May 20, 2026
Photo courtesy of Michaels
What Does a Michaels Push Into Party Supplies Mean for the Staples and Party City Team-Up?
With earlier coverage and discussion covering last month’s news that Staples would be expanding its Party City store-in-store partnership drawing mixed reactions from analysts and commentators (including our BrainTrust panel), now further trouble could be looming on the horizon.
Michaels has announced its intention to double down on leadership within the party supplies category via the expansion of The Party Shop.
“In the past year, Michaels has grown its assortment to over 4,500 party supplies and balloons across 60+ themes. Now, Michaels is scaling up its dedicated in-store party assortment by 60% and introducing nearly 600 new products throughout 2026,” a press release noted. A refocus on value, with lowered pricing on in-store Birthday parties, an enhanced Balloon Bar experience with value-driven pricing, and a broader effort to slash price stickers on party essentials was also highlighted.
Among the updated assortment items are:
- Increased licensed party supplies: With names like Bluey, Hello Kitty, Stitch, and other pop-culture notables, a push toward increased visibility and brand cache appears to be on Michaels’ radar.
- New Piñata category: A first for the craft and art supplies retailer, designs include classics (like the smiley face) to sports themes and trending styles. Bagged candy is on hand for convenient filling.
- Year-round entertaining: Going beyond holidays, Michaels’ new products are promised to include “high-quality, elevated drinkware, flatware, and serveware” in curated, tasteful collections.
Customization bars are also coming to Michaels, with the favor bar (inviting shoppers to build their own custom party favors, with playing cards, beauty items such as face masks and lip balm, and glitter drink mixes named); the candy bar (self-explanatory, with candy gift bags being up for personalization); and the DIY banner bar (allowing customers to craft their own felt banners with numbers, letters, and icons strung up on a variety of garlands) being heavily advertised. All of the above can be further customized with inexpensive five-for-$5 “Signature Stripe” packaging adornments, with gift wrap, gift bags, bows, tags, and tissue paper being at shoppers’ disposal to dress up their party favors.
Too Soon To Judge the Staples-Party City Team-Up, But Social Media Comments on Early Execution Exhibit Warning Signs
While it’s too soon to concretely say whether Michaels very recent play will pan out, and it being only about a month since Staples and Party City formally expanded its footprint plans, previous commentary from those claiming to be Staples employees were not encouraging.
“It’s terrible. The funny part? Staples already seems over it. We haven’t even come close to the targeted $1000 per week and it never comes up by our GM or DM. At least with the other failed ventures like passport photos, TSA, etc., they at least pretended to care. Party City? Who would have thought that absorbing a company going out of business would be a horrible idea?” read the top comment in one Reddit thread dated four months ago.
“It’s a bust. Only sell balloons which we have to put air in. We’ve hardly sold any,” a second user wrote.
“We lost a whole wall of shelving for the party city balloon counter to be built, and it also took up over half of an aisle for the party supplies section. It’s been pretty quiet over there, I don’t know if the company has done any effort in advertising it because I do get a lot of customers at Print & Marketing who are surprised we have Party City in our store now because they hadn’t heard about it and seem interested in it since there are plenty of people who are always like ‘Oh when the local party city closed I was so sad.’ But I don’t see many balloons sold during the day or anything. It’s clear across the store from me so maybe I’m just not noticing it but it seems pretty dead-on-arrival,” a third user explained.
On a separate Reddit thread discussing the move, user commentary largely hinged around the excessive amount of multi-tasking frontline Staples employees were being charged with (cash, Amazon Returns, Passport Photo, Verizon Counter, Eye Center, regular shelf stocking, store budget, print budget, sales KPIs, customer service KPIs, and Party City Counter) as well as general cynicism over becoming a store crowded with mini-stores within.
BrainTrust
Nicholas Morine
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Does this recent push by Michaels deeper into the party and celebration space signal big trouble for the Staples-Party City collaboration? Why or why not, in your opinion?
What’s driving this renewed push into party and celebration? Is it primarily the exit of Party City as a major player, or is there another major motivator?
Poll
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While currently uninformed about store traffic at Staples, I’d have to bet on Michael’s having a distinct advantage here. Michael’s carries plenty of inexpensive potential party favors, plus sweets and party activities. Craft store or office supply house? You decide.
Michaels feels like the more natural home for party supplies because the category connects directly to why shoppers are already there: creativity, celebration, personalization and hands-on project inspiration.
Between Michael’s and Staples, winner will be the retailer that makes party planning feel easy, fun and complete.
Michaels has a clearer permission structure with the customer. Staples will need to prove this is more than another store-within-a-store bolted onto an already busy operating model. Early indicators point to Staples falling flat on execution.
Staples is about business, and Michaels is about personal interests, hobbies, etc. I can see Staples offering supplies for your next office party, but private and home parties don’t align with what they are known for. For Michaels, it’s a fit, especially since it’s an expansion of what they already sell.
The “party business” formerly owned by Party City went “somewhere”. Maybe the demand in the sector went down, maybe new competitors (Amazon) took enough share to make the business non viable for a mass market brick and mortar specialist? The first question is, how much Party Business is left in the market to be exploited, and then, who can exploit it successfully. I tend to agree that the fit is better with Michaels, but with the proverbial question, is the juice worth the squeeze.
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While currently uninformed about store traffic at Staples, I’d have to bet on Michael’s having a distinct advantage here. Michael’s carries plenty of inexpensive potential party favors, plus sweets and party activities. Craft store or office supply house? You decide.
Michaels feels like the more natural home for party supplies because the category connects directly to why shoppers are already there: creativity, celebration, personalization and hands-on project inspiration.
Between Michael’s and Staples, winner will be the retailer that makes party planning feel easy, fun and complete.
Michaels has a clearer permission structure with the customer. Staples will need to prove this is more than another store-within-a-store bolted onto an already busy operating model. Early indicators point to Staples falling flat on execution.
Staples is about business, and Michaels is about personal interests, hobbies, etc. I can see Staples offering supplies for your next office party, but private and home parties don’t align with what they are known for. For Michaels, it’s a fit, especially since it’s an expansion of what they already sell.
The “party business” formerly owned by Party City went “somewhere”. Maybe the demand in the sector went down, maybe new competitors (Amazon) took enough share to make the business non viable for a mass market brick and mortar specialist? The first question is, how much Party Business is left in the market to be exploited, and then, who can exploit it successfully. I tend to agree that the fit is better with Michaels, but with the proverbial question, is the juice worth the squeeze.