President’s day sale at a dealership in Boston area. Balloon decorations to cheer up customers. “what would you like?” – “Well, arches”. How many times have I heard it? Planty…
Coming to see the space to work with. Beautiful 2 story high ceiling, huge room. Nice balcony right across from the door. And, even though it is a dealership, most visual space is empty: from the tops of the model cars to the 30’ ceiling there is nothing catching the eye. Yes, balloon decorations will do the job. Arches are great, say at the door or above the car, but in the space we can do better than that. A big balloon sculpture would do the job. Star seems to be a natural choice for the president’s day, colors – no surprise – red, white and blue. If not, I would choose brighter colors (less white another words) in this light wall and white color room. For the sculpture the other choice for the customer was heart (it is Valentine time and they love their customers!). The last choice was dinosaurs – to make the TV and news people come…
As you see, the star had won.
An interesting thing: they wanted us to work during the day, so people were coming to see cars on sale. They did not! They looked at our team dressing up the star and putting it up!
See our balloon sculpture page
Tags: Balloon Sculpture, booth decorations, trade show, whole story
In the post about the balloon sculpture of orange dino, I mentioned that it began to lay golden eggs. This was the first one.
The Bryn Mawr School for girls is located near the one were the dinosaur was made. The principles had lunch together and the dino story was shared. So people from Bryn Mawr called me for decorations for a game on their field. What can be done on the side of a football field so that people would notice it?
Well, the team in the school was called the Martians, so that was an idea (needless to say that the first thing the people from the school said was “balloon arch”). I do not know about you, but I had never seen a martian in my life, so I have no idea how they look. The only thing that was a must was the color green – the school color. Green looks like the right color for Martians ( just sounds natural for them), but not very practical – the background for the balloon sculpture were green trees. But the school insisted.
I asked everybody I knew about the Martians. Yes, there were strange looks all right, but at some point someone said “sure!” and drew me a picture of a Martian on a napkin. It was exactly what I was looking for! I sat down with a ruler and pencil and measured the proportions carefully. And here you go – he is 30 feet tall and looks exactly the same! (Easy for me to say – where is that napkin?)
As I said, it was standing on the side of a football field, far away from any building, but the electricity for my compressor was available – they said… But what is enough to power a scoreboard is not for a commercial size compressor! No, I will not claim that we have blown the whole balloon sculpture by mouth (wait another 20 years and I will). We called back to our store and asked for the tiny machine we used to blow up balloons before. I am very proud we have finished on time – it took 4 times longer than we had planned. But we did it and it is not “it” anymore! We love him!
balloon sculpture DNA
Clark University had a grand opening of another biology building.
This had a very unusual beginning: we were recommended by competitor-friend. They offer the same service, but on the “balloon bouquet” side only. So, when Clark University asked for something fancy, they gave our telephone number. And here I was in the new biology building. “What can you do for us?” We have done a very complicated molecule for a chemist convention once, but this called for something new. What? “Can you do a DNA? In the atrium” – as always, the answer was – “YES”!
So I was introduced to a professor who printed out several DNA models for me and gave all explanations. “Back to school” – a pleasant feelings…
It is one thing to try a balloon sculpture of Dino, it is anther to try a 3 story high DNA. I did not (and I do not) have a place that is high enough to try out things like that… So, for every minute of execution I spend 10 in planning. The scary factor was that as the balloon sculpture is being built, it goes up and the next part is added from below. If anything is wrong – I can’t jump and fix it, I can’t lower the whole thing down and get lower parts to get tangled – it would take a lifetime to get it back. So everything has to work perfectly fine the first time around. Fortunately (I would like to say “as usual”, but I am too modest! ) it worked. With a lot of planning and a little bit of experimentation at the beginning the structure turned out to be what you see on the picture.
When we were done, the professor came by and I asked if everything is correct (after all, it is his stuff!). He looked at it for a second closely and I felt like a student handing in the homework again. “Well, everything is correct” he said (A? A+?).
Others were a little more exited. Again, as it happened a lot of times, they ordered decorations for the festivities for that day only; they kept the balloon sculpture for a week.
Balloon sculpture vs. balloon arch!
The beginning was pretty usual: “we need an arch for the first day of classes in our school”. Somehow everybody (well, almost everybody) knows about arches and thinks this is the only way to go! Well, I came to school to see where the arch should be – the space between two buildings – not a good spot. But! There was a beautiful lawn right across. The principle was nice enough – so when I looked at the lawn and suggested to do “something else “, asked “like what?”. Usually they say: “It’s ok, can we have a nice arch here please?”
I have done quite a few arches in my life, but not a single dinosaur (actually, there are a few other things I want to do before I die), so I sad “a dinosaur”. His eyes lit up, he asked to see something like that. “Something” lived only in my head, to come to existence someone has to order it first – you need two to tango! When was the last time you needed an orange balloon dinosaur 20’ high, 30’ long? Yes, this is why I did not have the picture. I found a picture of the balloon sculpture much smaller one in my Idea book (cut outs from professional magazines). Not what I had in mind at all, but better than nothing.
And the principle said “yes”! Well, as I said, I had never done one before. First, I got a book with a good picture and measured the thing carefully. Then we went to a place with a very high ceilings (if you do not have a friend with a very large room – you are dead in this business!) and built one up completely. It took the whole day. One problem: it was inside. No wind, no kids trying to get on it and so on. A balloon sculpture of the life-size dino is like a sail on a boat. Even a little wind can bend it, as serious one can make it fly. So it took some additional work to make it hurricane-proof.
Then the big night came and in the morning the dino was born! It had as much metal in it as rubber, the neck was anchored to the tree behind, the neck pipe was hammered 4 feet deep into the ground and you could drive a tank through – it would not move! But we still call it a balloon sculpture…
Then the rewards began coming in. The first one was the principle himself. He lost his gift of speech when he was jogging by at 6 am. He said “Mikhail, it’s great!” about 20 times in a row… Then kids and parents started showing up… If anything can be a reward, that definitely was! Then, to top all of that, an 80 years old gentleman from the house behind the lawn came to see the dino close up. He lived on the second floor. When he woke up that morning and opened the window – he discovered a head of the dino up above and was slightly shocked… But he was strong and survived it.
Then the dino began to lay golden eggs: the two neighboring schools placed the orders within a week or two: the principle worked as my salesman much harder than I ever did! Than is how the balloon sculpture of Martian came to being. That story is coming…
One thing though: they will lay on the table along with the food. Sometimes, caterers place so many dishes on the table and the food is so decorative as well as abundant, that the bases are lost. In fact, the smaller the base, the simpler it is for your catering service and the less it will get in the way of the visitors.
Therefore, whenever you intend to spend money on the bottoms of balloon arrangements or different table decorations – think about dishes, bottles and other things competing for the space.
7. Balloon ceiling (the ceiling covered with balloons with hanging ribbons)
Factors to bear in mind:
a) When the ceiling is a rough area, numerous balloons might pop during the inflation process, and a lot more throughout the celebration, unless the ceiling is covered completely and balloons do not move.
c) 1 balloon takes up a bit less than a sq ft. Thus, when you’re in a big space, you’ll need a considerable spending budget to pay for the ceiling totally covered. If it is – fine, but I would consider the other options in the same price range as well. If you’re only covering the ceiling partly, an A/C or fan may blow the balloons about and will rub all of them against the ceiling. If that is the case and the ceiling surface is rough, a sizable part of balloons will pop.
For more complete discussion of ceiling decorations please read ”Balloon decorations for the ceiling”
8. Balloon Drops
An ideal place for that is a theater-type space. That is to say, a space having a very high ceiling and a relatively small floor area. On their way down balloons “have time” to go sideways and cover everything within the room.
Inside a regular-sized space we will be fortunate if we manage to cover the dance floor. Also (although it’s a matter of individual judgment) the dangling web filled with balloons does not help at all in terms of decorations, in addition to telling everybody what’s coming. And, even worse, if a person isn’t looking at the net with balloons the second when the balloons are dropped, he could miss the entire thing – it takes a second for the balloon to get to the floor!
A remedy to all these difficulties is the so-called “explosive balloon”, also called a “popping balloon”.
Stay calm! There aren’t any actual explosive used! Just about all it is a big (3-foot or even bigger) balloon, full of small balloons or even occasionally confetti or lotto wins. One or more of these balloons is placed on the ceiling so when the right time arrives, they’ll all “explode” at the press of button.
You could disperse all these explosive balloons all around the ceiling if you wish to include everyone, or just use a few at a good place, should you wish. Forget about large dangling netting and nobody ever guesses what will happen!
Also, it’s really worth mentioning that you can place these ‘explosive’ balloons with each other to create a wall and blow up the whole wall… We’ll discuss this the next time!
Tags: balloon centerpieces, explosive balloons, general party decorations, popping balloons
In “Decorating Your Party: How to avoid common mistakes: Part I” we discussed a few of the choices you can think about to improve the quality of the party (such as: colors, dimension of your space, elevation of the ceiling). This time, we will discuss a few of the details of party decorations and what can be done about them.
1. Production time.
You ought to know when the space becomes available to you. In most cases, it’s just 2 hours beforehand. Be certain to tell your decorator about that from the start of the conversation. This doesn’t imply that you can’t use thorough balloon decorations! However this ought to be taken into consideration. There are lot of approaches to it:
a) Sometimes the place where you’re leasing the space (be it a lodge or a community hall) can offer a back room to prepare party decorations so when the room becomes available, decoration team just sets everything up. Usually it easely can be done within the 2 hours.
b) With the aid of your decorator you’ll be able to pick event décor which can be produced swiftly and still look amazing.
c) The decorator could get additional aid, however will need to charge an extra fee due to the time limitation.
d) The decorator could hire a truck and bring bits and pieces to be put together at the location swiftly. This too may cost more, simply because of the time limitation at the place.
2. Ceiling Sensors.
A few locations use sensors on the ceiling, therefore if a balloon rises, an alarm rings and fire engine turns up just a few seconds after. Pricey for the owner and could end up being expensive for you.
Do not stress! You can still use balloons. Nearly every party decoration that is doable with helium filled balloons (the kind which floats) is possible with air filled balloons on a frame and does not need to be close to the ceiling.
3. Doing it the day before.
If, for whatever reason, you must do balloon decorations the previous day, remember that normal (11″ rounded) helium filled balloons are going to be half-dead by the morning and on the ground by noon.
If you just want basic balloon bouquets, it is easy to ask the decorator to use high float. This keeps balloons from deflating considerably longer. For those who have more sophisticated party decorations – just use air filled balloons on a frame as an alternative, as I pointed out in the last point.
4. Transparent balloons.
Simply remember that they look wonderful at the very first, particularly if you have shiny balloons within, however in several hours they’ll be much less translucent, a bit gray and can turn out to be a lot more opaque as the party continues.
5. Balloon lights.
This can be an extremely effective technique for low-light parties!!! In normal light or sunshine celebrations they’re barely visible. If, for some reason, you have no choice, use far stronger lighting along with bigger balloons, bunch the lamps together and so forth.
More to come…
Tags: decoration tips
2. Colours within the room.
We hear this nearly every day: “Our colours are gold and white; I would like gold and white balloon decorations.” Then we arrive at the location and I see lots of white ceiling, pale walls along with a light floor where white balloons would nearly melt in to the surroundings and the golden ones would be barely more noticeable than white. It’s a whole lot worse, when the space is really a white tent.
The very first thing that you think, needless to say, is – select your colors after you select the location. This isn’t always feasible, however think about including or removing a color to balance the colors of the space and also the colors of, say, your wedding party(light blue walls will conflict with wine red gowns, however, you could possibly bring in a mauve into the decorations to combine them).
3. Small decorations in a large area.
As I pointed out previously, we use human perception. For those who have an event in an exceedingly huge room or outdoors, your decorations (balloon decorations or any other kind) are vying for interest with various other things within the area.
Inside a huge area those things may end up being a stage, a huge flag or sophisticated chandeliers. Outdoors – it could be trees, homes, and clouds. So whatever you plan, your decorations ought to be huge, vibrant, and luscious or else you will be the only person to realize that they’re there.
For instance, little, really detailed centerpieces for any party of two thousand people inside a big gymnasium – is a complete waste of funds. Sure, they’re good, nicely themed, but how much consideration will they receive?
The same way, if intended for that type of party celebration, when you intend a massive balloon sculpture, don’t throw away cash on stamping your company logo on every balloon. No one will pay attention.
My apology for the absence of pictures: we do not produce anything that would illustrate the mistakes, or, when the customer insists – do not take pictures. And we are definitely not going to showcase anybody else’s mistakes!
To be continued soon!
Tags: decoration tips
Here are some more examples:
A larger structure consisting of several concentric circles, usually of contrasting or complementing colors. Can be done around a chandelier or just in the middle. Or, if the room is large – several circles like this.
This ceiling was done for a baby shower with a circus theme. This was created in the dining room with a relatively high ceiling. The moons are filled with air so they hang down. That and the ribbons from the center to the outer circle makes it 3D rather than flat on the ceiling. The picture is worth 1000 words. This is true, but at least this time 1000 pictures do not substitute being there at all. It was breathtaking - I would not say that about everything I have done.
Now, a couple of things when you can touch the ceiling…
This one – decor for a Salsa competition – comes with a story. What is the symbol for Salsa? Is there one? The client trusted in me (did not know, another words) and I do not dance, Salsa or otherwise. I asked my friend, a dancer. Oh, she said, they do not really dance! They just turn around a lot!
Well, ok! Here is the big idea: a spiral that is actually turning around. We used small mirror ball motors and large spirals turned around all the time. The other pieces were hanged on a single string so thr air moved them around. They liked it – look at the next picture.
Here we go – next competition. Same room, different idea. Not as original, if you ask me, but customer was very happy.
Or How to Decorate If the Room Is Severely Overcrowded
You decorate the ceiling!
Easy to say… but what if “you can’t touch the ceiling!” condition is upon you?
You decorate with balloons, with helium balloons that just fly up and sit there! So the ceiling is untouched and the room is beautifully decorated.
The most common solution - to buy balloons on strings and to let them up on the ceiling - is not very practical. One balloon takes 3/4 of a square foot, so in a reasonable size room you need a lot! Much more than you can buy in a party store and bring in your car (by the way, usual sedan takes ~20 balloons, regular SUV ~70 to 100 – squished to death), so you need someone to come with a helium tank or two and spend a few hours blowing… Probably not for free. If you want to do it yourself - I think there is a cheaper way to go crazy.
Some people just take so many (say 50) balloons and let them go above the dance floor, so it is not 3000 balloons and there is still something on the ceiling. Well… Usually, the air conditioner will take care of these balloons – it will blow them away to corners and, as they are dragged against the ceiling, some will pop, in some cases – most of them.
Enough of horror! There is a light at the end of the tunnel! – You call me! Or at least read this post.
Yes, you can do a lot with the ceiling. The structures in these pictures can be customized to any event with the color of the balloons and color of what you hang from these balloons. What can you hang?
Almost anything. For a mother-in-law you need a lot of helium, it is expensive… Other then that, we use long balloons, ribbons of all widths, mylar balloons, flat stars and even fabric (it is not the mother-in-law, but still can be heavy) Tulle is the perfect material. But be aware of the static.
Word of caution: remember the color of the ceiling itself! Do NOT put white or silver or even baby blue balloons on white ceiling.
Let’s see some pictures
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This is very simple and effective: as usual, it takes no place on the floor, it is seen at all times from everwhere and it adds color of your choice to the ceiling. If the ceiling is high – you can have something hang low, if it is not – nothing is hanging. Since these balloons are attached to each other (not to the ceiling!), the air conditioner will not be able to move them at all. Actually even a 3-balloon cluster does not move.
Now, this party was quite unusual by my standards: they exceed the maximum number of people in the room twice! So the entrance and ceiling was the only option. Here we used their logo balloon. It’s a relatively inexpensive way to customize your party with balloons printed for you.
Come tomorrow, this is not even half of the story!
- Dancing Party Decorations
It was a simple ‘end of school, start of college’ party. There were a few adults, a lot of kids, a low light and a DJ. Low light is the keyword, for in the center of every “flower” that comprises the wall there was a small balloon with a blinking light inside! During the first part, while the light was on, it was just a balloon wall – party decorations as usual. But, when the light was dimmed, the blinking lights turned the wall into a twinkling and flickering wonder!
- Balloon wall with blinking lights
The blinking lights are relatively expensive – $1.29 each at the moment, but it is well worth the money. If it is dark in the room and you can’t see your decorations, you don’t need them, right? Well, now, coming soon at a low light party near you, are the balloon decorations for the dark. With these lights, simple decorations turn into absolutely amazing, stunning piece of décor.
The lights are small, light-weight and can be lifted by a helium filled balloon. On the negative side – they are not too dependable, I had to buy more, turn them on and use only those that were blinking an hour later.
The site for the lights: http://www.flashingblinkylights.com/
Click here it see Balloon Sculpture page. See more, see why we are WOW! Balloons…
Photography by Tatiana Ostrovskaya, www.photographemontrealimage.com
