," explains Jane, "so that presents can be given out when that nice old chap in the big red suit turns out!"

Don't forget we can supply anything to do with parties. We will even supply wrapped pass the parcels to a budget of your choice! Please email your requirements to info@partyfavourz.com.

Call us on 0845 0345135 to discuss any special requirements.