OTC Online Store fulfills all my party and holiday needs!

Pros:  great selection, low prices

Cons:  items can be of low quality; not a lot of detail on the items

The Bottom Line:  I've been very pleased with Oriental Trading Company for many years, and their web site is a big help.

Full Review
I am a long-time satisfied OTC customer. I started using Oriental Trading Company back in school, when we used OTC to buy games and prizes for our school carnivals. Now, I use them several times a year for holiday decorating, party supplies, and Halloween candy.

I like OTC because I can get the same things the local costume and party supply store sells, but at a much lower price. I'm glad OTC will sell to both resellers and consumers. It's insane to buy, for example, an inflatable beachball-sized eyeball for $10 when you can get a dozen for that much through OTC.

I've also always been happy with OTC's shipping. One year, I forgot to order Halloween party supplies until one week before my party. I submitted the order through their web site, and the box was on my doorstep with plenty of time to decorate. Packaging is always adequate, and OTC frequently includes extra "gift" items, free of charge.

The merchandise itself is not always of high quality. Generally, items are of the "Made In Taiwan" variety, and are not always meant to withstand the rigors of everyday life. Also, because of the sheer volume of items they carry, the catalogs don't tell you much in detail about the items themselves. And, while the web site interface has improved, I still don't find it intuitive.

One major benefit of the OTC Online Store, however, is the fact that their entire catalog is on their web site. Last year, I had a Haunted Luau themed Halloween party. It's quite difficult to find luau themed items in stores, and the regular OTC catalogs had only Halloween items. But the online store came to my rescue, and I got all the flower leis and decorative tiki gods I needed!