How to Organize a Romantic 
Balloon Release at Night

Watching a balloon release with sparklers on a warm summer night is a romantic experience and a lovely gift for weddings or birthdays. It's fairly easy to organize, but there are a few important points to consider in order to make it a memorable and safe experience.

What You Need For Your Balloon Release:

• 15 to 20 x 11" high quality latex balloons, preferably in a light color (we used "Qualatex" white),
• color matching curling ribbon (5 mm wide),
• 15 to 20 sparklers (preferably extra long for increased burning time),
• helium (e.g. 'Disposable Helium Tank')
• one spare balloon for testing the wind direction.

The first thing you need to do is to attach the ribbons to the sparklers. Bend about 3 cm of the sparkler wire back onto itself (fig. 1) to form an eye (fig. 2). 

Twist the end of the wire round a couple of times to secure it (fig. 3). Now take about one meter of ribbon and tie it to the sparkler's eye. The next step is to inflate the balloons with helium.

If you are using a 'Disposable Helium Tank' it should come with instructions. If you are using a regular helium tank, inflate the balloons and knot them as explained here. Now tie the other end of your ribbon to the balloon (fig. 4).

Obviously transporting up to 20 inflated balloons could be difficult unless you have a large vehicle or plenty of volunteers who have cars. We get around this problem by preparing the sparklers with the ribbons at home and blowing up the balloons on site. 

O.K., everything's ready for the balloon release. But first there are a couple of important points to consider. Number one would be the surroundings (e.g. are there any tall buildings or trees or any other obstacles). Try to find an open area to release the balloons. 

Just prior to the release inflate your spare balloon and let it go as a last minute check on wind direction and speed.

Whether you light the sparklers yourself or you involve your guests, make sure that they are all lit and released at the same time (fig. 5). 

And then... enjoy the sight of them floating upwards, sparkling, glittering, shimmering like twinkling stars, and finally disappearing into the night sky!