By Karen Parr-Moody
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Between the gazillion party ideas on Pinterest and TV’s gourmet cooking shows, Americans are tempted to party-planning greatness. That said, hosts and hostesses still need the goods to make party ideas a reality. With the Party Shop, those goods are here.
The Party Shop opened a month ago at 210 Needmore Road, Suite B. It is a shop where customers can, for example, bring Hawaii to their back yard with the many “luau party” items. These include grass skirts, faux orchid leis, Tiki mask piñatas, umbrella drink picks and themed invitations. All one needs is a playlist of melodies like “Aloha Oe.”
The store has a colorful selection of items for a luau party./Karen Parr-Moody
Jamison “Kip” Jenkins and his wife, Dawn, are the owners of the store, where Elmo, Mickey Mouse and “Frozen” characters are splashed across everything from balloons to paper plates. Kip said that after living here for two years, he noticed that Clarksville didn’t have a party store. This gave him the idea of starting such a business.
“I was like, ‘Why doesn’t this big city have a party store?’’ Kip says. “It was a window of opportunity. We took it and we’ve loved it.”
Piñatas come in a variety of shapes and characters, including Elmo, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, a pink castle and various sports balls./Karen Parr-Moody
Mere days ago, Kip retired from the Army after 15 years of service; the timing was perfect. Additionally, Dawn has been selling party items on the internet for six years, so the couple isn’t entirely new to the genre. Their goal is to offer a one-stop party shop so that people don’t have to order supplies online or drive to Nashville.
The Party Shop offers a large selection of baby shower and birthday party decorations, along with a smaller selection of wedding materials. The store also sells items with the themes of retirement, welcome home, anniversary, graduation and various holidays. Among these items are balloons, piñatas, cards, plates, napkins, decorations and more. The store also offers plates and napkins in patterns of chevron, polka dot and solids so that people can mix and match them.
The Party Shop offers plates, napkins, cups and even pattered straws./Karen Parr-Moody
The store is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is closed on Mondays. To find out more visit www.shopthepartyshop.com or on www.facebook.com/shopthepartyshop.
Karen Parr-Moody began a career as a New York journalist, working as a fashion reporter for Women’s Wear Daily, a beauty editor for Young Miss and a beauty and fashion writer for both In Style and People magazines. Regionally, she has been a writer at The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper and currently writes about arts and culture for Nashville Arts magazine each month.