There’s nothing quite like getting ready to celebrate your child’s first birthday. For many it’s a whirlwind of emotions. Laughter, tears, shock, complete and utter disbelief, and if you’re anything like me, it was pulling out all his new-born clothes, crying and excitedly embracing the next chapter!
Months and months of trolling Instagram looking at 1st Birthday Partyideas is not a task for the faint hearted! It’s a complete workout! With so many ideas, vendors and concepts it was a mission to land on an idea that was creative yet cost effective. After all my son was not going to remember the day, but I guess it’s the first celebration of life for our bubba’s and one that would hopefully set the tone for the rest to come.
The ideas were flowing,“What about a Black Lightening Party, or Welcome to Wakanda theme?”, I had to quickly pull myself back and be practical. What would be an enjoyable theme for kids of all ages attending and something I know my boy enjoys. Reading! So, we landed the idea of doing a book themed party. Not just any type of books, children books that had characters from ethnic minority groups and characters that celebrated black culture and history! So, we were all set and ready to go!
Milk + Honey
I soon reached out to Candy & Confetti. They specialise in bespoke party planning, treat tables, event styling and even prop hire. Having shared a mood board of inspiration we were set to go. They created a group WhatsApp to share ideas along the way and would create a treat table full of the ideas we had explored and the books we would have on the day! Now if anyone knows me, I’m a complete control freak when it comes to planning events! None the less, both Natalie and Chantelle gave me so much peace and were so passionate about the brief I had no reason to want to get involved any further.
Candy & Confetti designed cupcakes and sugar cookies for the treat table, complete with an array of sweetie jars that matched the colourful theme. The top of the kart came complete with Kente cloth which played beautifully with our cultural theme with a balloon garland to complete the look. The kart came with personalised wording, Alexsander is One and a blue helium balloon of the number one. It was like his very own magical sweet kart from a faraway land to share with his guest.
The cupcakes and cookies went all the way down and took ages for people to get into because they just wanted to marvel at what Candy & Confetti had created. The cupcakes were both sponge and chocolate topped with sugar icing, whilst the cookies were made of shortbread with sugar icing glazed on top! Some had stacks of books made of icing, some had my son’s initials on, whilst others were posted with characters from the featured books like, Young Black & Gifted, Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History, Anna Hibiscus Song, Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different and historical figures in Black History like Nelson Mandela, Mohammad Ali, Barackand Michelle Obama! Ahhh! The entire execution was perfection and I couldn’t have asked for more. The attention to detail was impeccable and I felt like they had gone over and beyond to make my babies day special! Its heart moving when someone does something for your child that is evidently filled with love, attention and care and this was exactly what the team at Candy & Confetti had done.
So, want to know the Mama Bosses behind the brand? We caught up with Natalie and Chanelle, co-founders of Candy & Confetti to see how they are doing it all… Here’s what they had to say!
[Natalie & Chanelle, Co-Founders of Candy + Confetti]
1. Who are the brains and beauty behind Candy & Confetti?
Natalie and Chanelle Mum’s to 3 kids between us, from ages 19yrs – 7yrs oh and a husband. We both work in high pressurised jobs, while pursuing our dream of styling every event with the highest quality, eye catching playful, inspiring… essentially÷ we love all things pretty and party.
2. What inspired you to start your own business?
We are both fashion style conscious chicks and love everything fashion and interior. We started by pure accident actually – a friend was getting married and wanted a candy table on a budget. Knowing that we both have a sweet tooth and have an eye for styling she asked us and we said yes. Planning and buying the stock for the event was so much fun and came naturally to us. Not to mention deciding what sweets we wanted (yum lol). Whilst setting up at the wedding, the Event co-ordinator approached us for our business card asking us if they could recommend our treat tables to their clients as they’d never seen anything like it and their guests would love our set up. Along with that and the compliments from the wedding guests, the happy couple and our desire to want to start our own venture; Candy & Confetti was born…
3. Has being mothers had a change on wanting to work for yourselves?
Being mothers has made our desire to succeed even more intense as this is a wonderful way to show our kids that much can be achieved by having faith, working hard and being true to yourself.
We live in a world where a job is no longer for life. When building your own venture, you have the ability to control your own destiny and fulfil your passion. You are able to live what you truly love and when you do that it never feels like work.
4. Who inspires you as women?
Our mother’s, our sisters, our girlfriends, they are our foundation, the ones we have looked up to and have shown us that you can do and be anything you want with hard work. We were both raised by strong, single parent mothers who work hard to provide to our needs. Watching them 1. Doing it alone 2. Doing it without slacking and regardless of the afro-Caribbean occasional cussing teaching us that you can achieve all you set out to. If they did it – so can we!
5. In all things there are always challenges, what have been some of yours in getting started?Time – or more specifically trying to maintain work life balance.
6. We’ve seen first-hand the attention to detail you go into when doing an event, how important is this for you as part of the process?
It’s crucial -being creatives by nature for us details are the thing that pulls the grand picture together. Details draw people in. Details are where imagination lives and runs free, details tell the full story. Details for us are a way to personalise and bring our displays to life.
7. What has been your most exciting project to date?
What has been your most exciting project to date? Without a doubt – Alexsander’s 1st birthday. We were given the brief, space and were entrusted with the freedom to allow our creativity to run free. It was an amazing opportunity to marry our creative gifts with the celebration of both of our cultural heritage
8. If you had a dream client who would it be and why?
A client with a limitless budget and wild sweet filled dreams who allows us to bring them to life! LOL
9. What advice can you give to other mothers, with business ideas who want to get kick started?
Don’t put limitations in front of yourself. take a leap of faith and just get started! It’s very easy to talk your way out of or be guilted into not embarking upon your dreams. Something will always get in the way so just keep pushing Also get used to not being able to please everyone Nothing worth having ever comes without hard work or sacrifice
10. What advice can you give to other mothers, with business ideas who want to get kick started?
Don’t put limitations in front of yourself. take a leap of faith and just get started! It’s very easy to talk your way out of or be guilted into not embarking upon your dreams. Something will always get in the way so just keep pushing Also get used to not being able to please everyone. Nothing worth having ever comes without hard work or sacrifice.
Contact us:
Instagram– @candyandconfettievents
Facebook: candyandconfetti
