One Party Rental 2 year IDEA-versary!

Two years ago, One Party Rental started as a shower thought.

I had a friend coming to Charleston with her baby and was using BabyQuip to rent some of the baby gear she would need while she was here. I could go to one place, see what was available locally, compare different options and book what we needed. It was simple, and somewhere in the middle of thinking about all of this in the shower, I had one of those moments where something just clicks: why couldn't planning a kid's birthday party work this way?

The timing probably had a lot to do with it. I had just planned my son's sixth birthday and had spent way too much time doing exactly what I imagine a lot of parents do. I was searching Google, looking through Instagram pages, going from website to website, sending DMs and texts, and trying to piece together what was available locally and how much everything cost.

The frustrating part was that Charleston wasn't lacking good options. It was actually the opposite. There were so many great local businesses offering bounce houses, cakes, balloons, entertainment, activities and everything else you could possibly need for a birthday party. I knew they were out there. I just couldn't easily find all of them, compare them or book them.

Once I made the connection to BabyQuip, the idea felt almost obvious.

What if there were one place to see the local businesses that offered things for kids' birthdays? What if you could see what they actually offered and what it cost without having to send a message first? And if you needed a bounce house from one business, a cake from another and a face painter from someone else, what if you could book all of it in one place?

That was really it. There wasn't a business plan sitting on my desk or some big research project that uncovered a gap in the market. I was a mom who had just planned a birthday party, happened to be using another marketplace that solved a very similar problem, and realized there was a much easier way this could work.

I also immediately saw how useful it could be on the other side. Some of the best local businesses aren't necessarily the ones that show up first on Google or have huge social media followings. There are small businesses and individuals doing really great things for kids' parties, and unless another parent tells you about them or you happen to come across their Instagram page, you might never know they exist.

A marketplace could make things easier for parents while giving those businesses another place to be found. The vendors could decide what they wanted to offer, set their own pricing and availability, and run their businesses the way they wanted. One Party Rental could simply bring everyone together and make the process of finding and booking them easier.

I got out of the shower and told my husband about the idea. I remember sitting down thinking I should "put some thought into it," but pretty quickly I knew that wasn't going to be enough. I had spent years helping build a local product-based company, so I knew enough to understand that I could probably figure out how to make this work. I also knew myself well enough to know that if someone else built it a few years later, I was going to be really annoyed that I hadn't tried.

So, two years ago, One Party Rental was nothing more than an idea based on two very normal experiences: renting baby gear for a friend and planning my son's birthday party.

There was no website, no vendors, no listings and definitely no understanding yet of how much work would go into actually building it. All of that came next.

But the original idea hasn't really changed. There are great local businesses offering everything parents need to celebrate their kids. Finding and booking them shouldn't be the hardest part of planning the party.

Two years later, that's still exactly what we're here to fix.

Happy two-year idea anniversary to One Party Rental. 🎉

Party More. Plan Less.