Dropshipping Party Products - Suppliers, Products Ideas & Risks
We’ve sold online for several years. During our time, we’ve seen the party industry evolve and thrive, especially since the pandemic and the lifting of restrictions.
We’ll share everything we’ve learned about the party niche to help you decide if it's right for you.
The article includes the following:
- Are Party Products a Good Dropshipping Niche?
- What are the Risks of Dropshipping Party Products?
- Party Product Recommendations
- Party Products to Avoid
- Finding the Best Dropshipping Suppliers for Party Products
- Best Places to Find Suppliers
- Successful Party Stores
- Dropshipping Party Products Throughout the World
Key Takeaways
- Party products are increasing in demand and sales, which indicates it could be a profitable dropshipping niche.
- Create party bundles to increase sales.
- Avoid selling season-specific party products as it will cause peaks and dips in sales.
Are Party Products a Good Dropshipping Niche?
Yes. Google Trends shows the increase in demand over the last five years [1].
The product variation means there are so many products you could sell, including those for different celebrations and themes.
You can also create bundles of products to help customers find the products they need and increase sales.
Product Size
There are tons of party products that are small and light. These include decorations, party favors, cards, tableware, candles, badges, and other similar accessories.
The size and weight of these products make them cheap to ship. This can allow you to keep a high-profit margin.
Bundle Options
Party products are great for bundling.
For example, you could sell a floral set, which includes decorations, balloons, tableware, napkins, and a tablecloth. You can also sell all of these products individually.
Bundles help visitors find relevant products, which will increase customer satisfaction.
It also encourages customers to buy more products. For example, they might only be looking for a banner and balloons. But offering a bundle that includes plates and disposable cutlery with a discount can encourage them to spend more.
Product Variety
There are tons of products within the party niche.
You could sell costumes, decorations, tableware, props, and other products. You could sell products specifically for different occasions, like birthdays, engagements, weddings, baby showers, etc.
This variety gives you a huge opportunity to find profitable products and expand your range.
Year Round Sales
Parties are hosted year-round and aren’t seasonal events.
This is great for dropshipping as it should provide constant profit and allow you to plan your advertising campaigns effectively.
Repurchase Rate
Most party products are disposable and only used for one party. So new products need to be purchased for each party or event.
If you sell high-quality products with a large product variety, shoppers will return for their next event.
This is great for increasing your revenue.
Impulse Shopping
Products are purchased on impulse to make the shopper feel good. Impulse purchases are often affordable and may hold emotional value [2].
Party supplies are often impulse purchased for these reasons.
You can also add relevant party supplies as an upsell, order bump, or cross-sell offer. For example, if someone buys some party plates, you could upsell the matching tablecloth. This will increase your sales and entice customers to spend more impulsively.
What are the Risks of Dropshipping Party Products?
Poor product quality and choosing products that are holiday-specific are the main risks.
These risks might result in refund and return requests and peaks and dips in sales.
Seasonal
Avoid selling party products for specific celebrations and holidays as they are seasonal. These include party supplies for Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve, etc.
This is because your profit and sales will fluctuate. It can also be challenging to plan your advertising campaigns.
Solution: Choose year-round products, like those for birthdays, weddings, etc.
Quality
Party supplies can often be cheaply made and disappointing when they arrive to customers.
This could result in refund requests and lost profit.
Solution: Find a supplier with high-quality products and request samples to confirm the quality.
Party Products to Dropship - Our Top Recommendations
We’ve used our Product Database tool to find products in the party niche that could be winners.
You can use the list for inspiration for your store.
For more ideas, we have an article on the Way to Find Winning Dropshipping Products.
1. Kids Party Favors or Party Bags
Party favors or party bags are gifts given by the host of a party. They are used as a thank you for attending.
Most commonly, kids’ party favors or party bags can include cheap toys, activities, and sweets or chocolate.
You could add a selection of small toys to your store. You could sell these toys in 10-20 piece bulk packages designed for hosts to buy and add to their own party bags.
Alternatively, you could sell pre-made party bag kits, which include two to three of your bulk toy packages plus the bags themselves to put the toys in.
Or, you could sell the toys individually with a discount, e.g., buy ten and save 10%.
These party bags or party favor products can be designed to match decorations too. For example, princess party bags, dinosaur party bags, sports party bags, space themed, etc.
2. Cake Toppers
Cake toppers are a decoration placed on top of a cake. They could be figures or text. For example, the couple on the top of a wedding cake or a cardboard sign with Happy 21st Birthday.
We recommend selling generic cake toppers rather than personalized ones.
It can be difficult to find a supplier for personalized products. You would need one that is willing to create a custom piece and that has a fast lead time. It can also be more complicated to manage the fulfillment process.
Instead, you could choose to sell some of the following:
- Happy Birthday sign
- Happy *add age* Birthday sign
- Congratulations sign
- Mr and Mrs sign
- Mr and Mr sign
- Mrs and Mrs sign
- Love sign
Cake toppers are also cheap to source and ship. This allows you to keep your profit margins high.
3. Birthday Bundles
One of the benefits of selling party supplies is that customers often purchase more than one item.
Bundles are a great way to sell multiple products and increase your sales. To do this, you could create a listing with all of the products included.
Or alternatively, offer discounts and allow customers to create their own bundles. For example, create a listing of each individual item and then offer a 3 for 2 deal or 20% discount when customers buy more than one item in the set.
You could create various bundles depending on the products you sell. Some ideas include the following:
- Tableware: Plates, cups, tablecloths, cutlery, straws, napkins, etc
- Decorations: Balloons, banners, backdrops, etc
4. Bridesmaid Gifts
Often brides give their bridesmaids a gift. The gifts could be given when they are asked to be a bridesmaid or on the wedding day as a thank you.
The gifts will vary, but commonly jewelry or other thoughtful gifts are given.
Customers are often willing to spend more on thoughtful gifts, which can give you a good margin. The gifts are usually small, making shipping cheap too. Both of these factors make them great for dropshipping.
You could sell various products with ‘Bridesmaid’ printed on them. Ideas include the following:
- Champagne glasses
- Water bottles
- Cards
- Pajamas
- Clutch bags
- Makeup bags
- Robe
- Jewelry
- Jewelry box
- Eye Mask
- Candle
5. Guest Books
A guest book is a sentimental book that guests sign at a party.
You can usually source this type of product cheaply, and often, one seller will sell variations of the book.
You could sell them for various occasions.
All of the books have the same interior, so you would just need to create a custom cover. You could sell guest books for weddings, birthdays, baby showers, gender reveal parties, christenings, bachelorette parties, and any other occasion.
6. Photo Booth Props
Photo booths are a great source of entertainment, creating memories and bringing people together. They are becoming more popular at events.
You could sell a bundle of photo booth props to enhance the experience. These could be for a certain event, celebration, or theme. E.g., for kids, for a certain color scheme, etc.
The props are small and light, making them cheap to source and ship and perfect to dropship.
7. Baby Shower Decorations
Baby showers are increasing in popularity [3]. This gives you a great opportunity to start selling baby shower party decorations.
Decorations could be balloons, tableware, photo props, candles, banners, centerpieces, cake toppers, etc.
You could sell these individually or as bundles. You could also sell all of the products in traditional girl and boy colors, in more neutral colors, or for a specific theme, e.g., animals.
Which Party Products Should I Avoid Dropshipping?
Seasonal products, sizing issues, and long lead times are the main reason to avoid these products.
These products could all result in slumps in sales and refund requests.
1. Season Specific Products
We recommend you don’t sell seasonal party products. These seasonal products are only sold at certain times of the year.
Seasonal products will peak right before the season. This is great while they’re in the peak but will drop to zero while they’re out of season. It is also challenging to manage seasonal marketing campaigns and ensure you are generating profit.
Holidays to avoid include Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Thanks Giving, and 4th of July.
2. Party Costumes
We wouldn’t sell costumes. This is for two reasons. The first is seasonality. Costumes are sold year-round but usually peak before Halloween. This means your sales can peak and dip.
The second is that clothes have a high return rate. This is due to sizing issues, fit issues, and customers changing their minds. This may result in lost profits.
3. Custom Products
Custom invitations, banners, balloons, or party favors are desirable. However, custom products have a long lead time, making them difficult to dropship.
It can also make fulfillment complicated and subject to errors. This is because you are reliant on your supplier to create personalized orders and send them to customers directly.
For this reason, we would avoid selling customized or personalized party products.
How to Find the Best Dropshipping Suppliers for Party Products
Check out online marketplaces to find dropshipping suppliers. This is where we start our search.
Usually, these marketplaces will have several suppliers offering similar products. However, the quality, price, policies, and communication will vary.
Request samples from these suppliers to compare the quality of the products.
If you need help choosing your perfect supplier, you can ask the following questions:
- What is the cost per piece?
- Where will the products be shipped from?
- Is the supplier also the manufacturer?
- How much is the shipping?
- Which shipping courier do you use, and how long does it take?
- How long does it take between receiving the order and the product shipping?
- What are the return, refund, and warranty policies?
- Do you offer custom packaging?
- Can you provide images and videos of the product?
- Do you facilitate dropshipping? (including integrating with automation tools, not adding invoices, promotions, or other logos in the product packaging)
We’ve also written an entire article on What to Consider When You Choose a Supplier with everything you need to know.
Best Places to Find Party Suppliers
- AliExpress
- Dropship.io
- Wholesale2B
- Printify
1. AliExpress
AliExpress is one of the most popular places to find dropshipping suppliers. You can find almost any party product.
Most of the suppliers are based in China and offer affordable prices. However, the suppliers aren’t pre-vetted. This means the quality can vary greatly.
To overcome this, make sure to request a variety of samples to confirm the quality.
We also recommend that you look for a supplier that sells a variety of party products. This will mean it’s easier for you to expand your store and offer a seamless experience for customers.
The supplier can bundle multiple products together for quick and easy fulfillment. You can also negotiate prices for a larger volume of orders.
2. Dropship.io
We have our own dropshipping supplier database. It is one of the latest features we’ve launched, and we’re still adding new suppliers.
All of the suppliers we add are pre-vetted. This should provide you with an easy experience and secure product purchases.
You need a Dropship.io membership to access the supplier database. But if you don’t have one yet, we have a 7-day free trial. On the free trial, you can check out the supplier directory and reach out to the suppliers via Skype directly.
We’ve found that speaking directly with our suppliers has helped us develop relationships and negotiate deals.
3. Wholesale2B
Wholesale2B is a paid dropshipping platform.
It has a supplier database with over one million products. You can browse through the products for free. However, to add the products to your store, you will need to join a paid subscription.
Subscriptions start at $37.99 per month.
All paid subscriptions allow you to import up to 10,000 products, process orders in one click, and place unlimited orders. Wholesale2B also handles your fulfillment and returns with suppliers and provides order and tracking syncing.
4. Printify
Printify is a print-on-demand service. This means you can upload your own designs onto their products, and there are several party options to choose from.
You can create balloons and party signs with your own designs.
Printify has a mockup generator that allows you to create images for your online store. You can then order samples of your custom products to ensure you’re happy with the printing and quality.
Once you’ve confirmed and added the product to your store, you can start accepting orders. The orders are automatically sent to Printify, which then sends the orders directly to your customers.
Successful Party Stores
It’s hard to confirm whether a store is really successful as we will never know its exact costs or advertising expenses.
However, with the Sales Tracker tool, you can see the approximate sales of any Shopify party store.
Click the graph icon on the right-hand side to find specific store metrics. Here you will be able to see estimated revenue, total products sold, as well as the top-performing products in the store.
You can contact the supplier to determine whether a product is profitable. Once you have the product’s price, you can deduct it from the sales data on the Sales Tracker.
You can also see if the store is running ads on Facebook and Instagram.
We’ve used the tool to investigate the following three party stores in-depth.
1. Meri Meri
Meri Meri is an online store selling a huge variety of party supplies. They sell party supplies by theme and occasion as well as by item. Products include tableware, decorations, candles, balloons, cake accessories, and party favors.
We can use our Sales Tracker to see how the store is performing. We can see that the store made $119,094.80 in the last 30 days. We can also see that they have 1195 products currently listed in the store. This suggests that party decorations can create a profitable store.
The Sales Tracker also gives us product ideas for our own store.
By sorting the product list by sales, we can see that the most popular product is its Fairy Cupcake Kit. The kit includes 24 cupcake cases and toppers. You can create your own version of this type of product for your store.
We can also see that the Fairy Garland makes the second most sales. From this, we would consider adding a fairy theme to our party store as it’s generating the most sales.
2. Team Hen
Team Hen is a brand that sells products designed for a hen or bachelorette party.
There are decorations, gifts, accessories, and everything else needed.
With the Sales Tracker, we can see the most popular products sold. Some of the top products sold are party favors. These include a Bride Squad Lip Balm and Hen Party Hangover Recovery Kit.
These are cheap gifts, sold for £1.50. They can be purchased individually. But usually, they will be bought in bulk.
We can also see that Team Hen offers a 10% discount when more than six pieces are purchased and a 15% discount with more than 12 pieces purchased. This is a great incentive for customers to order multiple pieces. It will also help you generate additional revenue.
3. Go Hoe or Go Home
Go Hoe or Go Home sells adult card games. They are designed to be played at parties to spice up your night.
They currently sell three games and also offer a gift packaging option.
The Sales Tracker shows they don’t run any Meta ads to attract customers. However, it shows they are still generating sales. They have made $20,201.15 in the last 30 days.
We can access their social channels from the Sales Tracker. Their TikTok currently has almost 100k followers with over six million likes. We can assume that this is how they generate sales.
Analyze their social channels and create similar content for your own store.
Dropshipping Party Products Throughout the World
If you know which country you want to sell in, you can look at trends, data, trends, and culture to find profitable products specific to that region.
This can help increase your sales and give you an edge over your competitors.
USA
The USA generates the most sales in party supplies. This is thought to be due to the increasing number of life-event parties [4] and the use of social media.
You could use this information to create a store selling products that photograph well for social media for these life events, for example, backdrops and decor for bachelor and bachelorette parties.
We have an article on the 18 Best Dropshipping Suppliers in the US if you want to start a dropshipping party store in the US.
UK
The UK has banned the use of plastic straws and is expected to ban the use of single-use plastic cutlery and plates [5].
You can use this information to create a more sustainable party store. You could sell paper tableware or reusable bamboo plates.
We have an article on the 20 Best Dropshipping Suppliers in the UK if you want to start a dropshipping party store in the UK.
Europe
Europe is a popular wedding destination, with people traveling from all over the globe to get married there [6]. Many celebrities have also had weddings in Europe recently, with images posted on social media. This is also thought to be boosting the popularity of European weddings.
You can use this information to create an online party store with wedding-themed items.
We have an article on the 13 Best Dropshipping Suppliers in Europe if you want to start a dropshipping party store in Europe.
Australia
A recent survey in Australia showed that 59% of shoppers buy their party supplies online, and 89% percent like to host parties at home.
It also showed that the most popular themes were whimsical, Hawaiian, 70s, and 60s [7].
This information suggests that creating a party supply store with home decorations in Australia could be profitable. It also gives you party decoration theme ideas to add to your store. For example, creating a Hawaiian-themed decoration bundle with simple costume pieces, like grass skirts and leis.
We have an article on the 13 Best Dropshipping Suppliers in Australia if you want to start a dropshipping party store in Australia.
Malaysia
Malaysia’s official religion is Islam. The religion is followed by three-fifths [8] of the population.
You can research Islamic holidays, festivals, and celebrations. You could then create a store with decorations suitable for the celebrations.
We have an article on the 11 Best Dropshipping Suppliers in Malaysia if you want to start a dropshipping party store in Malaysia.
South Africa
Research shows that the increase in discretionary income in Africa is allowing the population to spend more on celebrating occasions [9]. This is thought to be boosting the party supplies market.
This information suggests that South Africa could be a good place to start a dropshipping store.
We have an article on the 10 Best Dropshipping Suppliers in South Africa if you want to start a dropshipping party store in South Africa.
India
Research suggests that the increase in birth rates in India is likely to increase the number of baby showers thrown [10]. It also shows that modern parents are spending more on their children's birthday parties.
If you’re looking to create a party products store in India, we recommend selling supplies for children's celebrations.
We have an article on the 15 Best Dropshipping Suppliers in India if you want to start a dropshipping party store in India.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Dropship Party Products on Shopify?
Yes! You can create a party products store on Shopify, and it would be our first choice for building a dropshipping store.
Is Dropshipping Party Products Profitable?
Yes, there are so many products within the party niche that can be profitable.
To ensure your product is going to be profitable, use the free Numbers Breakdown tool.
Final Thoughts
We think creating a dropshopping party store has a huge opportunity for profit.
If you want to find party products for your own store, check out the Product Database tool. There are millions of products to search through, and you can set the filters to find ones suitable for your store.
