What about balloons for your birthday party? When parents of young children see us working the first thing that comes to mind is birthday parties. Let’s face it: balloons add a lot to festive occasions, and kids love colorful balloon treats. Have you taken the time to think about the best way to maximize the fun? No? We have, so keep reading for some answers.
- Are balloons to be part of the decor for the party?
- Do you want the balloons as entertainment?
- Have you thought about making balloons be party favors that you want to send home with each child?
Balloons for your birthday party can be part of the decor. If you want to use them this way, you’ll need to have time to get them in place before your guests arrive. A simple solution is to go to the party and get a bunch of helium balloons on strings and tie them to the backs of chairs, put them in a cluster in the corner, and be done. Unfortunately, you have to have time or help to do the running around, your choices are limited, and if you get the balloons too early they look a little wilted before your party even starts.
Hiring a balloon professional means they do the running around for you. True, you have to be there in time for them to put the arrangements into place whether at your home or at a rented party space. Once they know your budget trained pros can give you ideas in an appropriate price range. They have access to a wide range of colors and sizes, and they have the knowledge about how to put them together efficiently and effectively. Once the balloons are in place, the professional departs, ideally before your guests arrive, and you look like a fabulous host.
Do you want balloons for your birthday party to be entertainment? There are a couple of ways to accomplish this. If you want all the kids to be entertained at once, it’s important to keep in mind that they don’t necessarily like to watch balloons being made. They want theirs, they don’t necessarily care about how you do it, and they want to run around. If you want entertainment as part of your party, plan to have a balloon show. Set aside a space where the kids can sit in a group and watch the performance. Keep the really little ones from wandering into the performance space and distracting both audience and entertainer. How to create the best environment for a balloon show will be addressed in another post.
If you don’t necessarily want a show but do want some entertainment, can you set aside a space for balloon games? These tend to be energetic, involve running around and being noisy. Often we’ll need parents to join in and help their little ones, maybe even to be part of the team. Obviously game time is not the time for food and drinks. Those should come later.
Last, what about party favors? Is it important to you that each child has a balloon to take home? If so, you may want to consider having balloons for your birthday party made in advance so you can store them in an out-of-the-way and out-of-sight area. Then you can hand them to guests as they leave. Let’s be realistic. Balloons are balloons. They break. Kids may change their mind once they see a balloon they hadn’t thought of, but often there isn’t time for the balloon artist to make extras. We generally only make 1 per child unless there’s time to make 2 for everybody. If we finish up all the kids and have a little time left, we’ll make extra balloons for the host to give out at the end. Usually there’s not time for this.
How much does all this cost? It depends. We need to discuss the specifics of your party before we can give you any price information. One thing I can tell you is that having us pre-make balloons does not save you a significant amount of money. We still have to purchase supplies, set aside time to make the creations, time to deliver them. “But can’t you just make some in advance?” We can talk about that when we discuss the specifics of balloons for your birthday party.
In summary, there’s more to balloons than meets the eye. You have a lot to think about when hosting a party. Having a professional help can make things easier. Before you make up your mind about balloons, think about how to get the most from them. Ask us questions, take some time to think it over, then get back to us. We’ve done a lot of parties. By doing to many parties we’ve met a lot of kids. During our slower months we attend continuing education events about balloons. “How long have you been doing this?” Since 1976 I’ve been a children’s entertainer. I’m still learning. Why? Because I want to make your party a grand success.
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