Being several states away from your family and loved ones isn’t easy, especially on important days like birthdays and holidays. One UA student is offering a solution with her creative small business.
Martin said she recognizes the struggle that students face being away from their families for months at a time.
“It’s so hard for these students and parents to be in a different state,” Martin said. “It makes these moms so happy that I can deliver to their kids on birthdays and holidays.”
Bama Celebration Co., run by Kamryn Martin, a senior majoring in criminal justice, creates holiday baskets, flower bouquets and custom cakes that customers can order and send to a recipient of their choice.
Martin was inspired by her mother’s inventiveness with holiday baskets and decided to do the same thing for other students. She started her business around Valentine’s Day 2024 on Instagram, then also posted in Facebook parent pages.
“I got over 30 orders that year for Valentine’s Day. It was insane, like my apartment was filled to the brim with flowers and other stuff,” Martin said.
While many of her customers are parents of students, she also gets orders from boyfriends wanting to deliver their girlfriends a gift.
“A lot of out-of-state boyfriends will order from me,” Martin said. “They get me to deliver flowers to their girlfriends during Valentine’s Day.”
Bama Celebration Co. decorates custom cakes and cupcakes for different occasions. The most popular are her 21st birthday cakes, which include a gold 21 topper and a few shooters
Martin recently made a red and black Alabama-themed cake with a 21 topper that went viral among UA parent Facebook groups.
“It’s mostly been girls that get these cakes, the moms of girls love them, but recently this mom wanted one for her son,” Martin said. “That one got posted onto Facebook, and the boy moms started going crazy over it.”
After the first Valentine’s Day, Martin decided to expand and offer birthdays as a year-round option. From there she expanded to other holidays, offering Easter baskets and even “boo baskets” for Halloween.
“With the baskets, they sell out fast, so I have to take those orders in advance,” Martin said. “Sometimes I’ll get an order and it’s, like, the day before Halloween. I’ll try and accomodate, and sometimes I’ll offer to do cupcakes instead if I can’t do a basket.”
