Started in 2007, the apparel and swag business has grown from an at-home company in Great Neck to its current space in Glen Cove.

Founder Sue Smith created The Coolest Giveaways (formally known as Lemon Pound Cake) after designing her son’s bar mitzvah sweatshirt.

Smith says the business “started from the top of my house on a couch” and has grown into what it is today.

The brand offers products from shirts, to hats, to bottles to napkins for bar and bat mitzvahs, parties and other events. With an in-house designer, The Coolest Giveaways aims to create a vision with the client for the overall event.

“We play nicely in the sandbox meaning that we coordinated all the logos that we did with all the different aspects of the party so for example the décor, the event team, the DJ, the event place and so we have a very good reputation.”

Various examples of the company’s creations include customized hats that say, “Acing It” and “serve it up” shirts for the waitstaff of a tennis-themed party, to neon pencils and coordinating sweatshirts for a glow party.

“We never repeat a party, and the other thing is there’s never two things that are the same.” Smith, who has prior experience as a president of a Fortune 500 fashion company, said, “From the minute they get your e-vite, to the minute they walk in your room, to the minute they’re at the party, to the minute they leave, it should all be telling a story.”

The Coolest Giveaways also helps to give back to those in need, donating products to a local charity, rock CAN roll, that gives the products to homeless shelters in Suffolk County. “[We] don’t want to see that people who are in need don’t have an opportunity to have something,” Smith notes.

Despite COVID-19 canceling many large events, Smith and her team were able to pivot their focus to creating loungewear and pajamas during the quarantine period to sell on Etsy, which is now being phased out as parties and events pick up again.

Since moving from the former Great Neck location, Smith plans on expanding the company’s services to include event planning.

“We are going to be overseeing from now on all of the visual aspects of the party,” she said. The founder says that they will be shifting into TCG Events, which “will still be The Coolest Giveaways, but.. will be doing creative branding and planning and so that we can bring your vision to life from start to finish,” to include décor and consulting as well.

Smith said, “The most fun is when you can bring someone’s ideas to life…[the] creativity and the work and the relationships [with clients] mean the world to me.”