How I Exited my $400K/Month Party Decorations Busines

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Dean Salakas

Founder, Sydney Party Decorations

$400K

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Sydney Party Deco...

sydneypartydecorations.com.au

from Sydney NSW, Australia

started January 1986

$400,000

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

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The One Minute Manager CD Ken Blanchard

Platform Get Noticed in a Noisy World Michael Hyatt

Want more updates on Sydney Party Decorations? Check out these stories:

1. Update On our Party Supplies Business: We Have Bounced Back To Better Than The Pre-Pandemic Sales (2023) ➜

2. How We Rebounded From A 92% Loss In Sales Due To The Pandemic (2021) ➜

3. Starting A Party Store And Growing Into A Chain (2019) ➜

This is a follow up story for Sydney Party Decorations. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published over 6 years ago, check it out here.

Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?

From Surviving COVID to a Successful Exit — and What’s Next

Since we last spoke, The Party People weathered the storm of COVID, acquired and sold a major store, and ultimately was acquired itself in 2024. I’ve now joined Party Hire Group with a plan to replicate that success story — and then some.

Navigating COVID: Agility in the Face of Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic was brutal for party businesses — gatherings were banned, and demand collapsed overnight. In March 2020, our sales dropped by 92%. Rather than retreat, I personally went into the store every day to serve the handful of customers still coming in. I asked them: “Why are you here?”

The answer changed everything.

Customers weren’t buying party supplies — they were buying things to entertain themselves and their kids during lockdown: costumes, toys, games, balloons, and baking supplies. That insight led to one of our most successful pivots: the Coronavirus Survival category.

We made this the main banner on our site, splitting it into four subcategories:

Safety & Hygiene – masks, sanitiser, cleaning supplies (we sourced...

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