WE GET THE PARTY STARTED

Meet the women who bring the festivities to life

‘I think I just had a very good idea and I was quite determined’

Carole Middleton set up Party Pieces 30 years ago. She talks for the first time about how she built the company from her garden shed

In 1987, I had two young children and was pregnant with my son, James. We had come back to the UK from living abroad and I was a full-time mum. I didn’t want to miss out on my children growing up, so I considered starting my own business. Party Pieces was a result of my personal need for my own children’s parties. You had to hunt high and low to find suitable party supplies. I found suppliers and put up notices in my daughter’s playgroup that said ‘Planning a party?’ and started getting orders. My memories of those early days are very vivid. We worked out of a studio in the garden that was a glorified shed. My husband, Michael, put up a table top, which was like a kitchen workbench. I put my stock underneath and the top was for packing the parcels.

For the first year, business came through advertising in playgroups. Our big break came when I used a company called Red House Books to send out flyers about Party Pieces. We put out 10,000 leaflets, which gave a huge boost to our orders. I thought if we could do that on 10,000, why not send out 100,000? We could scale up.

We realised we needed a warehouse, so we moved to a small start-up unit in Hungerford. In 1995, we moved to Child’s Court Farm, where we have been ever since.

Party Pieces has been going for 30 years now. We have 35 employees, some of them have been with us since the early days. The biggest change was when the internet came along and we got a website. We’ve moved from being a mail order business to an e-commerce one.

Although we made our name as a children’s party company, there is just as much interest in other areas like milestone birthdays, hen parties, weddings, baby showers and graduations. People are celebrating more, especially at home, as it is expensive to go out. We can help to quickly set a scene. The addition I am most excited about is the New Years Party Pack*, which includes tableware and decorations like gold confetti balloons and bunting. It’s all in one box, so it’s an easy fix for hosting a crowd or a few friends.

My children have all worked for the business. Catherine started the First Birthday brand – she chose the products and looked after all the imagery and the catalogue production. Pippa set up the blog, as we didn’t have one. James came up with the idea of personalised cakes and got them off the ground for us. Because they all grew up with me working, Party Pieces has been very much part of our lives and what we talked about. I still ask their advice and say, ‘What do you think of this?’

I don’t think I have unique skills [in business]. I think I just had a very good idea and I was quite determined. My leadership style is very hands-on, I would not ask people to do anything that I would not be prepared to do myself. I am the visionary one but I need a team around me to make sure things are achievable and organised. I enjoy working and value what I have done. When I left school, I wanted to be a teacher, but my parents couldn’t afford to send me to teacher training college, so instead I decided to get a job with the idea of raising the money myself. I got married quite young and had children, so when the time came to work again, it seemed a better idea to set up Party Pieces.

I would say to other entrepreneurs that anything is achievable. If you have a good idea and you have lots of energy and a supportive family, then I think just try it. ◆

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