By Ed Avis
In Venezuela, a tradition during weddings or other major family events is the “hora loca,” or crazy hour. People play songs that everyone knows and the attendees sing along and wear silly hats or other props.
Manuel Rojas, owner of new NCA Vendor Member Foam Party Hats, says that about 20 years ago, his mom, Grace Rojas, decided that she wanted to bring something special to hora loca. So she bought some sheets of foam and made fun hats.
“People loved them,” Manuel remembers. “And then they started asking where they could buy them.”
Grace continued making the hats informally for friends and family. In 2010 the family moved to the United States, where Manuel completed his degree in chemical engineering. In 2017 he realized that his mom’s popular creations could lead to an actual business, and together they founded Foam Party Hats.
They opened a factory in Houston to make the hats, which come in hundreds of designs. Some are designed for family events such as weddings, others are ideal for holidays – think turkey hats at Thanksgiving and leprechaun hats for St. Patrick’s Day. They also have animal hats, sports-themed hats, and a line of foam wigs, among many other themes.
Their big break came a few years later.
“We were growing little by little, and then in 2020 during the pandemic, we got invited to Shark Tank,” Manuel says. “We appeared on Shark Tank season 12, episode five, in November 2020. And then that's when we had to change the business to a corporation because we got an investment from Mark Cuban.”
Not many other companies in the costume industry – if any – can claim to have investment from Mark Cuban! Rojas says the famous entrepreneur helps them navigate the business world and does not put much pressure on them.
“We have quarterly checkpoints with his team, and we provide feedback of what is happening with the company – what is going well and what is not going well – and they provide feedback based on that,” Rojas says. “They’ll say, ‘Focus on this, focus on that.’ It’s not a super hands-on involvement, but they provide a lot of support.”
One particular area that Cuban and his team have helped Foam Party Hats is when they decided to break into big box stores. Their patrons were able to make key introductions at Target, Walmart and other major retailers.
“Now we’re talking with CVS, and we’ve shipped all over the world,” Rojas says. “We have shipped hats to Korea, Japan and even Lebanon.”
Today the company’s factory employs more than 20 people, and all the products are created there.
Rojas says they decided to join the NCA because they are excited to expand their sales into the costume niche. He says their foam wigs are especially appropriate for costume retailers because they accent the costumes so well.
They require a minimum purchase of just five units per model, and their Buyer's Group offer features 10% off wholesale for NCA members.
“We would like NCA members to try the product in their stores without incurring crazy amounts of expense,” Rojas says. “We’re confident that they will sell very well.”
Click here to access their wholesale catalog. And click here to visit the Buyer's Group to see their 10% discount offer. To place an order, click here to email Rojas.