Halloween, Christmas and Parties -- all great reasons to shop Oriental Trading Company !
Written: Sep 22 '05
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One thing about having a big family, is you end up throwing A LOT of parties! Throughout the years, we would shop at the Oriental Trading Company where we would always be able to purchase all that we needed and have money left over for the food!
SHOPPING
Any and everything you need to host a birthday party (kids and adults), a carnival, have friends over for a sports event, have a baby or bride shower, stock a "rewards store," celebrate a holiday or hand out to trick or treaters.
Most of the items come in large quantities - like a dozen -and so they are perfect for groups.
Note: Leftover bulk items work well in Pinatas and also tied onto a gift for a cute decoration the child can also play with!
OH, WHAT TO BUY????
There are always A LOT of choices when shopping at the Oriental Trading Company Online Store from cheep
trinkets to some nice long lasting items. There selection changes a bit with the holidays so there is always something new to get! Right now, the main areas are --
• Candy & Pinatas
• Costumes
• Crafts
• Decorations
• Novelties & Assortments
• Novelty Jewelry & Accessories
• Party Supplies
• Small Toys & Games
• Stationery
• Dollar Deals
I picked up some Halloween party items there this last visit as we always have a large party. They offer a nice selection of products for a variety of ages which we need.
Some of the fun items were -
1 3/4" Bouncing Eyeballs With Putty. The top opens to reveal red putty inside! $5.95 a dozen
Foam Halloween Mask Craft Kit. Assorted styles. (makes 12) 3 styles, pumpkin, ghost and witch $4.95 for twelve
And of course some new decorations and tableware.
Soon they will be adding more Christmas items and this is a great place to pick up stocking stuffers!
My favorite year round items are their Puppets. I am a big fan of toys that use a child's imagination and these do just that. The latest set I bought was the Cloth Fairytale Hand Puppets which are really cute. There are a dozen different puppets and at only $9.95 these are a steal!
PARTY PLANNING
My young niece was having a birthday and she is in love with Tinkerbell. I knew right away where to get all of her supplies and offered to buy them as part of our gift. I headed right over to Orientaltrading.com
Buying for a party is easy. After choosing the Tinkerbell theme we needed to pick which type of kit we wanted - Basic, Deluxe or Ultimate. Basic has everything from invitations, to tablecloths, to plates, cups, cutlery, streamers, confetti and balloons at $17.95. We went for the Deluxe package which added in a banner, blowouts, hats, 5 mylar balloons (including a tinkerbell one) for $34.95. We added in the Pinata, goody bags and wands. Leaving the Tinkerbell area we also added in the Create-A-Crown Craft Kit which allowed all of the guest to create their own crown -- which was a big hit!
SHIPPING
At Orientaltrading.com the shipping cost is based on the amount spent STARTING at $6.95 for orders up to $30.00.
It goes up from there with it being $11.95 for orders between $90-$120 all the way up to 10% of the order if over $200.
I usually end up paying $7.95 as my orders seem to always fall in the $30.01 - $60.00 range. Since it is only a dollar more than the minimum amount, I tend to talk myself into a few extra items to "save on shipping!"
You can pay extra for faster shipping but, since all of my orders have arrived within a week, I have never done that.
~~ ** ~~ ** ~~ 2BUZY'S FINAL THOUGHTS ON THIS SITE ~~ ** ~~ ** ~~
I have shopped at the Oriental Trading Company for years. I started out ordering fro their snail mail catalogs and then moved over to their online store. I have never had a problem with any order -- they have arrived on time, well packed and the products are always the same as those pictures. My only tiny complaint would be the lack of detail on the online site -- it would be nice to have a more detailed description. I have called on a couple of things (the size of the hand puppets to see what age could use them for example) and CS has always been very helpful. SO.... if you have a question you can get an answer, i would just like to skip that step and be able to find it o the site myself.
Throughout the years, I could have saved a bit on a some of the items if I shopped around BUT the time (and gas) saved made the small difference well worth it! I am giving Oriental Trading Company Online Store 4.75 stars with the small drop for the lack of detail in the descriptions.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? party supplies
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2buzy
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