Sweet Maries Party Shop

An Announcement ~ We’re Moving! A New Chapter for Sweet Marie’s 🎉 Back in January of this year and after six colourful years, I made the difficult decision to not renew the rental lease on our beloved Cookham High Street shop. It was not an easy decision to come to (I’ve poured my heart and time into the Cookham store!), but with my business hat on (and not my emotional hat!) it’s the right decision for the future of my business. The retail landscape has changed dramatically over the past 12-18 months, and I have seen a huge shift in spending habits and foot traffic through the door. The wider economic pressures at play, coupled with the significant business interruptions Cookham village has faced, have been challenging to navigate. It is going to be bittersweet to say goodbye to the space that I know has brought joy and happiness to so many in our community. We wouldn’t be here with a business to move forward with had it not been for the rallying of the local community when it mattered. We survived through Covid, a six-month bridge closure, 3 flooding interruptions where the village has been completely cut off, plus business interruptions due to gas, telecoms repairs, and council roadworks! Each and every one of you who shopped at Sweet Marie’s, I thank you for your support. I am honoured to have played a part in so many of your celebrations and special occasions to date. That all said, I want my business to do more than just survive; I want it to thrive. With the start of significant gas works in the area, with a projected 34 weeks to complete the works and subsequent traffic interruptions, this absolutely feels like the right time to be moving my business in a different direction. Whilst the Cookham shop will be closing Sweet Marie’s will live on! (Continued in the comments)

Lighting up the entrance to a milestone celebration! ✨🎉Turning 50 in style with 4’ light-up numbers and an 8’ balloon garland - the perfect welcome for an unforgettable party! 🎈 • Light-up number hire from @blooming_fabulous_flowers Bespoke balloon garland from @sweetmariespartyshop • #cheersto50 #milestonebirthday #partyvibes #balloondecor

Say ‘I Love You’ with one of our stylish Valentines’s Balloons. Available now to pre-order on our website and for collection on a day of your choice ❤️ • 💻https://sweetmaries.co.uk/collections/valentines-balloons 📍High Street, Cookham, Berkshire SL69SF ☎️01628 527561

❤️✨Get ready to make this Valentine’s Day extra special! Our single foil balloons, filled with helium, are the perfect touch to your celebration. Skip the wait and snag your Valentine’s balloons early! Our Click & Collect service is now live, so you can pre order your favourite designs online and pick them up when it’s most convenient for you 🎈✨ Head to our website and get ready to spread the love 💌 • #clickandcollect #galentinesballoons #valentinesballoons #preorder

A little behind the scenes from our last booking of the year. This is the fourth year running that we’ve had the opportunity to fill the dining rooms with balloons at the magnificent Cliveden House for their NYE celebrations. We always inflate this job on site - on December 30th - I can’t recall why we started it this way (versus delivering finished product) but we’ve stuck with it and it works! It’s one of my favourite jobs of the year as we clear the diary for this one and so have the full day to get everything inflated and prepped without any stress. It’s also always lovely to catch up with the Cliveden team too (who we interact with throughout the year but it’s often in a bit of a mad dash!), this end of the year day always feels more calm and we have more time to soak in the atmosphere of the House. We store the bouquets over night and then return on NYE (after the breakfast service!) to position the balloons in the dining rooms - this year we filled 3 dining rooms (the French, The Main dining room and the Astor Grill) ✨The stats: 45 tables, 135 orb balloons, + we had 9 balloons with faults on inflation that were replaced, we used up one full G20 tank of helium and it took two of us 7 hours to prepare, inflate and tie the bouquets, we finished each of the bouquets off with a big black velvet bow (40 metres total) and then an additional 3 hours on NYE to set up and ensure every balloon was perfectly positioned 🎈🎈🎈

Stock up your party cupboards and shop our Year End Sale ~ There’s 50% off over 100 lines, including products from key brands such as Meri Meri, Talking Tables, Jollity & Co, Ginger Ray and My Mind’s Eye. This is our biggest ever sale! 💕 • Website link to the end of year sale collection can be found in our bio

2024 was certainly a challenging year for us, just like many brick-and-mortar businesses faced across the country. My small business felt the weight of economic pressures, and I had to dig deeper than ever to navigate through it. It felt like we were constantly in fire-fighting mode, especially with the Cookham bridge closure and the flooding that affected our village. However, as I look through the hundreds of videos capturing our journey this past year, I feel an immense pride in our resilience as a small business. In the hustle to “just get through it,” I sometimes overlooked the joy we brought to so many lives. This past year we served over 3,000 incredible customers with balloons and party supplies for your special celebrations and that really is a true privilege. Thank you for allowing me and my team to be part of your cherished moments! Life is so precious, and being involved in the occasions that matter most to so many is a beautiful gift. Every day, we help customers select gifts for their loved ones, and it’s a joy to witness that love in action. Your continued support means everything to me. Running this business is hard work, but I absolutely love the service we provide and the biggest gift it gives me in return is the invaluable opportunity to spend precious time with my daughter— being in a position to drop her off and collect her from school every day is a true blessing and managing the shop in the village where we live affords me that 🙏🏻 While 2024 was undeniably tough, I’m looking ahead with excitement for what 2025 holds for all of us. Here’s to a new year filled with even more joy and celebration! I wish you all a healthy and happy year ahead 💖✨

🎄 C H R I S T M A S W E E K O P E N I N G 🎄 Sunday 22nd: 11-3pm Monday 23rd: 10-3pm Christmas Eve: 9-2pm Christmas Day: CLOSED Boxing Day: 11-12pm for balloon / click & collect collections Dec 27th - 29th: CLOSED Dec 30th: 10-11am Dec 31st: 1pm for click & collect only Jan 1st, 2nd & 3rd CLOSED Jan 4th 10.30-4pm The shop will reopen as normal on Tuesday 7th January

Our most popular request at our Balloon Bar through October was classic cream with black ribbons. We love this elegant colour combination, it’s perfect for birthdays for any age, anniversary celebrations, romantic gestures or cocktails at home with the girls 🖤 • • #heliumballoons #cookhampartyshop #balloonsberkshire #classiccolours #latexballoons #biodegradableballoons #premiumballoondecor #balloondecor #clickandcollect

Elegant cream, meadow green and gold balloons for a celebratory lunch in the beautiful Boudoir dining room at Cliveden House 💕