Do communions vary from country to country and how important are they for balloon businesses?

Communion Butterflies 

First Communion is considered one of the holiest and most important occasions in a Roman Catholic person's life. It is the first time that a person receives the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which is the eating of consecrated bread and drinking of consecrated wine. 

Illuminated Cross
#38465

When boys and girls make their First Holy Communion, it’s a big occasion for Catholic families. Like their Baptism, the day of First Communion is one filled with family, friends, and feasting after the sacred event has taken place in church.

Cross & Doves available in Pearl White with Gold Ink # 86384
and Pearl White with Silver Ink #84560

Working with Colour Trends - Marsala

Colour play's an important part of our lives, so how are we influenced by colour trends? 

Each year specialists from many industries including fashion, pop culture, technology, music and travel scour the globe in search of emerging colour trends. Colour trends are not, as you might imagine, found by simply seeing what's it hot in the fashion world, they are actually inspired by global influences that reflect the spirit of the time.

Each year Pantone announces the Colour of Year. The colour is determined by a select group of people who between them, debate and eventually chose the colour on it's agreed merits.

To give you an example, in 2013 Emerald was selected as the Colour of the Year. It was felt that the colour Emerald represented growth, renewal, and prosperity and in turn could be associated with the changing  economy as it began to recover.

The 2015 'Colour of the Year' has been named Marsala - a "naturally robust and earthy wine red'.

Pantone suggest that this colour will "encourage creativity and experimentation" and is "both dramatic and at the same time grounding".

Part 2. Sport is officially everywhere giving balloon professionals some great decor opportunities!

As a nation we are surrounded by sport, sport related activities, sporting events and global sporting occasions. 

In part 2 of this blog we continue to look at ballooning opportunities at sporting events. If you missed part 1 click HERE.

Balloon professional David Saker of Balloon.co.uk shares his experiences and some great tips.

David Saker - www.balloon.co.uk

We've worked on the World Badminton finals at the NIA for the past 4 years. Usually they go for a floating balloon arch which is walked on and off after each final.

World Badminton Final - Arch by David Saker

Elegant or fun, there is alway's something perfect for Mother's Day.

How we present our balloon's to our customer's can make the difference between selling a single balloon versus a complete design. Here are a few ideas that are perfect for Mother's Day!

'I Love you M♡M' says it all, add it to an arrangement of 'Smile Face Flowers' and we have a wonderful gift!

This design was very simple to make. I found a range of lovely inexpensive tin jugs at my local floral wholesaler and simply secured a 'cup' from a Cup and Stick inside the jug - I used the stick to make the stems of the Smile Face Flowers and use these to secure the design in place. The vase can be filled with treats such as sweets and candy.

This design is very elegant using the 'To a Wonderful Mum Cupcake' 18" # 90585 . The addition of the precision bubbles and bow around the edge of the balloon really make a lovely finishing touch and also add's value to this design.

'Brighten her day with Balloons' - A little inspiration for Mother's Day

Mother's Day is celebrated by over 50 countries around the world, but not all on the same date. Starting in February in Norway going right through to December in Indonesia, each country celebrates their date according to custom or religion.

The Greeting Card Association estimates that more than 150 million Mother’s Day cards are exchanged in the U.S. every year, making Mother’s Day the third largest card-sending holiday after Christmas and Valentine’s Day.

In the UK, the Greetings Card Association states that Mother's Day remains the largest Spring Seasons card sending event, with a value of £50.40m.

Knowing how successful a comparative industry is on key seasonal dates such as Mother's Day is a good benchmark for our industry.

With less than 4 weeks until we celebrate Mother's Day in the UK, I thought it might be a good time to look at some ideas that we can promote to our customers, however for those of you in other parts of the world, you have a little more time to prepare.

Firstly, have you checked out all the great Qualatex balloon designs for this season? 

Click HERE for a direct link

Part 1. Sport is officially everywhere giving balloon professionals some great decor opportunities!

As a nation we are surrounded by sport, sport related activities, sporting events and global sporting occasions. 

I asked industry professional's David Taylor and David Saker to share their personal experiences working on large sporting events. 

David Taylor - Mad Balloons, Sydney, Australia.

What could be more impressive than a 17m Arch greeting supporters as they arrive at the sports stadium!

Our first big arch was for the season opener on 15 Feb. We also did one for the A-League (soccer/football) Grand Final.  It was ordered by FFA and they wanted both teams colours in it.  

If any of the blog readers can get in touch with the World Cup organisers and present this idea to them, there is some serious dollars to be made.  Having both teams colours as team fans approach the ground is a huge plus.  

Make sure you build your arches tough though because if the wind gets up, you will want to hang onto your hats.  I have been making this type of arch for three years now and have only had one blown to pieces on an extremely windy day in September 2013. 

I use Qualatex 16” helium filled balloons in the centre, as I want maximum lift for the duration of the event.  I usually have to leave 90 minutes before gates open. Then the game starts 3 hours later – more if there is a supporters promotion on.  By the time I return to collect the arch it is usually 5+ hours since installation, and the elements can have a big impact of the ability of the arch to support itself.

My arches are 17 metres in length and just between me and you, so they are a great earner.  

Anyway,  I hope that the images and the info helps you.  Go Wallabies!!

A Little about David Taylor.

David has been successfully operating MAD Balloons in Sydney, Australia for more than 20 years, and has built the reputation as one of Sydney's best corporate balloon decor providers. With his innovative designs and a host of loyal clients, David's enthusiasm and passion for balloons has grown and maintained his company success. 

Coming soon! Part 2 of this Sporting Events blog features David Saker's experience working on the World Badminton finals and race start arches.

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

A short overview of this year's Spring Fair & Nuremberg Toy Fair 2015

Stand Decor by Fiona & Rodney Fisher

The NEC Birmingham, England has been the host of Spring Fair since 1976. Spring Fair is Europe's leading presentation of gift and home products and the largest trade exhibition in the UK. From 1st February to 5th February 2015, Qualatex proudly wowed customers with fantastic displays of balloons and decor along with with their fantastic range of balloons and accessories, and introduced many new and exciting products for 2015. 

Qualatex have been exhibiting at Spring Fair for 20 years and I have been part of the Qualatex Spring Fair team for quite a few of those years. It is truly a team effort that makes the stand look so impressive, which we know is very important for visiting guests and prospective customers.

This years stand decor was designed and created by Fiona & Rodney Fisher with the help from the Pioneer Europe team! The colours and design were awesome, impressive giant flowers and garlands using Caribbean Blue, Wild Berry with a hint of 'Fashion' Rainbow Super Agates was simply stunning and stood out from all the other trade stands!

Here's what one of our customers said:

"The stand was beautiful. It was vibrant , colourful , fresh and created alot of ideas to work with in our own business . The spongebob display was a great idea for childrens parties , the pink champagne bottle is a perfect product to add to the hen section or just a girls night out or party , I think it will be a great success . '"- Sonya from Partyworld, Ireland

The great thing about attending a show like this is that there is so much on offer. Not only can you visit your favourite suppliers and find new ones, you get to see firsthand all the great new products that will be available during the year. 

There are great demonstrations and seminars including The Stage where Keith Stirman, Dominic Cassidy and myself presented a range of designs using some of the fantastic new Qualatex balloons, including the beautiful new Wedding Butterfly that adorned both stands! 

After I had finished my stint working at the eduction centre on the Qualatex stand, I took the opportunity to walk around a few of the other exhibition halls. I always like to see what's exciting and new in other markets, especially if I feel that it might be the next big thing that can be used with balloons. You also get the opportunity to see the latest trends too! I discovered some other great seminars going on and was lucky enough to sit in on an e-commerce seminar 'Secrets for e-commerce success', which I found really informative and picked up some really great tips. I think that next year I will try and plan to attend a variety of the seminars especially some of the more creative one's such as display techniques and creative gift wrapping which I feel would be very beneficial in our industry.

Every year Spring Fair and the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany run almost at the same time giving International customers the opportunity to attend both shows - which many do! Once again, the Qualatex stand was beautifully decorated with very elegant and eye-catching decor created by Luc Bertand with a little help from the Pioneer Europe export team.

Stand Decor by Luc Bertrand

Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair Nürnberg, Germany is the largest international trade fair for toys and games held annually since 1949. Only trade visitors associated with the toy business, journalists and invited guests are admitted.








Here is a short presentation of photographs from both the Spring Fair and International Toy Fair.

Michelle Commerford, Head of Sales and Marketing at Pioneer Europe shared her thoughts on this year's shows.

"Nuremberg Toy Fair and Spring Fair International have been exceptionally good for us this year. The 2015 Qualatex Everyday Catalogue (European Version) is 40 pages heavier and all the new products have received great feedback from our customers. It was nice to catch up with old friends and see how their business is doing, as well as meeting new customers and help them start in the balloon business." 

To download a copy of the latest European Qualatex  2015 Everyday Catalogue CLICK HERE

Both Spring Fair and the International Toy Fair are trade shows that are exclusive to trade customers only. To attend either of these shows you need to pre-register, so why not register today for 2016!

Happy Ballooning!

Sue Bowler

www.suebowler.com