Our quick and easy to follow descriptions will allow you decide what balloon decorations are the optimal option for your special occasion.
Once we started with balloon design, we felt confused with the substantial selection of displays we saw. Yet along our learning process, we found out that everything come down to three basic styles:
Balloon Bouquet
Normally used as a centerpiece for dinner tables, the balloon bouquet really is the heart of a balloon display. Between two and nine balloons, connected to curling stripes, are laid out in different heights and connected to a table base. In the instances below the base is either a weighted flower gift basket or a sand-filled balloon. It can be essentially any decorative item that is weighty enough to keep the balloons in position and where the ribbons can be tied to.
A balloon centerpiece can be made of latex OR mylar (also called foil) balloons OR you can blend them.
As the balloons have to be helium filled this choice determines the life expectancy of your balloon decorations. Whereas mylar balloons will float approximately 14 days, even the best quality latex balloons won't stay up longer than for about 12 to 24 hours. By utilizing a product knowned as 'hi-float', it's achievable to make them last 10 to 25 times as long!
Balloon Arch
Naturally, balloon arches fulfill their function best when you can go through them! So they are best balloon decorations for an entrance or exit. Commonly they are also utilized to frame the head or cake table at a wedding celebration or to create a spectacular stage decoration.
Unlike with bouquets you get the choice between helium or air-filled balloon arch.
A hovering arch is composed of single helium-filled balloons organized like pearls along an invisible nylon string, hence the name "String of Pearls". The two ends are fixed to bases, quite similar to the table bases for bouquets, just a bit heavier and often basing on the floor. A brick or sand filled balloon will do the job and can easily be decorated nicely.
With a "String of Pearls" - usually utilized for wedding balloon arches - you put together an amazing effect with fairly little effort. The only drawback is the short life-span, as a result of the nature of helium-filled latex balloons, as described above.
If the decorations for your special event must last much longer, you can either utilize mylar balloons in place of latex or you go with an arch with air-filled balloons.
With these options of balloon decorations, there is a bit more constructional work involved, as an air filled balloon arch needs some supportive elements:
a structure made from a sturdy, flexible material like conduit, PVC piping or aluminium pole and
a tough support at either end to secure the arch.
The pipe or rod is formed into the actual arch and the balloons are connected to it, mostly in clusters of three to five balloons. By using different colors and placing the balloons in a special way you'll get this nice spiraling effect shown on the photo. Don't panic, we'll explain step by step and with lots of photos how to do that!
Depending upon the size of the arch you'll need to blow up plenty of balloons! Get your family and friends ready! Alternatively you might use a hand pump or maybe rent or buy an electric pump. This investment, obviously, only makes good sense if you are considering to do much more balloon decorations.
A much basic way to make an air filled balloon arch is by making use of so named 'Link-o-Loon' balloons.
Balloon Columns
Positioned as superb eye-catchers at each side of an entry or head dining table at a wedding ceremony, balloon columns are excellent for wedding balloon decorations. They also make wonderful balloon decorations for defining an area of your wedding venue, for instance the dance floor or the stage decoration.
As columns are often crafted from air filled balloons, supportive elements are needed:
a strong metal or plastic pole and
a sturdy base as anchor for the stick.
The balloons are secured to bundles of generally three to five balloons and fixed to the rod, layer after layer. Using larger sized balloons for the top and the bottom, and smaller balloons in between, the balloon column check here takes the characteristic contour of its model in the "real" world. To crown your work you could place a stuffed giant balloon on top of the balloon column.
Like with the air filled arch, both of these balloon decorations imply you'll will need to blow up a ton of balloons! So, getting an inflator would be a very good strategy, particularly for blowing up the giant balloon that crowns your column.
You could fill only the balloons at the bottom with air and the rest with helium. That way you won't need a stable base and a pole, as the balloons are going to support themselves. Make use of a nylon line to affix the balloon clusters to.
If you need the display just for one party, a helium filled balloon column will do fine. It saves you the trouble of building a frame and renting an inflator. Yet, helium costs more air and the life expectancy of the balloon decorations will be much lower.