Inspiration for Under the Sea Theme Parties

Perfect for all ages, the "Under the Sea" theme remains one of the top design ideas for party decor.

Fabulous "Under the Sea" Decor created by Cenário Balões of São Paulo, Brazil.

For me, this is one of those themes that you can really let your creativity run wild. 

When I look for inspiration for theme parties, I often look at children books, one of my favourite being  "The Rainbow Fish".

"The Rainbow Fish written by Marcus Pfister was orgiginally published in German, but then later translated into English by J. Alison James. This book tells a story of a fish who, though he does not have rainbow scales, has still very colourful ones. He has very special scales — one that are silver and shiny."

Not only is this book incredibly charming, it is also beautifully illustrated with a fabulous palette of colours and lots of sparkle － which is also perfect for confetti-filled balloons! As soon as I saw the beautiful backdrop created by Luiz Carlos da Costa Silva of Cenário Balões, it immediately took me back the fabulous Rainbow Fish stories - remember, our job is not to just create decor but to also create the wonderful memories that it makes!

Beautiful entrance decor by Cenário Balões

Qualatex^® Chrome™️ Balloons, are perfect for this theme, featuring that stunning metallic shine. And that Chrome balloon mermaid tail is perfect in every way!




Did you know that we can take Chrome balloons to another level? Check out the Custom Colour chart to find out how to make some of these fabulous new colours using Chrome, Jewel Tone and Pastel Pearls that are rich, radiant and reflective - perfect for under the water theme decor. If you would like to download this chart, click on the link.

TIP: It's very easy to custom colour using 7" Chrome balloons with 5" Jewel Tones - although the 7" balloon is slightly bigger it will easily fit inside a 5" balloon.

This Quick Link^® base was designed for a window display that I designed for a Mermaid theme. I used a mix of under-sized Chrome and "Jewel Chrome", double-stuffed balloons as the fillers.










How cute is the "Party Narwhal" balloon (below) - I have to be honest, until I saw this balloon, I had never heard of Narwhals before!

Often dubbed the unicorns of the sea (and considered to be the closest that we will ever see to a living unicorn), narwhals are strange and beautiful creatures with long tusks protruding from their heads, like a unicorn.

Once again, the lovely Jackie Ochitwa waved her magic  wand and designed this adorable and extremely sellable 2nd birthday design - look at the fishtail on the number two balloon.The use of a 13" Crescent Moon balloon as a tail is so clever!











Mermaids are still really popular, and with a remake of Disney's Little Mermaid in the works, it will soon be the number one must have party decor for girls! Last year, Jackie very kindly shared her Mermaid balloon sculpture design with Balloon Magic, so just in case you missed it, I've included in this blogpost- thank you Jackie! 

Here are some of our special shape Microfoil^® Balloons that are perfect for this theme:

40" Party Narwhal
38" Enchanting Mermaid
35" Amazing Octopus
43" Fashionable Fish
30" Super Sea Star

To complete this inspirational blog post, I would like to share more remarkable under the sea installations. The incredible Cenário Balões team from Brazil was able to craft these outstanding octopuses.

Decor created by Cenário Balões of São Paulo, Brazil.

Decor created by Cenário Balões of São Paulo, Brazil.

Decor created by Cenário Balões of São Paulo, Brazil.

This is a theme that will always be popular! If you have a shop or store window, why not you let your creativity flow and give yourself the chance to see the reaction from your customers, and use your designs to inspire your online customers too! 

A huge thank you Luiz Carlos and his fabulous team for sharing some of their amazing work and to Jackie for her fabulous Mermaid video tutorial! 

Happy Ballooning!


Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler

Dive into the latest trend on Instagram - #mermaids (1,331,460 posts and growing!)

Being trend-savvy is the key to success, especially in the world of balloon artistry. Knowing what's hot will give us the edge over our competitors and excite our clients.

A sea-world theme is a favourite for me. I love colour, and this theme allows me to use so many wonderful hues to create magical decor. Earlier this year I created a number of visual displays for Pioneer^®  Europe at Spring Fair. Spring Fair is the UK's No.1 trade show for gift and home products, held at Birmingham's N.E.C. One of the displays I made was designed to feature the new Qualatex^® Enchanting Mermaid Microfoil^®  balloon. 
It was also the perfect opportunity for me to showcase the NEW Qualatex Chrome Balloons™ and their unique vibrancy and versatility, especially when double-stuffed inside Jewel- coloured balloons.



I have been asked on several occasions how I made this display, so I thought that I would share it with you on the Very Best Balloon Blog.

It's all about the base!

The base is an integral part of the design. Without it, the design would not be as eye-catching as it is. It allows me to use many of the colours that are featured in the "Enchanting Mermaid" Microfoil. 

38" "Enchanting Mermaid" #57815

To start, I made a very simple Quick Link x-pattern wall using Chris Adamo's fabulous Balloons Online Design Tool. The wall consists of six chains using 6" Caribbean Blue Quick Links inflated to approximately 5", or five pumps on a Qualatex Green hand pump.

Two - chains of 10
Four - chains of 6
Total number of 6" Quick Links - 44

The chains are locked together using 5" Caribbean Blue and or 5" Tropical Teal duplets. 
Inflate to 3" or one pump using the Qualatex Green hand pump.
Total number of 5" balloons - 62.

With this type of "wall", we have spaces between each of the "X's" - the wall above has fourteen spaces to fill. This was where I was able to introduce a range of fabulous colours.
Each of the coloured balloons used one of the balloons listed below inflated to 5", 5.5", and 6" - the variation in size creates visual movement within the design, but be careful not to make the size differences too extreme. Each balloon is made into a Duplet with a 4" Caribbean Blue as the base balloon. This holds the balloons in place and keeps the wall flat at the base.

Chrome Silver 11" #58270
Chrome Silver looks fabulous when inflated. It creates a solid shine and has a reflective surface, unlike any other latex balloon. Chrome Silver also works extremely well when inflated inside a Jewel colour balloon (double-stuffed) - I renamed these "Jewel-Chromes," and they look stunning! 

Chome Gold 11" #58271
Chrome Green 11" #58273
Chrome Purple 11" #58274






To create the Jewel-Chrome balloons, use; 

Jewel Teal 11" #43753 
Jewel Quartz Purple 11" #43789

Jewel Sapphire Blue 11" #43793

18" "Happy Birthday Mermaid" - #57799 

To complete the display, you can add a selection of balloons that complement the "Enchanting Mermaid" special shape. Deco Bubbles are perfect for this display. They create a "bubble" look and allows to feature 11" latex balloons, making the display longer lasting. 

Qualatex has just released a fabulous new Chrome Balloon Custom Colour Chart, to download it click HERE or visit www.Qualatex.com

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

So What's Hot for 2018?

Mermaid display created by Sue Bowler, CBA.
#mermaids
#mermaidparty
#mermaidstyle

There are quite a few exciting new trends in the party world for 2018. I will feature as many as I can over the next couple of weeks.

Let's start with mermaids! Some say that mermaids are the new unicorn, but unicorns are still trending, too! 

The new Qualatex^® 38" "Enchanting Mermaid" Microfoil^® will definitely be a top-selling balloon! 

Jewel Tone with Chrome Balloons inside.
Balloons by Luc Bertand, CBA.

I recently created a display using some of the fabulous new Chrome Balloons™.  I used Chrome Blue and Chrome Purple. I also double stuffed Chrome Silver inside Jewel Teal, Sapphire Blue, and Quartz Purple to create the fabulously rich colours as displayed in the photograph above. I also added a few Gold confetti-filled Balloons, too, that helped to create the very sparkly base. Here are some fabulous double-stuffed Chrome balloons that Luc Bertrand recently made - the colours and metallic look are simply stunning! 

Here are some of the Qualatex range that I think will work really well for this theme.

A. 38" "Enchanting Mermaid"

B. 18" "Happy Birthday Mermaid"

C. 11" Chrome Blue

D. 11" Chrome Purple

E. 11" Chrome Gold

F. 11" Caribbean Blue

G. 38" "Merry Mermaid"

H. 18" "Birthday Mermaids"

I. 18" Rachel Ellen Age Five 

    Mermaid Polka Dots

Sea-world theme arch created by Sue Bowler and team!

I love to create sea-world theme decor; we have so many fabulous balloons to use within our designs. The addition of the mermaid, confetti-filled Diamond Clear, and Chrome Balloons will be fabulous! 

Another 2018 trend is anything with PANTONE Color of the Year - 

Ultra Violet! 

This ultra cool colour is guaranteed to be used at events this year, especially weddings.

11" Chrome Purple

I think that the new Chrome Purple will be absolutely perfect for this colour theme. These balloons offer a rich texture, reflective surface, and a truly radiant colour. 

Wedding Decor by Sue Bowler

Photo courtesy of Markinternational.info

My third trend for 2018 is marble —marbled decor and marbled wedding cakes, too!

Qualatex^® SuperAgates come in nine fabulous colours in both 11" and 30" balloons! Agates are often used in organic style decor to add visual texture and movement.

Elegant Black & White Decor by Sue Bowler.

I used 30" Black SuperAgates as part of the decor that I created for the Pioneer Balloon Company 100th Anniversary Dinner. They looked so elegant paired with Black & White Polka Dots, White, and Silver confetti-filled 36" balloons, creating a fabulous monochromatic colour scheme decor.

Watch out for my next blog where we will look at even more exciting trends for 2018!

Happy Ballooning!
Sue

www.suebowler.com