Chris speaks with Marisa Collazo, owner of My Little Party Place in Berkeley Heights. Marisa worked for years as an event manager at a private club on NYC's Park Avenue and as catering manager at Fordham University. However, the hours were grueling and Marisa wanted to be able to spend more time with her son. She found the perfect spot to open her own business in Berkeley Heights and now plans parties for the most important people, kids. She throws fabulous themed birthday parties for local children and no theme is off limits. If you visit their Instagram page, you will see that the attention to detail is unmatched. Parties have featured Mary Poppins, Harry Potter, Frozen, Spider-man, Wonder Woman, and Jojo Siwa. In addition to parties, they offer half-day summer workshops with fun activities like cooking and STEAM.
Year Established: 2018
Type of Business: Kids Activities
Website: www.mylittlepartyplace.com
Locations:
472 Springfield Ave, Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922
Local ties: We purchase the pizza & baked goods for all of our parties from Berkeley Heights businesses, and all of our party helpers are Berkeley Heights residents. We also refer all custom cake and cookie inquiries to 2 great Berkeley Heights residents.
Community causes: We’ve just been added to the list of businesses accepting donations on behalf of the Moms Helping Moms Foundation. They collect donations of essential baby items from families who no longer need them and pass them on to families who do. I thought we’d be a great location to collect these items, as mothers of young children are in and out each week. I reached out to MHM and they were happy to have us host their donation box! As a business, we have donated gift cards and free parties to tricky trays, and have made small donations to sports fundraisers and other causes within Union County.
About Marisa: Born & raised in Manhattan, Marisa spent her career in high net worth sales & customer service positions in Event Planning, Catering, Banking and Manufacturing. Always dreaming of the day she’d own a party planning business, in 2017 she decided to take that leap. Today, she employs the use of big business thinking to run her small business, putting client satisfaction at the forefront of everything she does. That means making sure mom, dad & child are happy. Small business ownership has been tough, but she wouldn’t change her decision if she could! Marisa lives in Springfield, NJ with her 8 year old son, Jacob.
Quirky Stat: I own 17 sets of china. Some are tea service, others are full service for 8 or 12. I use some of the pieces for our tea parties at the shop, and have 2 sets at home that I switch out. The other sets, well, my mom has organized them nicely in my storage room. She thinks I have too many sets,but I’m always on the lookout for new (old) sets at garage or estate sales!
Best moment as a business owner: When the birthday child says it was the best party they ever had. This past weekend one of my birthday girls came in and truly could not contain her happiness. She brought each of her guests in to the party room addressing me and the décor saying, “Look at what she did for me! You didn’t have to do this, I can’t believe it. This is so beautiful, this is the BEST DAY EVER!” This warmed my heart and was a great reminder of why I love doing what I do.
Favorite activity in New Jersey: Dining at great, quaint BYOB restaurants.
Additional Links:
Have you been to a party at My Little Party Place? What was the experience like? Post a comment.
