Have you started your New Year's Eve preparations yet?

It's that time of the year when there is so much going on! We have just celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas is looming, and New Year's Eve will be here before we know it... and of course Valentine's Day has a habit of sneaking up on us very quickly! 

With so many key seasonal decorating opportunities over the next few weeks and months, I thought that it would be a great opportunity to look at some of these holidays and celebrations, and offer some advice and inspiration!

New Year's Eve is one seasonal event that you can be sure there will be many decorating opportunities. hotels, restaurants, public halls, and night clubs to name just a few, will be packed with party goers looking for an amazing evening of fun and celebrations! 

In recent years, I had the opportunity to decorate a beautiful London hotel. My brief was to decorate two key areas in the hotel: the very elegant ballroom and the main entrance foyer.

Ballroom Decor
Qualatex® Starpoint balloons proved to be the perfect choice for my decor in this extremely elegant room (see photograph below). We had eight small alcoves to position our decor, four on each side of the room. With the room being filled to capacity with tables and diners, it was important that we kept our decor within the allocated space and not encroaching into the main floor space.

Hotel Ballroom without balloons.

Tip: Ensure that you fully understand what areas of the room are to be decorated. What are your constraints, for example - access points or service tables? 


The Design

I love the 40" Microfoil® Starpoint Balloons! They really are perfect for elegant events such as New Year's Eve parties or black tie events.  

Building walls and panels are a great way to decorate a room. We used these small panels as illustrated in the picture below, which fitted perfectly and looked really elegant! 

Main Foyer Decor
The main foyer of this hotel is also used as an afternoon tearoom, and if you know anything about afternoon tea in the UK, you will know that this can be a very grand affair! This would prove to be a little challenging for us as this area was never completely void of guests, making it a little bit tricky to position the two 35' arches on AerÖPoles that we had made. But we survived, and although I would have liked the opportunity to tweak the balloons a little, I was happy with the overall effect!

Our brief was to build two "embellished arches." One of the arches would be the main focal decor as guest arrived into the hotel from the reception area, the second arch would be in the same area but would lead guests into one of the bars off the main foyer area.

What is an embellished arch? For me, this is an arch that is "dressed up"! Dressed up with different colours and textures. For my arches, I added Microfoil Stars & Crescent Moons to my latex balloon arches.

The Design

If you don't have a good photograph to excite your client, then you will need to learn how to create good graphic presentations, which can be just as effective. 
Some tools and programs include:

• Microsoft® Publisher
• CorelDRAW®
• Adobe® Photoshop®
• MacDraft PE
• Balloon Pro.co 

I used Balloon Pro.co to help me to design the base arch. I then copy my arch design onto a 'Pages' document. Once I have my base arch design, I can start to add my 'embellishments'! To add additional balloons onto your design simply download them directly from the Qualatex.com

Graphic presentations can be used to give a client an idea of what the design will look like if you don't have a good photograph to show your client. Be sure to let the client know that this is an "Artist Impression" and that there may be minor changes when the actual decor is built.

Using the Qualatex Holographic Microfoil Stars and Crescent Moons really adds some "glitz, glamour, & sparkle" to this arch! 

Of course there are many different exciting design ideas that you can use for New Year's celebrations! 

How about this Bursting With Cheer design! Use this brilliant and lustrous design to complement any large space. Designer name: Avital and Nir Shechter, CBAs, Balloney Nir, Katsrin, Israel

And for a little more inspiration!

Organic Balloon Backdrop by
Pacha Balloon Creations in Vaughan, ON, Canada

Sculptured Column by Sue Bowler
www.suebowler.com

Balloon Wall by Sue Bowler
www.suebowler.com

Balloon Wall Backdrop by Sue Bowler
www.suebowler.com

This is a fantastic "Glitzy New Year" column, designed by Luc Bertrand, CBA.

To download the instructions click HERE.

Transform the traditional Topiary with Tapers! They create a cool, spiky effect when tied in pairs and wrapped together to top this exciting winter centrepiece. Try using different Microfoil and latex colours to coordinate this design with a Christmas or New Year's theme.
Design from Qualatex Balloon Decoration Ideas on www.qualatex.com

This is a design that I created for WBC 2010 Final Night Gala. I think that it would make the perfect centrepiece for a New Year's celebration. If you would like to find out how to make this design, check out my blog:

An elegant centerpiece idea for a New Year's Gala Party!

Good luck with your New Year's Eve preparations!

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com