TINY Tumblers was established as a limited company by Emma Hartley in 2018.

When Emma’s maternity leave ended, and the realisation hit home that to survive financially with her expanding family she would need to return to work full time, she was filled with dread of the prospect of her daily commute to London and rarely seeing her children.

Emma made the decision to set up a business which the whole family could get involved in.

Since having her two boys, William, five, and Oliver, three, children’s parties had been at the forefront of Emma’s mind, so she decided to set up a soft play hire company.

With the growth of her business and the expanding clientele of party enthusiasts, Emma created the Tiny Tumblers Stay & Play pop-up cafes around York.

This is where Emma draws on help from her family. Mum Angela, brother Andrew, and auntie Julie, add to Emma’s team of two employees.

They are a small team of enthusiastic individuals who want to offer excellent customer service and help families to enjoy their time together at affordable prices.

Customer Service is at the heart of Tiny Tumblers, who will often recommend other local family businesses if they don’t have availability.

Emma’s mum Angela brings a wealth of experience to the business from working in education for 30 years, and Julie brings great experience from her hospitality background. Emma utilises these family skills for the advantage of Tiny Tumblers, and often receives great feedback on how wonderful and professional the service is.

With strong solid values of respect, integrity, service excellence, and community; they strive to ensure that the local community in York is well catered for.

Growing even further this year with their disco domes, Slumber Party Tepees and Glamping tents, Tiny Tumblers reckon they are the family-run business with family at the heart of everything they do.

Emma even gets her boys involved. She explained: “It is really important for children to understand the value of money, and also to understand how hard I work to earn the money. I often take the boys with me to set up soft play parties, and they help with the final display ready for the birthday child.

“The boys are really excited for the child that is celebrating, and it gives them a really selfless excitement and understanding that not everything is about them,” added Emma, who gives the boys a small pay packet containing a £1 coin and a chocolate coin. The pound goes into their piggy banks, and at the end of each month they can buy themselves a treat of their choice.

She added: “The boys absolutely love being involved, they have their own uniform and love being part of the team.

"It teaches them some really great life lessons, in becoming work ready at a really young age, sharing the load, and team work.

"It is really humbling to see what great human beings these boys are becoming.”

Tiny Tumblers is a contender for two titles - New Business of the Year and Family Business of the Year.