Today we’d like to introduce you to Manuel and Grace Rojas.
Manuel and Grace, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It all started more than 12 years ago at my sister’s wedding in Venezuela. My mother, the creator of our more than 500+ “Party Hats”, has always been extremely talented and creative. While planning my sisters wedding, she decided to make some foam hats for the “Hora Loca” of the party (hora loca is the time at Venezuelan/Latino parties where the DJ plays classical hits – props are shared to the wedding guests, and EVERYBODY goes to the dance floor to party – it is always the most enjoyable time at a Venezuelan/Latino wedding). The hats were a HUGE success. Plenty of guests started asking where they could buy these amazing and beautiful hats my mother made – and that’s the very beginning of what we call Foam Party Hats today.
Fast forward some years – my mother and I had to leave Venezuela due to the terrible political situation that the country was facing. We sold all our belongings, packed our bags, and we moved to Houston in December 2010 with my sister. Being an immigrant is not always easy – my mother used all of our savings to put me through college at the University of Houston. While I worked to obtain my degree in chemical engineering, she continued to make and sell some of her hats to my sister’s friends and some local events.
Little by little, she continued to get more customers from word to mouth. This led her even to design her own website. By the time I graduated in December 2016, my mother was working full time under a DBA making hats and selling them all over the US and even internationally (Australia, France, UK, etc.). After graduation, I started to realize the potential of the business and decided to get involved. That is how, in April 2017, we funded Foam Party Hats LLC. Since we founded the company, we have experienced exponential growth, and we have sold hats to every single state in the US. Additionally, we have worked with companies such as Google, FIFA and the New Orleans Mardi Grass to design custom hats for them. We continue to expand every year, and we are looking forward to seeing all our hats in every party, event and wedding across the globe.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The most challenging thing has to be industrialization and finding employees. The details and quality of the hats make their production challenging. Not anyone can make them without proper instruction. Luckily for us, we have found two amazing employees (Bervely Ramirez and Yessica Rodas) that have been working for us for more than a year, and with their help, we have been able to double our sales from 2018 to 2019. Another big challenge that we faced is funding. My mother started making the hats with 0 investment, all the growth that the company has experienced has been with the profits from the very first hat she sold – this has led us to slow but steady growth.
Please tell us about the business.
What we do is simple, we bring the fun to the party – we like to think that at Foam Party Hats is where your party starts (this is our slogan). We have more 500+ party hats. All of these have been custom hats request from our clients, that my genius mother creates, and then we sell them to more customers. We are extremely proud of how happy our customers get when they see our products. We always get amazing reviews and recommendations from them to get our hats into even more parties – this is how we have expanded in our three years as a business. What sets us apart is the quality of our products – you can find props, plastic hats, and party accessories – but none will compare to our handmade foam party hats.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I would say my family reunions back in Venezuela. My family from my mother’s side was huge (9 sisters/brothers more than 30 cousins), and every single weekend, we bbq, had parties and more at our house. My house was always full of people, and there was always this great atmosphere of happiness and cheerfulness. Even when there wasn’t a party, my house was always full. This is because my aunts worked with my mother to make the foam hats back in Venezuela. I like to think about our products and how they exemplify those cheerful moments back at my childhood home in Venezuela.
Pricing:
- prices for our hats varies greatly, we have cheap headbands from $12, to luxury hats with feathers for $100
Contact Info:
- Address: 5844 Langfield Rd, Houston TX, 77092
- Website: www.foampartyhats.com
- Phone: 713-264-2364
- Email: info@foampartyhats.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/foampartyhats
- Facebook: facebook.com/foampartyhats
Image Credit:
Jesus Matusalen
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