Samantha just recently turned three.
Hard to believe. Three.
For her birthday party this year, I really wanted her to have a special party hat. See, her little friend Brookie has a special party hat (and you know how that goes).
I searched every cute boutique in Saint Helena, checked Party Time in Napa and prowled every Oriental Trading Co-style online store. With no luck.
Sure, there were plenty of party hats–but not what I had in mind.
Then I remembered Etsy.
If you aren’t yet familiar with Etsy, it is an online marketplace for artists and craftspersons–each individual has a little shop featuring their own unique works. I think of it like eBay but without the bidding, and with only handmade items.
It took all of about one minute of searching to find the most adorable, most perfect party hat.
I found it in the Sweet ‘n Sassy Baby shop.
It was a simple and fast transaction. We convo’d (that’s etsy-speak for sending messages) a handful of times, I went through the Paypal checkout and a few days later, the perfect party hat arrived in the mail.
Perfect.