Decorating a Party with Birthday Express

Party supply companies make planning birthday parties so simple. They are truly a one-stop shop for all that an organizer needs. From party decorations to party favors to serving pieces, these supply companies have it all. I love that you can find practically any theme you can imagine, whether it's celebrating a milestone like a 1st birthday or 40th, Hawaiian or Mardis Gras, there are supplies to fit parties for any age or occasion.

Although Little B's birthday won't be for a few months, we were able to review a few items from Birthday Express. The theme for his 1st birthday party is carnival, so I chose the Giant Outdoor Carnival Decorating Kit and Red Curtain Backdrop banner. These items are going to be a hit.

The supplies came folded and I unwrapped all of them to check for quality. They do have creases but I'm hoping that gravity will smooth them out. Since the party won't be for a few more months, I folded them back up. I did roll the welcome sign, buntings, and red curtain backdrop to hopefully smooth out the creases. If you are going to order the red curtain, make sure you order it far enough in advance so you have time to unfold it and let it just hang to remove creases. During our test decorating, we used painters tape and that seemed good enough to hold up the red curtain backdrop. 

My favorite features

• Good quality decorations. These are all plastic decorations but I don't have to worry about having the these tear or rip while putting them up. 
• Bright, vivid colors. The carnival kit has amazing colors that pop and will surely transform our venue.
• The size of the welcome banner is huge (a little over 5 feet wide) and is a definite eye-catcher.
• The red curtain backdrop looks great during out test photo shoot. I love the appearance of depth this flat backdrop provides.

The carnival decorating kit is $29.99 and is a good value. If you had to buy these pieces separately, it will definitely cost more; buying them as a kit does save money. The fringes, pennant, and bunting are each 24 feet long and are more than enough to cover a wide area. The fringe banner is all in one-piece. It may be a little hard to separate this into sections if you want to use in two different areas. The penant and bunting banners are strung together and can easily be separated by cutting the string.

The red curtain backdrop banner is $9.99. I think it's a fair price and is certainly comparable to other party supply retailers offering the same product. This is a great alternative to making my own backdrop for the photo booth station. I would have had to buy fabric and then construct a contraption to hold up the fabric. The banner makes everything simple because all I have to do is tape up a backdrop (I can't imagine taping up heavy cloth and actually expecting it to hold up for a second). The plastic backdrop saves time and money. It's best used in very good lighting so you don't need flash to take pictures. Otherwise, the flash will bounce off. 

A little about Birthday Express
Birthday Express is part of the Celebrate Express family. The company focuses on children's birthday parties and is a leading catalog and online retailer of party supplies. Birthday Express offers over 150 party themes for both boys and girls. The retailer manufactures exclusive designs and has partnered with popular brands to offer supplies that cater to consumer trends and needs.

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Disclosure: I received free products to facilitate my review. No other compensation was provided. All opinions expressed are my own.