about julie rose

I have always wanted to run my own business. The cliché goes back as far as my memory rewinds. Back to before that sentence became a cliché.

Trading began when I was about five. I discovered my gran’s gazillion bottles of herbs and spices. These were gathered up in a bag and laid out on the sidewalk outside granny’s house. They sold*. Extending my product range I pulled together my grandfather’s collection of 1960s gaudy patterned work ties. He’d retired and they hadn’t seen sunshine for years. They sold. My business was closed as quickly as it flourished. Tie-less and herb-less, the grandparents didn’t share my appetite for trading.

These days I have an honest and ethical relationship with my suppliers. None of them are relatives. I realised you learn when you fail, regardless of age. And failures – when acknowledged – are great successes in disguise. Because we can only rise if we have fallen.

So, julie rose party co started from my childhood desire to trade. It also came about from the usual antics of being a mother: organising children’s birthday parties. And it also emerged from my love for all things creative and handmade. Organising parties is another channel for being creative. Organising children’s parties is a wonderful excuse to create until your imagination feels like it’s going to explode into a thousand multi-coloured popsicles.

I live in England and am going through the happy-frustrating-guilty-awesome-exhausting-wonderful notions of motherhood. When you start this journey you’re not prepared. No matter how many friends, magazines and books you’ve consulted, nothing prepares you for this journey. It’s a part of life where you don’t have the grace of succeeding off the back of failure. You’ve got to get it right first time. Nothing is more important, nothing is more meaningful.

Thanks for reading.

Julie Rose x

PS: If you would like to visit my children’s party supply shop, it’s here: julierosepartyco.co.uk

* I was born and raised in South Africa, where sidewalk trading is the norm.

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