Thank God it's Friday! Today just so happens to be my eighteenth birthday and I've decided that it would be the perfect time to start my newest and probably one of my favorite series so far: The Glamorous Proust Questionnaire! I've wanted to have the chance to interview a few of my favorite brands' creators for a long time now and have been trying to find the best time to conduct this series since June. Now that the wait is finally over, I thought it most fitting to start of with Packed Party, a brand rooted in celebration and having a good time. As inspired by the Proust Questionnaire Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen filled out in their coffee table book Influence, I sent Jordan, the founder of Packed Party, my revised version known as The Glamorous Proust Questionnaire. I asked her several different questions, but one of my absolute favorite things she said was when I asked her what it was like to be in the business of sending super fun, glam care packages. She responded, "Something I created on my bedroom floor is making someone’s day all the way in Australia or someone in the hospital recovering from something terrible- kinda crazy right?" To think that so many of us are just one big brainstorm away from creating our dream jobs and finding our niche is ridiculously inspiring. I know what I want to do in life, but I also know that there's room for so many more exciting things to happen like discovering my passion in the middle of the night in my dorm room.
Some of my other favorites from her Glamorous Proust Questionnaire have to do with what it's like to pick items for each Packed Party package, what's at the top of her Rich Girl Wishlist, which Packed Party is her favorite, and what the top five songs on her iPod are. The entire questionnaire is written below with a few Instagram pics from @PackedParty (like the contents of the newest package "Happy Holidaze" which was released this Monday and is already almost sold out!) so scroll on down and fall in love with Jordan and her small business, Packed Party! (** yes, I know there are two number elevens at the end, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to fix it. oops.)
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| "You Don't Need Him Anyway" Packed Party package |
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| "Happy Holidaze" Packed Party packages |
The Glamorous Proust Questionnaire
with Jordan from Packed Party
- Which Packed Party is your favorite? That’s a difficult question honestly. I think each package directly relates to an experience I have had, gift I’ve wanted, or given someone, so no single one is really my “favorite”. The idea of being able to send a Pity Party started Packed Party for me so it always stands out first in my mind and holds a special place in my heart.
- Knowing what you know now, what would you tell your past self when you were first starting out? I’m still learning something new every single day! There’s a lot I wish I knew when I first started Packed Party a year ago. The most important thing I might tell myself is just to take it all in strides. I’m a very “now” person with everything I do, so I know now sometimes the best decisions aren’t made when you impulsively act...on the other hand some are.
- What is your #1 source of inspiration? Walking. I try and go for a walk every single day by myself at some point and just kinda seek out inspiration in colors, sounds, and random things around me.
- Name one item that you’d buy if you suddenly won the lottery or inherited a large sum of money? One item? Hmm, that’s difficult! I think I’d definitely put the money toward a trip with my family and friends somewhere none of us have been. Limited wifi. No phones. Just hanging out would be really nice since we’re all living so far apart right now. Shockingly no single tangible item is coming to mind. You don’t need “things” when you have amazing people surrounding you!
- What are the top 5 most played songs on your iPod/phone? I listen to songs on repeat constantly...if you follow my Spotify account it’s a bit embarrassing because I’ll have friends catch me listening to a single song all day while I work. Weird, right? There’s a good chance if you’re listening in you’d hear:
- Closer To Love by Mat Kearney has always been one of my favorite songs, I can listen to it happy or sad and it just makes me feel that much better
-Don’t Wanna Be Your Girl by Wet I’ve been running and spinning to a lot. I love female ballad type songs...yes, I am such a girl.
-To Me by Chet Faker. His voice is ah-mazing and I listen to this song all the time while I work.
- She Lit A Fire Lord Huron. This song never gets old. You can bet I’ll be walking down the aisle somewhere someday to this song.
-Love Lost by Temper Trap has been on a lot because it was our Packed Party One Year’s video and it’s also a song I really like. I’ve listened to Temper Trap for a long time and always liked their music.
- Fill in the blanks: My life would be _significantly more interesting__ if I had an unlimited supply of _frequent flyer miles from American Airlines so I could travel the world.
- What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Sadly..check my phone, then brush my teeth, and head straight for my coffee maker.
- What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you? Ha! Anyone who really knows me knows that I’m that person that everything that normally wouldn’t happen to...happens to. We always say my life is a bit like a sitcom, so I’ve come to accept my unfortunate situations and laugh at them. The most embarrassing though? Off the top of my head I can remember being in the bahamas and having a few local men help me on to my jetski while my family and a few of our family friends sort of watched all of us take off...only as I was getting on my jetski I somehow managed to put my hand down on my bottoms thus exposing my bottom half to the entire beach. Not mortifying at all, nope.
- What is one thing you’re looking forward to during the Holidays? My family is actually having our first ever “pie challenge” this year. I’ve never baked a pie by myself from scratch so we’re doing guys against girls and giving it a whirl. I’m also really excited to snuggle with my dogs, a bernese mountain dog, Boone, and Huckleberry, my king charles cavalier many people have seen on Packed Party’s Instagram.
- What is your favorite TV show, movie, book, or blog? Real Housewives of New Jersey has been my show since it first aired. It’s such trash t.v. but I can’t help myself! I may or may not even have a cook book somewhere from Teresa Guidice. My favorite book would be The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and I don’t have a single blog I read on a consistent basis. Can Packed Party’s blog be my answer here? :)
- What’s the process like picking out items for each Packed Party package? It’s really fun when there’s some time between re-orders. Because we’re not a subscription service we map out inventory and when we should re-order, but sometimes we’ll take an unexpected hit over night for a ton of orders and I’m in a place where I am having to order a lot quicker than I imagined. This is why there’s so much planning involved in picking items for packages. We sort of have to keep vendors on standby and I’m always looking for new and creative products to feature which is a lot of fun. I definitely come across some odd thing!
- your favorite part of being in the business of sending super fun “care packages” to glamorous girls all around the world? I get to aid in making someone’s day and that’s really cool to me. I save all of the emails we get from customers saying what they are going through when they receive their Packed Party package and their stories amaze me! Something I created on my bedroom floor is making someone’s day all the way in Australia or someone in the hospital recovering from something terrible- kinda crazy right? Bringing joy and encouraging women to start their own parties in life for themselves or someone else is a very rewarding thing.