How can I make a balloon drop for a wedding and is there a way of releasing them?

by Bessie
(Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom)

Am interested to know more about balloon drop and net and how they are released specially at a wedding and birthday parties both indoors and outdoors. Are they helium or air filled balloons?

Is there a coloured book of balloon decorations images that I can buy? I intend to start a balloon business.

How to Make a DIY Balloon Drop for a Wedding or New Years Eve

Hi Bessie,

For a balloon drop you need a balloon drop bag or net, and between 100 and 2000 air filled latex balloons, depending on the size of the net and the size of the balloons. Typically 5 inch or 9 inch balloons are used. The net or bag should come with ceiling clips and a release cord.

Fill the balloons with air, not with helium. You want them to fall down from the ceiling. If you inflate them with helium, they would stay up in the air, creating the effect of a balloon ceiling.

Here's an example of a balloon drop bag, which holds up to 100 balloons, according to the manufacturer. It looks kind of small to me though. The bag is not reusable, and some reviews said that it was difficult to get the inflated balloons into the bag because of the small opening.

For a more professional looking balloon drop net — that also helps to avoid waste, as it's reusable — I would recommend this PMU balloon drop net. You can get it in different sizes, from holding 125 to 2000 9 inch balloons. Talk about a large balloon drop!

How do you make a balloon drop bag?

Are you a DIY person and would like to make the balloon drop bag yourself? You can! And you only need a thin plastic table cloth, scissors and curling ribbon.

This short video shows how to do it step-by-step:

How many balloons do you need for a balloon drop?

Let's say you have a balloon drop bag with certain dimensions and want to know how many balloons you need to fill it.

I did an example calculation for how to calculate the number of balloons for a large balloon drop in a reply to another BloonsUp reader.

Regarding your question about a coloured book of balloon decorations…

Resources for Starting a Balloon Business

Depending on what you are looking for and how much you want to invest, you could try one of the options below:

• The DIY Balloon Bible For All Seasons: How To Wow Your Friends & Impress Your Relatives WIth Amazing, Easy Balloon Decorations : Published in 2014 by Sandi Masori, Certified Balloon Artist. You can get it as a paperback or Kindle ebook. It has received great reviews and an average 4 star rating. She's written two more books in this "DIY Balloon Bible" series.
  
  Sandi also has a YouTube Channel but she isn't as active there anymore as she used to be.
  
  Price: $17.85 (Paperback), $7.99 (Kindle)



• Video Course Balloon Decorating For Parties and Events: A 3 hour video course with 23 lessons geared towards beginners. The instructor, Peter J. Smith, walks you step by step through the basics of working with balloons and shows how to create bouquets, arches and columns.
  
  Price: $39.99 (Watch for special promotions from Udemy, the platform where the course is hosted.)



• My own eCourse "How to Start Your Own Balloon Decorating Business": This eCourse contains everything you need to know about starting a balloon business. It does not teach you balloon decorating itself. It's a business building course tailored to the specific needs of balloon decorators.
  
  Price: $37



• Balloon Decor Master Series, Conwin Online: A complete training set with 3 DVDs, 24 portfolio images and links to latest trends, tips and products.
  
  Price: $200 to $300 (depending on the seller).



• QBN Balloon Kits, Qualatex: A three part training series with DVDs, the Qualatex catalog, online reference material and tests to become a "Certified Balloon Artist."
  
  Price: US$ 99 per kit, or US$ 249 for all three of them.

You'll find more balloon business resources here.

Hope that helps,

Margit