Bec Judd's party planner Elleni Pearce has opened a Malvern store

When you walk past the new Lenzo party store in Malvern, a riot of colours beckon from the street.

Inside, a rainbow hue of dried flowers spill out from shelves that reach the ceiling, while pastel cakes look so perfectly pretty that one wants to frame them. It’s all the brainchild of Elleni Pearce, who has been planning the ultimate party since she was a child.

“I’ve loved parties since I was four years old,” says Pearce. “For me, it was all about making it look really beautiful, coming up with the concept and theme, and pulling it together with extra details – even when I was five or six!”

Although she initially worked in magazines, parties kept calling. After her second daughter was born, she decided to turn her passion into a business. Now 37, she remembers the catalyst was her 30th birthday party.

“I had all of these jars – it was when jars were really in – and after the party was over, I thought, ‘What am I going to do with all of them?’”

Lenzo began by displaying items from other vendors and suppliers, but demand changed the concept.

“It was a phenomenon born from Instagram, where suddenly everyone wanted something that was unique,” Pearce says. “The challenging thing is when people have champagne tastes on a small budget!”

In order to cater to smaller children’s parties, Lenzo offers a “party in a box”. A theme is picked and all the accoutrements are sent over to decorate the party.

Receiving the most publicity was Rebecca Judd’s house-warming in 2019, inspired by US music festival Coachella and nicknamed “Juddchella”. Tasselled chandeliers were suspended in the air and balloons and flowers flowed freely.

“Even today, people want the Smithchella, the Bobchella – we’re planning a StellaChella at the moment!” Luckily, party-throwers can opt for the inexpensive version since Coachella is a curated theme.

Although COVID-19 stopped events from taking place through most of 2020, Pearce had another brainstorm. In January, she had bought a wealth of dried flowers to decorate events, but suddenly by March they were sitting dormant.

“It was quite depressing, wondering what we were going to do with them. It took me a couple of weeks to realise, ‘Oh my god, I’ve actually got something that I can sell!’” And so began another arm of the business – Everbloome. “It was my silver lining; it kept me sane.”

Although Lenzo has been behind some big-name parties – responsible for the shoe ice sculpture at designer Lana Wilkinson’s shoe launch, and working with the likes of Country Road and Chadstone Shopping Centre – for 2021 big bashes are giving way to smaller soirees.

Potential customers can book an appointment with a personal party stylist, who will then pull together a mood board and shopping list.

“Definitely people are entertaining more intimately. They’re COVID-conscious. They’re doing events at home, but they want to make it really special and go to extra effort because they’ve been starved of that for so long,” Pearce says.

“The requests we’re getting are for intimate dinner parties, small gatherings and kids’ parties in the park – although there were a lot of F*&% 2020 for New Year’s Eve themes as well!”

Lenzo dinner parties for eight start at $149