My achilles heel. My achilles tendon. My soft gooey centre with chocolate all around. This is…read morethe creme de la creme of candy shops. In bulk - where it's definetely at people! If you're having a party, getting married need some souvenir bon bonierre's this is where you should investigate when you start. They have walls lined with every candy and wizz fizz you can imagine. The costs are bulk, so cheaper than anywhere else as well, schools come here to load up on supplies for kids for sport days, fundraisers and whatnot. Best of all, it's all good to the public too. With a wide selection of your American soft drinks like A&W Root Beer, Fanta's, Dr Peppers and all the good stuff you will not be disappointed. Reece's pieces? Easy peasy. Jolly ranchers if they mean anything to you locals... get educated on your jelly belly's. Fill up your own wizz fizz concoction of different flavours and colours of all things sugar and nice. They have also just expanded the store to include party supplies, hats, masks, those things you hit with a stick and have lollies fall out of... halloween broom sticks, decorations for princess and pirate parties... it's crazy! I love it. It's crazy love. It's crazy love on a sugar high. Did I mention they had face paint for kids too?

You know those nerds who get more excited about designing and making the party invitations than the…read moreactual party? Yeah, they're so weird. And I happen to be one. Even back in the late 90s when my birthday came around, I was to be found on our hulking IBM computer make invitations with coloured, comic sans-style fonts and the ever-classy clip art. They usually said corny things like IT'S PARTY TIME! If only Invitation House had existed in those days, and I could have saved myself some Microsoft Word-related embarrassment. Luckily, Invitation House opened not long before my 18th birthday and so I finally had access to more than Windows 95 to create my masterpiece. When you go in you'll see the the walls are floor to ceiliing stacks of paper and card of varying patterns, colours, and textures. They have sheer overlay sheets, cute pins and embellishments, ribbons, and stamps. You can pick out what you want and dream up your own invitation, or the staff can help you. You can also pay them to assemble them all for you, or take your supplies home and do it yourself. Since my 18th I have also used Invitation House's wares to make 21st invites for me and for friends' parties, and often pop in to buy some nice paper or card if I'm making something special. Such a great idea for a shop, and I bet they do great business because it's such a niche market. Well done, Invitation House!

Stationery really excites me. Like REALLY excites me. I think it's the prospect of being super…read moreorganised while looking cute at the same time. Stickers, pens, writing pads, stamps, you name it I love it! I am unashamedly geeky in that sense. So Invitation House, which funnily enough specialises in invitations, got a little excited squeal from me as I walked through their doors. Floor to ceiling shelves of different sorts of paper. Embossed, bridal, paper with cupcakes on it, floral, dinosaurs, oriental and SO much more. There is literally paper for any occasion here. It's stunning quality and averages around $1.00-$1.50 per piece so depending on the size of the event you're hosting it could become quite expensive. In my opinion though, receiving a paper invitation in this digital age is a little taste of the past, and it sets the tone for whatever the event is that the invitation is for. If you are getting married, having an important birthday celebration or hosting some sort of event which requires an old-school invitation, I definitely suggest popping in to Invitation House for some inspiration.

I raced in here with an emergency situation. No decorations for my mothers 80th birthday and she…read morewould be arriving at the house in 45 minutes. Assistant, Praneeta was AMAZING. She immediately took me through the store, helping me choose a trolley load of really lovely rose gold and silver decorations, as well as napkins, plates and more - all color coordinated and elegantly themed. She told me how everything need to be hung and displayed to best effect. She rang up the charges (very reasonable.) Then she blew up the helium balloons and told me to go to the car and turn on the air conditioning so it wouldn't be too hot (it was a 37 degree day) - she said it was important to keep them cool. She brought them out to the car. I was driving away within 20 mins and was able to get home, set everything up before my mother arrived from her nursing home. The look on her face of surprise and joy at the beautifully decorated room, was just the absolute best! We all had the loveliest party! Thank you 'Unique Party Shop' for a fantastic well stocked store and especially to Praneeta - store assistant and party planner extraordinaire! Highly recommend!!

I saw this place driving out from Jijaws Street at Sumner Park and seeing my son was turning 3 the…read morenext day decided to go in and see if they had stuff for his mini birthday party. I found balloons that were kind of stuck together not sure how old they were, the shop was a bit hot, and there was a whole wall full of costumes. Great for big parties I guess, but not much in the way for young kids parties as most candy packs were mega sized, the costumes were for older kids and adults. There was a lot of stuff here for hens and bucks nights though. I think i've been to better ones.

This place is positively bursting with spring related goodies. From decorative flowers (real and…read morenot-quite-so-real) to beautiful canvases depicting [more] flowers and rain-drenched cityscapes. There's scented candles, incense, a plethora of brightly decorated vases, storage units, oil burners and interesting shaped lamps. Whether you're after a gift or something bright to jazz up your house, it's a great shop to have a browse through. Oh, and it's relatively inexpensive for a homewares store; win!

The go to people for equipment and event hire. Always knowledgable, helpful in picking out the…read moreright lights and extras. Extra cables and powerboards are free and if there's not a lot of bookings you may even get an extra day for free (handy if you are heading up the sunny coast for a wedding say). Have rented with them many times and even subscribe to their DJ and lighting tips newsletters.

Lightsounds has all your sound and lighting needs for your next party of all parties (if you can…read moreremember it afterwards). They have DJ equipment, speakers, effects machines and all sorts of insane lighting that will probably send your guests into strobe induced seizures. Everything is available to hire as well as buy but unfortunately both options are very pricey. The store assistants are very helpful though and knowledgeable about all the equipment, though they somehow manage to make me feel seriously uncool when I'm in here.

A lovely store to purchase from online. Melissa delivers great service and quality products. Her…read moreparcels always arrive quickly and with a little surprise inside that makes me smile. Thank you so much.

I am one of those people who have trouble turning the gas oven on,…read morelet alone being able to combine food stuffs to resemble a home cooked meal. ...Needless to say me and cookbooks don't get along. The ones I grew up with were always to damn smarmy for their own good. ("By now your Cherry Fondant should resemble MY photoshopped one on page 3.") Thankfully Scrumptious Reads is here to tempt me out of my food hibernation. This concept store in Southbank has already turned a few heads with its beautiful and unique shop display. The whole store is constructed with brown paper cups, but don't let the fragility fool you these shelves hold almighty tomes of foodie heaven. This is the perfect space to peruse all manner of cookbooks from Heston to Momofuku, the owner Julie is lovely and more than able to recommend the perfect book for any occasion. This concept store will last a while, but be sure to check them out before their move to more permanent Southbank lodgings.

What can I say? If you love to cook, love to browse, and love a good book then be prepared my…read morefriend....your credit card is about to start smoking! Scrumptious reads is a gorgeous little bookshop that specialises in all things food and booze related. I particularly loved their range of classics, well complemented by a range of cookbooks published from all around the world. There are books on food history, ingredients, cooking and cutting techniques, food cultures and spices. Hitting upon newly printed Elizabeth David classic hardbacks had my head spinning in delight.....how could I choose what to buy? Couple this range with foodie journals, books all things mixology & brewing, and food themed diaries, cards & nick nacks and it's easy to see how I almost needed a trolley on departure. Whilst you can surely find the books cheaper online what you don't get on the inter web is the awesome service, the ability to browse to your hearts content or someone prepared to hunt down that obscure book that you've been looking for forever. If you're a foodie in Brisbane you need to treat yourself and head over to scrumptious reads for an hour or too.....and don't forget to bring your wallet!

Kikki.K and I are not friends. Something about the way they compartmentalise life into neat,…read morematching boxes doesn't sit well with me. It could also be that I find their creamy pink, blue and yellow colour scheme insipid. A lot of my friends like this shop and think I'm irrational and crazy. It all comes down to personal taste but I've never been tempted to buy anything useful or pretty from Kikki.K - not even as a gift for someone else. Their diaries, calendars, stamps, clips and photo albums are products I associate with aspiring domestic goddesses, unrealistic, neat homes and housewives and house husbands obsessed with cleanliness. I do appreciate though that a lot of people like their designs and it's definitely worth checking out their store despite the rants of one possibly crazy and irrational person like me.

Not just another office organising shop, this one is Swedish. I judged this place the first time I…read moreentered the store because the first thing I picked up, this organiser it's price tag rang high and true to the tune of $175.00. I pretty much walked straight out of the store right then and there, swearing to myself I would never go back in. Ridiculous. I walked past again a month later and they had pretty pink binders with polka dots, I curiously checked the price tag, and it was $39.95, a far cry from the $1 ring binders you can buy from Big W, but it wasn't over $100 so that was a step in the right direction I guess... there was a sale as well? I didn't end up buying the binder, I'm not too sure how I could justify the cost of a haircut to a cardboard binder with 3 metal rings. But, having said that, the things in this shop are very pretty, pretty enough for me to walk in twice. It's worth a look-into or a look through a window.