Trick or Treat ... great balloon design ideas and more for Halloween!

Funny Face Taper Jack
by Sue Bowler CBA

As a child I remember Halloween as a time when we played fun games like 'dooking' for apples or apple bobbing which is probably a more familiar term for most, but that was more than a few years ago...

Halloween I am excited to say is still on an upward trend, with overall sales in the balloon and party sector increasing year on year! 

So what will you be doing to make this a successful Halloween for you?

(See below for the design recipe to create Funny Face Taper Jack on the left).

The first thing you can do is download this great free poster! You can use it in your shops & stores, website and Facebook pages, let your customers know that you have great Halloween balloons and can create fantastic Halloween decor, perfect for their family celebrations!

This poster is available from the Sales Tips section of the Qualatex Business Booster! You can just click HERE and you will be directed to the page!

Have you decorated your store/shop windows yet? As a retailer, your display windows are literally your window to the world. They are the face that you present to passerby and the easiest way to draw attention away from your competitors! And why restrict your theming to the windows, how about bringing Halloween into the store too!

One of the best tips that I learned about window displays was to display what you sell... sounds obvious, but so many companies don't! How easy would it be to fill a window with real pumpkins (do you sell real pumpkins) and other display merchandise rather than creating a range of small displays using balloons and other Halloween merchandise that you sell?

Halloween Pumpkin & Spiders- Buffet Design-
 created by Sue Bowler CBA

However, don't just use your windows to display merchandise, you can use your windows to advise customers about your services, good window graphics can really help to give a clear message to your customers! Maybe you want to tell them that you offer free delivery, you can decorate events and parties and that you are Certified Balloon Artists (if you are of course)!

Remember, your window will draw customers inside your shop, so don't be afraid to add prices to your designs, no prices means too expensive (even if your not)!

Halloween is the perfect time of year to add some special lighting effects to create interest to your windows, but remember to inspire confidence, make sure that your windows are clean and welcoming and not cluttered or dirty!

How about creating Halloween gift packs filled with a selection of your Halloween goodies, perfect for every Halloween party... decorated nicely with a balloon spider of course!

Halloween is not just about shops and stores, it's an amazing time for decorators too, Fiona Fisher CBA recommends that you start your seasonal campaigns early in the year as this is when shopping centres generally get their budgets, however, if not this year then you can start planning for next!

Tracey Atcheson of 'The Thrill of it All', Glasgow, shares her experience of Halloween Decor in her local shopping centre:

 "I LOVE creating fabulous balloons for my customers and have been loving it since 2006...my training as an actress has stood me in good stead as a creative balloon decorator as I have a vivid imagination!! I love a challenge and it is the best feeling to create something with the wow factor - something which takes my customers breath away!!  This is what happened when i created this 8m x 4m balloon wall with over 2200 fabulous qualatex balloons - it was in the central atrium of a large shopping centre in Glasgow and it did stop shoppers in their tracks no one could quite believe it was balloons.  The design took several attempts and there was a nervous wait when putting it together on site that everything would match up and work!!  It was,  by far the biggest project I had undertaken but all the stress was worth it!"

"I cannot explain how much I love coming up with new designs using my qualatex balloons - there is no better feeling than dreaming up a design and when you make it - it is fabulous"!  

Tracey is an active member of the QBN Facebook Page, I asked her if she would like to share her thoughts on the group?

Tracey Atcheson

"I gain so much knowledge and inspiration from the QBN facebook page and think that it is an invaluable tool for all serious decorators and twisters and i have made so many great contacts through the page. There is a great support network full of ideas and help.  

I hope that some of my designs may have inspired others on the page too and cant wait to share more of all our fabulous work with each other".


If you are a QBN member and have not already joined the QBN Facebook group, click here and request to join (This is a closed group for QBN members and CBA's only).

Here are a few more ideas for Halloween:

Fiona has created this fun 'Witches Coven' centrepiece design, right click on the recipe and save to your recipes folder!

Here's a quick and easy design that I have created using the fantastic Funny Face Jack Microfoil that looks like it's lit up! The design is all air-filled and pretty stable but I would recommend that you add a good weight into the base to keep it sturdy! Helium filling the foil head would create the best stability but would add extra cost for the helium.

And finally Don't forget to check out the Qualatex Autumn Business Booster for lots of other great idea's! Click HERE for a direct link.

A huge thank you to Fiona Fisher and Tracey Atcheson for their contribution to this blog!

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com