North-Easterners just love to dress up, which has helped one stay-at-home mum develop a successful business in Bishop Auckland.

HAVING a party? Then you might need the party godmother - not forgetting her dad to blow up the balloons. Whatever the party, everything from princess plates and party bags for tinies to terrifying Darth Vader costumes for grown ups, the party godmother does the lot. All ages, all occasions, she has something to make it go with a sparkle.

Yet it's only a short time since Clair Longthorn was a stay-at-home mum looking after her children Ellie and Joe. She loved organising parties for them and once they started school, the former sales rep realised this could be the basis for a business.

"A lot of parents haven't got time to do all the chasing round for a children's party. Finding all the bits and bobs you need can take too much time. But if you could get them all one place, it would be easy. I realised there was a gap in the market and that I could do that."

Gradually she put together a website and a catalogue. "Someone quoted me £15,000 to do that, so I did it myself instead. We hired a photographer and Spennymoor Leisure Centre and roped in every child we knew."

The catalogue is full of things you never knew you needed. Everything's organised in themes - princess, pirates, Postman Pat, cars, football, Scooby Doo, among many others.

Even the room gets dressed up. For the Hawaiian-themed party, for instance, you can get scene setters - 15-metre rolls of paper to look like a thatched hut. Then there are window scenes and views and even some life-size hula dancers. Your own little hula dancers can have skirts and garlands. There are flower straws, Hawaiian confetti, even an inflatable sun.

Pirates get hats, swords, eye patches, Jolly Roger flags and even fake scars and tattoos.

And balloons. Lots and lots of amazingly elaborate balloons. Balloons in all shapes and sizes, balloons inside balloons, balloons with feathers, balloons with twinkly lights.

"People were asking me about balloons, and so I thought 'All right, I'll do those as well' and went on a training course to find out more about it."

Now she does those very elaborate balloons that set the scene for weddings and corporate events. "We do a lot at the Ramside and Helme Park. And that can mean a lot of balloons."

Last Saturday her dad George was in the shop, in Bishop Auckland, not long after 5am to start on blowing up the 1,500 balloons needed that day. And yes, he does have a little machine to do it for him, but even so, there's an art and a skill to it and 1,500 balloons is an awful lot.

"It means we work on Sundays too, because when we're doing Christenings I like to do the balloons at the last minute so they're at their best."

BUT while party godmother Clair is buzzing all over the place, fizzing with new ideas, her family keeps her grounded. As well as partner Barney, a plumber, and her dad, her mum and her aunty Margaret Bowman are also involved in the business.

They opened the shop only last month and George and Barney did all the work.

"Up till then we'd only had a warehouse, but people just kept turning up and asking for things, which was fine, except we kept having to go up and down ladders to look for princess outfits. A shop seemed like a good idea. Then when the premises next door came up we went for them. I couldn't visualise it at all, but my dad and Barney just transformed it."

They also expanded their fancy dress selection for adults.

"I didn't really want to go into fancy dress, but so many people came in and asked me that I thought I'd do that too."

Now she has a big range in the shop and any other costumes available to order - all shapes and sizes - can usually be delivered with in four days. A tip for would-be revellers - don't leave it until the last minute.

"People round here just love dressing up. Not just for parties but just to go out on the town. And we get other people in too. We've just had the drama group in from King James School seeing what we've got here, trying on all the wigs.

Clair celebrated her 30th birthday recently and, of course, dressed up for the occasion. "I thought I was dressed like a maiden, but then someone said all I needed was green ears and I'd be Fiona from Shrek."

She'd also recently been on a hen party weekend and has - of course - plenty of things in the shop for that, too.

As well as everything for children's parties, Clair will even take things one stage further. Her latest venture involves party organisers running the party and providing entertainment on different themes - cooking, art or mini make-overs.

She's also in the process of developing her website. At the moment it just caters for the children's parties, but she is expanding it to cover every aspect of the business.

"My original aim was just to help busy parents make their child's party really special and it's just gone on from there, so quickly I can hardly believe it. It's hard work and we don't seem to have stopped. But it's great helping people to enjoy themselves. It's fun. It really is."

* Party Godmother is at 22 Railway Street, Bishop Auckland, DL14 7LR. Tel: 01388-454000 or log on to www.partygodmother.com