Kristen Davis and her husband, Cory, are all about parties. The Missouri City couple provides vintage-themed supplies for celebrations and birthdays.
Their company, Mary Had a Little Party, has provided party decor and supplies online since 2008, delivering and shipping materials locally and all over the world, including in China, Australia and Iran. The supplies are designed by Kristen, who has a background in art. Mary Had a Little Party themes for children include vintage-looking camping, Sesame Street, planes, kites and nautical motifs.
“We try to do everything from start to finish down to thank you cards, just so it’s not something that’s a common store-bought good,” Kristen said. “They’re all original designs.”
Mary Had a Little Party’s products include invitations, banners and cupcake toppers. In April 2015, their business expanded to include a food truck emulating a 1950s-era soda fountain. Davis was inspired by her memories of spending time with her grandparents and going to Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour in Houston.
“It was just something that kind of followed with me, in I would say in almost everything we do,” she said.
The truck serves lemonade and ice cream treats, including milkshakes, specialty floats, cups and cones, sundaes and banana splits. All of the items are an ode to the past with names such as The Chuck Berry and Blueberry Hill, a speciality float with blue cream soda and vanilla ice cream decorated with a blue soda straw ($5.75 each).
Before the Davises started their party service business, Kristen was a high school Spanish teacher. She left the profession and raised her children at home, starting the party supply component of the business in 2008. The food truck was another big project.
“I used to work in the oil field, and I came home one day and she said, ‘I’ve got a crazy idea. I want you to build this for me,’” Cory said.
The couple bought a vintage trailer and restored it with the help of a family friend. The project took two years before it made its party debut last year.
Although customers might not see much of the truck’s inside from standing at the serving window, The Soda Shoppe’s interior has tiled ceilings, old family photos and old-fashioned cabinets and knickknacks akin to those used 60 years ago. The Davises are not done expanding their business. The couple is rolling out a vintage beverage bar in October called Hoopla by Mary Had a Little Party.
“Once you do this stuff, you want to do more because it’s fun,” Kristen said.
The mobile bar will make its first appearance Oct. 15 at the Sienna Plantation Gingerbread Market. It will have several types of drink menus including lemonade and tea, hot chocolate and old-fashioned floats. The bar will be available for events where customers choose which beverage they want served.
“Whether it be a party product—the paper stuff—or what we do in a trailer, you don’t want stuff you can get anywhere,” Kristen said. “It needs to be special.”
Mary Had a Little Party
Services available throughout Sugar Land, Missouri City. 281-778-0541 www.maryhadalittleparty.com
