Celebrate Express

Full review
My daughter simply loves Bear in the Big Blue House. She likes to sing along to "The Goodbye Song" merrily chirping out "Bye now!" at the end. She reads her Bear in the Big Blue House books and amuses herself by pointing out, Bear, Tutter, Pip, Pop, Shadow, Luna and her two favorite characters, Ojo and Treelo. Putting on a Bear in the Big Blue House cd when she's unhappy in the car brings out smiles during long trips. She carts about a Bear stuffed animal and her Bear in the Big Blue House See 'N Say just bit the dust when she broke off the handle.

When it came time to plan her second birthday party, coming up with the theme was a no-brainer. Finding party supplies was a bit more difficult.

Bear in the Big Blue House was a really big deal on the toddler scene a few years ago but since then, it has become difficult to find party goods featuring the ursine and his pals. I checked five local party stores with no success before going online with BirthdayExpress.com.

Since I was shopping for a two year old's birthday party which would be attended by three other children, I didn't see the need to go overboard with party boxes, pinatas and all of the other wonderful goodies BirthdayExpress.com offers in almost any theme you can imagine.

One thing I really like about BirthdayExpress.com is that you can either order a package which includes everything you may need or you can order items individually as necessary. It turned out that we were going to end up with two birthday parties, one for my daughter's friends and the other for over a dozen family members. In my case, I ended up ordering a tablecloth, two packages of napkins and two packages of dessert plates. I didn't have a need for invitations, cups, cutlery, streamers, balloons or favor boxes. It was nice to know that I could get them if I wanted them!

I really liked the ideas section of their website where they had information on decorating themed cakes, games to play and pulling off your theme party. None of it was applicable at this time for me but I can definitely see myself coming back to this site many times in the coming years.

I didn't need favor boxes as previously noted but for this particular theme, the favor boxes are a total rip-off since the only thing included that is at all Bear in the Big Blue House related is a sheet of stickers. The rest is a feathered blow out, a small package of playdoh, whistle and a cookie cutter. I was able to put together much nicer and age-appropriate goody bags on my own for less than the $3.99 each that BirthdayExpress.com wanted.

Ordering was simple and painless with a confirmation e-mail sent. I found site navigation to be a breeze but I didn't care for the bright purple, yellow and lime color scheme which can be hard on the eyes. This site loads quickly on a dial-up connection. After the party, BirthdayExpress.com contacted me to ask me about my shopping experience.

The cost was reasonable with dessert plates priced at $2.70 a package, napkins priced at $3.10 a package and the tablecloth at $5.45. Shipping was $5.95 via UPS.

My order was shipped to my parents home in Florida via UPS at my request. It arrived in only four days from the time I placed the order, three weeks ahead of the date of the first party. The items were well packaged and nothing was missing.

While I'd rather find birthday supplies locally, if we ever have another themed party where that isn't an option, I'll be sure to check out BirthdayExpress.com!