We wanted to have some fun, can you blame us? This was the reasoning behind our party planning service reviews, and we scoured the Internet for the best choices in all departments. Whether you want to send invitations online, buy party supplies, or sign up with vendors, there’s a site for you. Party POP is a pretty unique site we came across, and we must say, we weren’t in love with the website design at first. But, we gave it a chance, and our inside look at the service is just below.
What’s New?
- Have vendors contact you
- Win a Honeymoon-Enter the Wedding Story contest and win a honeymoon vacation
Star Reviews Favorite Feature:
Seating arrangement software-For registered Party POP users, this software can be downloaded free and can help you create a seating chart for your wedding reception.
Party POP Features:
- List of vendors arranged by service and by region
- Party theme ideas submitted by site users
- Budget estimator
- Message boards
- Choose vendors in your geographic area
- Send greeting cards
- Online Bridal Shows-get ideas for your own wedding
About Party POP:
Party POP is one of the largest party vendor directories on the Internet. Vendors from more than thirty different categories, including speech writers, videographers, and graphic artists, can be contacted through the site. Other party planning tools are also available on the site, including a budget estimator and the seating chart software. This is a great site for anyone in the developmental stages of planning a party, event or wedding.
Using Party POP:
If you want to use Party POP to find vendors in your area, you can start by choosing either a vendor category or a region. These options are listed near the bottom of the home page in tiny print. You can also reach a list of categories by clicking on the Vendor link in the middle of the main page. Regardless of where you start your search, you'll have to narrow down your options by either region or category. When you click on a vendor, you'll end up at a Party POP page which includes contact information for the vendor, some photos, and other vendor-provided information. Overall, the navigation is easy but the site just seems thrown together. Like most online directories, it doesn't feel or look professional. But, some good resources are here should you need them.
Planning with Party POP:
Besides the vendor directory, the site also has a few other party planning tools. The budget estimator could be useful but its format does not allow for accurate results. For example, if you want to determine the cost of your food, you choose whether you want basic, average, good, better, or best. None of these terms are clearly defined so if you believe a sit down catered meal is average for most parties then you may be surprised when your costs exceed the estimate. The list of themes is useful, except most are just stories by users who want to share their own party experiences. They may generate some ideas but won't be nearly as useful as real articles by real party planners.
Pricing:
For users, Party POP is free. Vendors pay $180 per year to be listed on the site and on the 64 other web sites run by the company. You will see some ads, but these are mostly from vendors. A scrolling bar on the main page also advertises items for sale in the Party POP forums.
Customer Support:
Interestingly, Party POP had no FAQs available that we could find on the site. Customer support is available by snail mail, by phone, and by email. We did send them a question by email and received a response in about 24 hours. The response answered our question and encouraged us to call their toll-free number if we had additional questions.
We took them up on the offer and our call was answered by a knowledgeable representative who provided us with a clear, easy to understand response. All in all, should you have any questions, you won't have a problem receiving a helpful response.
Upside:
Good customer service by phone and mail. Free to use. Large selection of vendors.
Downside:
No online invitations or party supply purchases directly available on-site.
Summary:
When we compare party planning services, we have to look at just how useful the site is going to be to a host. Party POP could be a great place to track down possible vendors for your event, but its usefulness in other ways is limited. Because the site's service is free, you may want to use it along with other sites mentioned in our party planning service reviews. However, remember Party POP is only a directory and lists any vendor who pays the money, so you'll still need to do your homework before signing any contracts. The bottom line is that Party POP might be a good place to look for vendors, but it's not one of the best party planning services available.