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Long Island Party Pros Spill the Tea: What Hosts Are Asking For Right Now
Favor bars, pun-heavy first birthdays, dessert you build yourself and a whole lot of backyard. Here’s what local pros are actually creating this season.
If you want to know what’s actually trending at Long Island celebrations, skip the mood boards and go to the people building the parties. Balloon artists, bakers, banner painters and bartenders are in local backyards, banquet halls and beach pavilions every weekend. They see what hosts book, what they ask for again, and what ends up on everyone’s camera roll.
So that’s where we looked. The picture that came back is pretty clear. Hosts are asking for less “decorate the room” and more do something: details that are personal, interactive and made to be photographed, and above all not the same party everyone went to last month.
How we reported this: we reviewed every public CeleStory on Celebrella (more than 80 posts from over 40 Long Island businesses) and grouped what kept coming up. Quotes are taken word for word from vendors’ own CeleStory captions and Celebrella profiles. Every photo is the vendor’s own work.
Are you a Long Island celebration pro? Every business in this story was found through its work on Celebrella. You can create a free vendor profile and publish your first CeleStory to be considered for future features.
1. The Favor Is Now the Activity
The goodie bag isn’t going anywhere, but more hosts want guests to make it. Several Celebrella vendors are built around stations where guests create their own favor, whether that’s a charm bracelet, a patched tote, a bouquet or a custom lip gloss. It fills an hour of the party, gives everyone something to photograph, and sends guests home with something they actually chose.
Coastal Charm, a mother-daughter business in Oyster Bay, sets up charm bars and craft parties for kids and adults, and those trays are a tween birthday waiting to happen. In Greenlawn, Bloom Babes LI does the floral version with Bloom Bars, where guests arrange their own bouquets. Patch & Play Co. in East Northport brings a Patch Bar for customizing totes, pouches and jackets. Rolling Stems, also in East Northport, rolls in flower carts and bouquet bars, either DIY or fully styled.
“Perfect as an interactive activity and a take-home party favor your guests will love.”
Bloom Babes LI, on its Celebrella profile
The idea is reaching older crowds and spa-day birthdays too. Holtsville’s Hazel Wings Studio posted a video announcing “Lip Gloss & Perfume parties now booking!” In Bellmore, Luminosa Skin Care & Wellness is promoting children’s spa birthday parties that come to you, under the headline “Pamper Like Royalty!”
- Treat the station as the party’s main activity, not an add-on, and plan the schedule around it.
- Ask the vendor whether the setup is staffed or self-serve. Rolling Stems, for one, offers both.
- Match the materials, whether charms, patches or flowers, to your party palette so the favor matches the photos.
2. First Birthdays Come With a Pun
The first birthday has become a fully themed production, and the theme very often starts with a pun on the word “one.” The guest of honor won’t remember it. The photos will.
Holbrook’s Busy Bees Play Co. titled one recent setup “ONE Fast Lap Around the Track,” a racing first birthday with checkered details and a custom sign. It followed that with a “First Rodeo” party in Wantagh. Elsewhere on Celebrella: Perfect Pick Decor‘s backyard “Wild and ONE,” an “Aria in Onederland” tea party by Party Plans By Ashley, and a full big-top circus by By YOUR Design Events, life-size elephant included.
“First Rodeo First Birthday with matching backdrop and soft play set up at the Work Shop in Wantagh”
Busy Bees Play Co., on CeleStories
Content creators are getting in on it too. Ronkonkoma’s Something Now filmed one first birthday under a caption we can’t improve on: “Ezra is One little dumpling!!”
- Pick the pun first and let it decide everything else, from the backdrop and the sign to the cake topper.
- Ask your decor vendor whether they can carry the theme into a play area too. Busy Bees, for one, matches soft play colors to the party.
3. Entertained, Not Just Decorated
A beautiful backdrop holds a toddler’s attention for about four seconds. Local pros are noticing that parents want setups that give kids something to do, so the adults can finish a conversation.
Soft play is the clearest example. Rainbow Roo Rentals and Busy Bees both bring ball pits, slides and climbers to homes and venues. For older kids, Lake Grove’s Paint Me Happy sells ready-to-paint plaster kits that work as an activity or a favor. Its profile points out they’re screen-free and, for classroom parties, come with no food or allergy concerns.
“Great for sports themed parties or just a fun activity on football Sunday! Can be used as a favor or party activity!”
Paint Me Happy, on CeleStories
Deer Park’s The Sensory Kids Lab brings guided sensory and STEM play that it describes as “taste-safe, mess-free experiences, ensuring everyone has fun while parents relax.” After dark, East Islip’s Snuggle Up Cinemas turns a yard into an outdoor movie night with a giant inflatable screen and cozy seating.
- Match the activity to the age range. Soft play setups like Busy Bees’ are built for ages 5 and under, while plaster painting and sensory labs suit older kids.
- For classroom celebrations, look for allergy-friendly activities instead of food-based ones.
4. Dessert Becomes the Main Event
Cake is still on the menu. But the sweets local pros are posting are part decor and part entertainment: they’re themed, color-matched and, more and more often, built by the guests themselves.
“Each guest starts with a delicious mini loaf cake or mini pancakes and gets to customize it with a variety of toppings, sauces, and sweet treats to create their own one-of-a-kind dessert.”
Build a Treat, on its Celebrella profile
Selden’s Build a Treat, founded by Flor, has turned dessert into an interactive station. Other bakers are leaning into theme. Alessia’s Treats by Mami in Bethpage made a batch of Stranger Things cakesicles. Merrick’s Chip Mix Cookie Co. wrapped cookies into a “Class of 2026” bouquet. Holbrook’s Blissful Bites & Co. dips pretzels to match the shower (“I absolutely love doing baby showers!” its profile notes). Sprinkle Sweet Candy in Farmingville builds candy kabobs in any palette, and Levittown’s Frankie Rose Celebrations rents popcorn and cotton candy carts.
- Share your color palette with your baker early. Matching treats are what make a dessert table read as decor.
- If the guest list skews young, a build-your-own station does double duty as dessert and activity.
5. Grown-Up Birthdays Get a Theme
Milestone birthdays are getting the same full-theme treatment as kids’ parties, with a name, a palette and a signature look. Perfect Pick Decor styled one 40th as a casino night, captioned simply: “40th Birthday but make it Casino!”
One theme keeps coming back: “A Tini Bit Older.” Three separate Long Island vendors have posted their take on the martini milestone. There’s a backdrop from Busy Bees Play Co., a hand-painted “She’s a tini bit older” banner from Holbrook’s Talk of the Party Banners, and toppers and props from Islip’s Mint Print Shop. (We’ve covered it in depth in our Tini Bit Older party guide.)
Notice something? Each business in this story was found because its work was somewhere hosts could see it. If you create for Long Island celebrations, you can list your business on Celebrella for free and publish your first CeleStory, a photo or video of something you made, so hosts can save it, share it and find you.
6. Personalized Everything
Personalization has gone from an extra to the expectation. Across Celebrella, local makers are hand-painting, engraving and customizing details that make a party unmistakably one person’s. The trend is spreading well past birthdays.
Lake Ronkonkoma’s The Banner Bar paints every piece by hand, and its captions show how specific the requests are getting (“Love to see what my customers theme ideas are 🥰”). The most surprising find was homecoming proposal banners with fast-food and coffee puns, like “Add me to your cart… for homecoming?” The promposal, it seems, has come for HOCO.
“Get creative with homecoming proposals this year!”
The Banner Bar, on CeleStories
Personalization is also outlasting the party itself. Hazel Wings Studio makes resin birth-announcement plaques. Farmingdale’s Blocks of Love and Massapequa’s Forever Flauwers preserve bouquets from the big day in resin blocks and pressed-flower frames.
7. The Backyard Is the Venue
Long Island has always loved a backyard party. What’s new is what’s showing up in it. Local pros are bringing the bar, the movie screen, the pizza oven and even the beach picnic to the host, so it feels like a night out without anyone leaving.
Yes, that’s an inflatable pub. The Blow Up Bar builds what it calls “one-of-a-kind backyard party experiences” around an inflatable bar. Hamma! Entertainment has a tiki version, plus tents, LED cubes and outdoor movie screens. Port Jefferson’s Booze Crew Mobile Bartending brings a full mobile bar and curated menus. Nesconset’s The Sicilian Wheel serves wood-fired pizza from an Ape truck. In East Hampton, Bliss & Bloom Events styles luxury beach picnics, proof that a small guest list can still get the big-event details.
Drinks are following everyone outside too, and they aren’t always cocktails. Massapequa’s Frost Social serves styled frozen drinks, and its profile line could stand for this whole trend:
“Mocktail forward, cocktail compatible. So the host can enjoy her own party.”
Frost Social, on its Celebrella profile
- Pick one anchor experience, whether that’s the bar, the movie or the food truck, and build the rest of the yard around it.
- When you reach out, ask what each rental needs on site. Space, power and setup time all vary by vendor.
8. The Photo Moment
A garland in the corner no longer cuts it. Hosts want one installation guests will line up to stand in front of.
Case in point: the arch above, by By YOUR Design Events, layers blush and mauve balloons with fresh roses around a hand-painted floral backdrop. It’s built to be stood in front of, and guests clearly got the memo. Bay Shore’s Ella Events goes for storybook, with a dusty-blue arch, a toile backdrop, a vintage rocking horse and a teddy bear. Ridge’s Elevated Events LI shared a video comparing a balloon design’s mockup with the finished install, which is useful if you’re wondering how close the final result will be. Rockville Centre’s Photo Cube Studios handles photo booths for weddings, galas and private parties.
“A little adventure, a lot of love and the sweetest birthday set up!”
Ella Events, on CeleStories
9. Halloween Becomes a Season
It’s early October, and local vendors are already well into spooky season, with the holidays close behind. What stands out is where the celebrating happens now: trunk-or-treats, classrooms and fall gender reveals, not just a party on the 31st.
The Banner Bar is painting custom trunk-or-treat banners and classroom door signs (“Perfect to spook up your classrooms!!!”). It even asked its followers the question we’d like answered too:
“What new trunk or treat themes do you think we will see this year?!”
The Banner Bar, on CeleStories
Some vendors are already looking past October. Hazel Wings Studio’s glow-in-the-dark Santa stones are pitched as “a great goodbye gift from the elf!”
Celebrella’s own Best of #Halloween CeleStories contest runs through October 10. The most-saved entry wins, so your saves count as votes.
10. From “I Saw It” to “Who Can Make It?”
This is the trend underneath all the others. Social media is very good at making you fall for a party idea, and much less helpful at telling you who on Long Island can make it, whether they serve your town, or how to reach them.
Even the content has become something you book. Ronkonkoma’s Something Now captures weddings and events in real time and, in its words, will “edit everything into ready-to-share Reels and deliver your complete content archive the very next morning.” Its latest post comes with a strong opinion:
“I demand a veil drop at every wedding from this day forward”
Something Now, on CeleStories
That gap between “I love that” and “I booked that” is what CeleStories was built to close. Vendors post their real work, and hosts can save it and tap straight through to the business behind it. (We love a good scroll too: follow @celebrellali on Instagram, where we share local pros’ work.) You can browse CeleStories, search Long Island vendors, or tell us the occasion to see which pros are nearby.
The Bottom Line
The best part of a trend isn’t copying it. It’s finding the version that feels like you, whether that’s “Wild and ONE” or a casino 40th, a flower bar or an inflatable pub, or a hand-painted banner with a joke only your family gets. Long Island has the people who can make it. The trick is finding them, and turning “I love this” into “I know exactly who to call.”
Could your work be the next trend we write about?
Bakers, stylists, photographers, rental companies, entertainers, makers: if you’re creating what Long Island hosts are looking for, give your business a home on Celebrella. Your vendor profile is free. Publish your first CeleStory and show hosts what you make. If people are looking for it, they should be able to find you.
Vendors in This Story
- Alessia’s Treats by Mami · Bethpage
- Blissful Bites & Co. · Holbrook
- Bliss & Bloom Events · East Hampton
- Blocks of Love · Farmingdale
- Bloom Babes LI · Greenlawn
- Booze Crew Mobile Bartending · Port Jefferson
- Build a Treat · Selden
- Busy Bees Play Co. · Holbrook
- By YOUR Design Events · Ronkonkoma
- Chip Mix Cookie Co. · Merrick
- Coastal Charm · Oyster Bay
- Elevated Events LI · Ridge
- Ella Events · Bay Shore
- Forever Flauwers · Massapequa
- Frankie Rose Celebrations · Levittown
- Frost Social · Massapequa
- Hamma! Entertainment · Long Island
- Hazel Wings Studio · Holtsville
- Imagination Faces · Bellmore
- Luminosa Skin Care & Wellness · Bellmore
- Mint Print Shop · Islip
- Paint Me Happy · Lake Grove
- Party Plans By Ashley · Holtsville
- Patch & Play Co. · East Northport
- Perfect Pick Decor · Yaphank
- Photo Cube Studios · Rockville Centre
- Rainbow Roo Rentals · Hauppauge
- Rolling Stems · East Northport
- Snuggle Up Cinemas · East Islip
- Something Now · Ronkonkoma
- Sprinkle Sweet Candy · Farmingville
- Talk of the Party Banners · Holbrook
- The Banner Bar · Lake Ronkonkoma
- The Blow Up Bar · Long Island
- The Sensory Kids Lab · Deer Park
- The Sicilian Wheel · Nesconset
For more Long Island party inspiration, follow Celebrella on Instagram at @celebrellali.
At Celebrella, there’s always something to celebrate.
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