Reuseable party kit - would you hire one?

MoominMeggy · 2022-01-13T12:59:18+00:00

I'm been pondering the idea of setting up a reusable party kit business. It's not a new idea, there are quite a few around already, but none local to me (https://partykitnetwork.org) Basically, in order to help people avoid buying paper plates, balloons, banners etc., which are used once and then thrown away, I would be hiring out a party kit, probably based around a theme (e.g. dinosaurs, woodland, unicorns etc.), which would contain things like - Cups, bowls, plates (with washing up service) Platters / serving dishes Jugs Table cloths Decorations (bunting, paper lanterns, pom poms etc.) Pass the parcel cloth wrappers All stuff that is along more eco / reusable lines. Could even look into supplying less wasteful party bags. Anyway, just a thought really - I wondered whether this is the kind of service which people might actually use? If so, I might sit down and have a proper think about how it might actually work. Thanks.

FortunesFave · 13/01/2022 13:16

No. I'm a bit of a clean freak and even without Covid, I don't like the idea of it....the thing about businesses like this, they require almost expert social media management in order to gather enough attention.

What I would suggest though is that you consider a kids' glamping part business.

There's one in my town in Australia and she hires out the set up for an indoor sleepover....she has blow up mattresses, little tent canopies to go over them, fairy lights and other accessories. For extra cost, she provides matching dressing gowns and cups which guests keep (basically the parent is buying them from her) and she does other things like provide props for their selfies.

This is a better idea as most parents want an Insta worthy party but can't be bothered sourcing all the junk to go with it.

FortunesFave · 13/01/2022 13:17

www.sleepeeteepee.com.au/ here...have a look.

Chickpea22 · 13/01/2022 13:17

I would. Great idea. I hate all the waste involved in childrens parties.

Flowers500 · 13/01/2022 13:25

It sounds like it would require a lot more work and organisation than other methods of getting party stuff, plus would be more expensive. Would have to plan in advance, have drop-off, then arrange collection, virtually zero chance of things not getting broken in the middle. Unless the stuff was really gorgeous and looked special I can't see it working (well not as a BUSINESS to make money anyway).

Twickerhun · 13/01/2022 13:56

I would be interested but would be very price dependent!

Calendulaaaaa · 13/01/2022 14:05

I lend our ikea sets to school parents for free, would be surprised if you could make money off it.

MoonbeamSprinkles · 13/01/2022 14:13

I hired something like this for my wedding.

She did all the decorations and provided China and centre pieces.

She was brilliant but she went bust about three weddings after mine.

I think you’d have to charge a lot because you are essentially a storage solution, so if you are wanting to do themes you’ll have to have complete sets for those themes which will take up a lot of space.

Kind of like a props shop.

I can totally see it working if you’re able to tap into a certain market, but you’d have to keep renewing stock due to breakages but also your work will come from word of mouth and people will want different looking parties to their friends.
So profit margins will be low but it’ll be hard to explain that to a customer who will only see that they’re hiring one set.

Original poster

MoominMeggy · 13/01/2022 14:16

@Twickerhun

I would be interested but would be very price dependent!

I was thinking £10 for basic kit, maybe a but extra with add-ons. Wouldn't be a huge money maker I know, but I would want to at least be covering my costs.

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Buyitinbamboo · 13/01/2022 14:34

I looked at this in my area and it was so expensive I just couldn't justify it. Basically I wanted it for a christening and there would have been 80 people. The package worked out at £90 and I was pretty confident it wouldn't have been enough serving plates in the package.

Buyitinbamboo · 13/01/2022 14:35

Pressed post too soon. It's a difficult one because it included washing up so that's a lot of work for the person, so I can see why they need to charge that, but it would have cost me less than £20 in disposables. (event never happened anyway because of COVID)

Original poster

MoominMeggy · 13/01/2022 14:40

@Buyitinbamboo

Pressed post too soon. It's a difficult one because it included washing up so that's a lot of work for the person, so I can see why they need to charge that, but it would have cost me less than £20 in disposables. (event never happened anyway because of COVID)

Interesting. I think I'd be looking at focusing on kids parties, where the numbers would be limited, hopefully to around 30 (??) And where you could offer a bit of variety in terms of themes. But would obviously need to start off small.

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Flowers500 · 13/01/2022 15:12

If you do the maths: how much will it cost to actually buy the kit? How many rentals can you hope to (realistically) get from them? Bearing in mind wear and tear, with people expecting as new. How much will it cost to clean and transport them? How much would you need to charge to make this back, then add VAT and your time (including interacting with customers, delivery) and the cost of advertising/having them on a site somewhere.

Work this out per party pack then compare with what is available to buy. You'd like need to offer something better on experience in order to get over the extra admin for yours, might need to be stuff that is better quality? Problem is people value quality for weddings and formal events more so than kids parties because kids like tacky shiny crap.

I'd work that out and then see if it's worth your time.

user1488622199 · 13/01/2022 15:13

I hired a set for my kids birthday party in November. It was all IKEA plates and bowls, cups, serving bowls, jugs then bunting and decorations. It cost £20 (£10 for a set of 20, £25 for 35 or £20 for 40 sets) plus you could pay an additional £5 per set for them to be washed afterwards if you wanted (we washed them ourselves). There was a £10 deposit which I assume was kept if they were returned dirty. I thought it was great, far easier to go and pick up one bundle of stuff that I needed than trudging around shops getting stuff that would end up in the bin. We didn’t have any choice or theme, it was the pastel ikea stuff and I was happy with that. Can’t imagine there’s much profit in it as pps said but I think it’s a great service and I don’t think I would have got everything I needed for less than I paid.

NuffSaidSam · 13/01/2022 19:41

I think it could work in the right area.

You need people who are affluent and feel guilty about their impact on the environment/care about the environment.

I think it would go down a storm in West London (although the problem there would be that lots of people are so affluent they're just using a space with catering etc. already included).

mugoftea456 · 13/01/2022 19:54

Honestly I wouldn't.

Disposable is cheap and easy enough to pick up at a supermarket. I wouldn't want the extra thing to arrange.

Original poster

MoominMeggy · 13/01/2022 20:04

@user1488622199

I hired a set for my kids birthday party in November. It was all IKEA plates and bowls, cups, serving bowls, jugs then bunting and decorations. It cost £20 (£10 for a set of 20, £25 for 35 or £20 for 40 sets) plus you could pay an additional £5 per set for them to be washed afterwards if you wanted (we washed them ourselves). There was a £10 deposit which I assume was kept if they were returned dirty. I thought it was great, far easier to go and pick up one bundle of stuff that I needed than trudging around shops getting stuff that would end up in the bin. We didn’t have any choice or theme, it was the pastel ikea stuff and I was happy with that. Can’t imagine there’s much profit in it as pps said but I think it’s a great service and I don’t think I would have got everything I needed for less than I paid.

Yes, this is exactly the kind of thing I was thinking of.

Some interesting comments, thanks everyone.

It would definitely be aimed at people who were concerned about the environmental impact of single use cups, plates, decorations etc. I think that hiring would work out cheaper or at least the same as buying stuff yourself, and the idea would be to make it less stressful / time consuming for mums - they just pick a theme and someone delivers everything they'll need to them and then does the washing up afterwards.

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FortunesFave · 13/01/2022 22:33

The problem is that this seems like just a tiny part of what party planners offer as part of a package. I've worked as a face painter for a large company which plans parties for children and they do everything. I honestly don't see a market for this....and if you did manage to hire a few sets out, you'd be making no profit. Ten pounds for a hire....you wouldn't even get your washing up time back for that!

mugoftea456 · 14/01/2022 07:07

I've done some research.

IKEA sell plates/Bowles/cups for 1.50for 6 per set

So 4.50 would cover 6 kids.
0.75 per child.

I can't see how you can hire out for a lot of money when parents could buy the set.

I would prob buy the full set rather than hiring if I was eco conscious and give them to the kids to take home after or use for next party.

HelloDulling · 14/01/2022 07:15

In my ‘whole class party’ days I would have done. The IKEA plastic plates, plus wipeable/washable tablecloths.

calliecapers · 22/01/2022 10:04

How would you market this? How would you build the business?

It's not that easy