Specialist stores selling supplies for

parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

began developing in the late 1970s in the United States and rapidly expanded into the 1990s. They can offer a wide variety of products, and will often stock seasonal items for holidays—such as

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

or New Year. Commonly stocked merchandise may include: * Balloons and streamers * Wrapping paper, greeting cards * Cake decoration items * Seasonal holiday items *

Candy Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a Confectionery, confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum ...

and

soft drinks A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) carbonated, and typically including added sweetener. Flavors used to be natural, but now can also be artificial. The sweet ...

* Plates, utensils, cups (especially disposable ones for parties) and table decorations In 2019 a global shortage of

helium Helium (from ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert gas, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is ...

sharply reduced supply for helium-filled balloons, due to the US rationing helium because of a reduction in supply by 30% stemming from a Saudi-boycott of producer country

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

, impacting party stores such as Party City, one of the reasons the company cited in closing 45 of its 870 stores.

References

{{Retail Retailers by type of merchandise sold *