Giveaway (St. Louis Only): Windy City Novelties

We don't do friend birthday parties for all of our kids every year - too much expense and really, too much of everything when you do that. But for my oldest, who turned 12 on December 29, she hadn't had a friend birthday party since she turned 8, so it was time. But unfortunately for her, most people are not available on December 29, so we waited until January 17 to actually have the party. When Windy City Novelties offered me a few fun things from their shop, we decided to plan the party around those items. We received this Daisy Bead Curtain:

We also got one of these retro flower table runners:

And this giant tube of glow bracelets:

Using these items I picked up a few extra things like the groovy plates and napkins and got lucky when Sam's Club sold some vintage cans of Pepsi and Mountain Dew that weekend. Score!

 

Now then, for the review itself: The party was a raging success and I would do it again in a heartbeat. We had Groupons for a local vintage bowling alley (the kind that only has 8 lanes and you have to keep score yourself) and that was super fun. The girls game dressed for the occasion and we dabbled with tie-dye that day too. Fun times.

The table runner was super cute and the glow sticks made an awesome addition to their take home treats. I also included these smiley face cookies. The bead curtain, however, was not quiet as simple as taking out of the box and hanging it. The box claims it's "ready to hang" but I present you with this:

 Yep. It was a big tangled mess that I spent waaayyy too much time getting undone. I won't even tell you how much time I spent trying to untangle this goofiness. I finally cut a lot of it apart and tried to tie it together - this chain doesn't like to be tied. Anyway, what I was sort of hoping would be something cute we could hang in her room after the party is now back in a tangled heap after we took it down that day. But that's okay.

The glow sticks were my surprise treat that I didn't really even know I would like the best. We've purchased cheap glow sticks from Target before and won't make that mistake again - they spring leaks all the time. These were nice, though, and they came with a bunch of connectors so you could make necklaces out of them. My girls have enjoyed using these glow sticks a lot over the past weeks.

The table runner was very nice too and we rolled it back up to use again another time.

So, as you can see, what they sell is novelties - stuff that is extra. But sometimes a party just needs that little extra to give it some pizazz. If I'm in the market for this kind of thing in the future, I will definitely check them out first to see if they have what I need. I'll just avoid the bead curtains. *wink*

They also sent me something to giveaway to one of you. As I don't have a shipping budget, I have to keep this one local, so if you are someone I see in St. Louis, please feel free to enter to win this Colour Changing Cube Clock:

 Groovy, huh? Here's how to enter:

• Simply leave any comment on this post. Do you have a favorite place for party supplies?  That's an automatic entry. 

•  For a second entry, check out Windy City Novelties and let me know something that looks interesting to you.

• For a third entry, tweet this: Win a treat from Windy City Novelties right here: http://bit.ly/g4IXpG - Come back and leave an extra comment letting me know you did that.

• For a forth entry, mention this contest on your facebook wall and include the link to this giveaway: http://bit.ly/g4IXpG. Come back and leave another comment for that one too.

• For a fifth entry, "like" Windy City Novelties on Facebook and mention you entered this contest on their wall, including this link to the giveaway: http://bit.ly/g4IXpG Come back and let me know you did that.

• For a sixth entry, subscribe to this blog, St. Louis, Seminary Style. Come back and let me know that you did it! 

• Go back to my landing page for this week's giveaways and reviews. Choose one of my "review only" posts to leave a comment on and then come back saying you did that. Presto! A 7th entry!

The winner will be selected by Random.org. This contest will close on Friday, February 4. The winner will be notified that weekend and will need to respond within 48 hours or risk forfeiting the prize to the next in line.  IMPORTANT: You must make your Blogger Profile has your email address available for me to contact you. If it is set to private or otherwise not visible, you will need to add it in with your comment. If I can't contact you, I will choose another winner. It's happened before.

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Click here to see the rest of this week's giveaways and reviews.

Disclosure: We were given the party supplies mentioned in this post for the purpose of review. I was honest when I said the table runner and glow sticks were awesome and equally honest when I said the daisy flower curtain was a pain in the neck, though a cute one.  I keep a proper disclosure statement available right here.