Attending a divorce party leads to business idea

I remember reading People magazine a year or so ago that Shanna Moakler had a big party to celebrate her divorce from Travis Barker. Guess I followed their relationship because I’m a HUGE fan of Blink 182 – Travis Barker was the drummer. The party really brought to light the fact that in some cases, divorce can be celebrated. In fact, I just came across a woman who has a business centered around planning divorce parties. Christine Gallagher has a website, www.divorcepartyplanner.com, where she sells a guide for planning your party, which includes:

• Party themes
• Party favors
• Gift ideas
• Divorce party music
• Party food and drink ideas
• Invitations
• Decorations
• Divorce Party Etiquette
  

Additionally, if you live in the Los Angeles area, you can hire Christine to coordinate and personalize your party. The business has been around since 2003, after Christine “had attended a couple of parties marking the end of divorce and realized there is a need for this type of "celebration" marking an important transition in life.” Apparently Christine’s is the first guide of its type on the market.

Christine had a background in writing humorous non-fiction self help books for women, and also writes the website http://www.revengelady.com/. She says this helped her work out the kinks in terms of design and payment procedures. Her initial startup costs were less than a thousand bucks, and she was able to break even on this investment within three months of opening her business. Additionally, this business is going places – she’s been featured on shows like “Good Morning America” and “Today”. She's also working with a producer to create a reality show based on the site, and is working to expand the product into a party kit to sell to a publisher. Christine finds it interesting that certain parts of society become irate with her site and attach political overtones. She ignores all negative comments and letters, by the way, so don’t even bother.

Her advice to anyone looking to start a business is: “Go for it - find a niche that has not been exploited and believe in your own idea. I think if it truly appeals to you, then trust your instincts and go with it.”