More Party, Less Planning: Charming Parties in a Box
When it comes to party planning, Anna Bacon has the creativity to pull it off with grace and style. She started planning parties for her children by curating party supplies from Amazon to match themes that her children requested, from princesses to ninjas. As her children got older, she began spending more time planning. She mixed and matched designs from party stores and Etsy, trying to find the perfect combinations that would give her an elegant, beautiful, and cohesive theme throughout every piece of the party.
But her children’s requests became more specific, she started noticing how hard it was to find the right pieces. One store had some pieces and one store had others, but they might not exactly match. She spent countless hours searching for the perfect decorations and kitchenware and wondered if other parents or party planners might be facing the same problem. In addition, Anna started thinking about the environmental impact of all the plastics she was ordering. She switched to wooden tableware instead of plastic, but she was curious of what else she could do to reduce her environmental footprint?
Ordering online has its challenges, and sometimes what you receive doesn’t arrive as expected. Anna started thinking about how she could solve the sourcing issues that other parents and planners had by pulling together one curated, matching themed event box for the perfect party atmosphere. She wanted to create a one-stop place that provides meticulous, custom curated party designs to help pull gorgeous celebrations off without a hitch. That is when Ma fete was born.
The Party Begins
Anna started by hiring illustrators and designers from other marketplaces to create pieces to match the three themes she had in mind. She wanted her products to be made out of paper to cut down on the impact plastics have on the environment, and she wanted to offer parents the chance to create a beautiful party without spending a fortune.
But after she had a portfolio of gorgeous designs, she needed to figure out how to take the images and make products she could actually sell. As a brand new entrepreneur, she didn’t know how to complete the steps needed to take her ideas to a factory, how to find a factory to create the products, or where to even begin the final steps of her journey.
Completing the Puzzle
While adept at party planning and an eye for design, Anna did not have the experience necessary to complete the final steps in creating her product, and that’s when she reached out to Gembah. Gembah supported Anna’s sourcing needs by gathering quotes from factories and helping her select the right ones that could create the products she wanted. Though most of her products are paper, some had pieces that needed to be hand-placed by humans, adding complexity to the products. Gembah helped her find a single factory capable of producing all of her products, saving the time and logistical headache in dealing with multiple factories.
Since products like napkins and plates needed to be food safe, Gembah ushered her products through the necessary lab testing and compliance to ensure they were safe for kids. Gembah also worked with the factory to meet her specific design requirements including match colors, ensuring the factory used the correct colors for different products to keep everything matching.
After a year of hard work, Anna expects to have her products in hand next month. She’s partnered with other brands and is building demand for her product through social media, and hopes to open stores all around the United States.
Success Story
From a Creator
“I was looking for somebody who could connect me with factories in China, because I didn’t know at all how it all worked. I really liked the team and the people [at Gembah]. They are very supportive and always easy to get in touch with and very helpful.”