For many party retailers, Halloween is their biggest and often their most profitable seasonal celebration. So let's make sure we all take this opportunity to maximise our own sales potential!
Hopefully by now you will have decided on a range of "To Go" designs to sell over the Halloween period. Halloween falls on a Saturday, so be prepared for an exceptionally busy day!
If you have a shop or store, do you have an inspiring window display? Window displays are such an important part of any retail business! Every display needs to tell a story and make passers-by stop, look and take notice. Most importantly, it needs to create a desire to buy!
This Ralph Lauren window shows the fun and excitement of Halloween but still shows off an eye-catching range of children's clothing suitable for the time of year!
It's amazing how trends arrive on the scene! For the past few years we have been seeing the growing trend of big balloons with festoons of tassels flowing from them. You only have to search Balloons with Tassels on Pinterest to see some truly amazing photographs! For me there is something quite retro or vintage about this look, and although many of the photographs are staged to capture that perfect shot, I certainly think that they are stunning! Tassels can be made from a number of different materials; tissue paper, crepe paper, plastic table covers, foil, cellophane or a combination of any of these! I love a challenge and decided that it would be great to learn how to make these very popular balloon appendages! We usually see tassels on big balloons, so I decided that I would test out tassels on a range of other balloons! With my daughter's birthday celebrations looming, there was the rare possibility of being able to celebrate outside in our garden (our English weather is not always very predictable). I decided to decorate our tree with tassel laden air-filled Bubble Balloons! The reason that I used Bubbles was because wanted to prevent the beautiful Big Polka Dot balloons inside from oxidising, plus I love Qualatex® Bubble Balloons! I was absolutely delighted with the results! By simply attaching a few balloons to our tree (hanging on an invisible nylon thread), it really injected a blast of colour and a sense of fun and celebration to our garden! The tassels really made a huge impact and moved around with the breeze! The tassels on these balloons are made from crepe paper which I found really easy to work with.
Qualatex Bubbles with Tassels in Sue's Garden U.S. Patent No. 6,782,675
I cannot believe that we are already ⅔ of the way through 2015! What an exciting year it has been for education in the balloon world and there is still more to come!
1st Place Large Sculpture 2014 Moscow Balloon Festival Alexander Solomatin CBA
For me, I am getting ready to head off to Russia for the 15th International Moscow Balloon Festival. The first Moscow Balloon Festival was held in 2000, and my first trip to this event was in 2002. I feel very fortunate to have seen how balloon artists in Russia have developed and grown within this relatively short time, and I am very excited to see what incredible designs and sculptures await me later this week! Being a talented balloon artist and running a successful balloon business does not just happen. It takes a great deal of commitment and investment to ongoing education - and not just learning new ballooning skills, but business skills as well. That was almost my downfall. Fortunately with help from the Qualatex Balloon Network and attending my first balloon convention, I was able to profitably operate my balloon company.
I often here people saying how difficult it is to compete against the "big boys." My answer to that is - don't be like the "big boys!" Be yourself and offer something exciting and unique! Yes, I cannot deny that there are people out there who will always go for the cheapest option, but that is not true of everyone. There are people who want something a little different, special and unique and are prepared to pay a premium for that service! For this 3rd and final part of this series, I would like to look at a few other ways that we can use our die-cutting machines for our designs and also within our businesses. When we talk about personalising balloons, it does not always have to be sticking letters or shapes on to a balloon. There are other things that we can do with our machines.
Cutting Card Stock
If you like to be a little bit creative and are not adverse to making things yourself, then you will probably enjoy creating your own personalised ribbons too! This was one of the reason why I invested in my machine a few years ago!
I had a job where I needed to recreate a balloon (10 actually) that could be used as part of a promotion to celebrate Candy Crush Saga's 1st Anniversary. This is probably one of those occasions when you could easily say "I'm afraid that we don't sell Candy Crush Saga balloons," and lose a sale!
I decided that I would offer the client the best alternative that I could, and that was to create my own Candy Crush Saga balloons along with hand-made Candy Crush Saga ribbons!
(This job was on behalf of Candy Crush Saga and therefore did not infringe any copyright laws).
Following on from part 1 of this series of blogs, I asked a few of our lovely industry professionals if they would kindly share a little of their experience working with their die-cutting machines.
"Personalising balloons has become an integral part of WOW Balloons. We would not be without our 'little Silhouette'.
They have become so popular, if you show anyone a personalised 3 foot column, 9 times out of 10 they will buy it! We often find that they will buy 2 so that they can be positioned at the entrance of the venue. It's certainly added another W to our 'WOW', so from my point of view, it was money well spent."
Dominic Cassidy of All Things Fun, County Durham offers these thoughts:
Pros
The ability to say "yes" to our customers! Having the right balloon at the right time is pretty hard at times, however being able to customise with vinyl means we can do pretty much anything. Fast, create a simple design and cut within minutes. The up-sell, adding names and ages to balloons gives us a great opportunity to add extra value for the customer with extra profit for us. Unique Selling Point (USP) Gives your business that added extra that the large multiples do not do. Gives us another avenue to be creative. Consistency, Being able to make both eyes the same is one of life's simple pleasures! Additionally if your customer would like half a dozen of the same design… no problem!
We have been personalising balloons for years now. I remember attending one of my first ever balloon shows over 20 years ago and seeing beautiful personalisation using glue pens and fine glitter, and to be honest, I still love it today... as long as the person writing the message or name has beautiful hand writing! Jacqui Pettitt, of Tiffany's Balloons uses stencils to create an outline before she glitters her balloons, which gives a very professional finish!
A few years ago, I was introduced to the Silhouette Cameo and it certainly changed my world!
The Silhouette CAMEO is an electronic die-cutting machine designed for personal use. Like a home printer, it plugs into your PC or Mac with a simple USB cable. However, instead of printing it uses a small blade to cut paper, cardstock, vinyl, fabric and more up to 12" wide and 10' long.
A smile may be worth a thousand words, but sometimes, it seems as though its value is so much more. A simple smile creates its own message without words. In many cases, the smile takes on a specific meaning because of the surroundings or situation in which it occurs. A quote from My Well-Being Presented by Humana
Smile Face is probably one of the happiest and most versatile balloons that were ever made. It's certainly one of my favourites. I have been using it and its variations in my designs for many years! There are many occasions that it could be used for;
Feel Better soon
Thinking of You
Let's Celebrate
Happy Birthday
To Cheer You
New Baby
Christening or Communion
And I am sure that there are more occasions that you can think of too!
At Qualatex®, we have such a fabulous range of Smile Face balloons to choose from, making it so easy for us to create fun, unique, exciting and of course sellable designs!
A few of the wonderful Smile Face balloons in the Qualatex range!
Here are a few of my 'Smile Face' creations, that can be adapted to suit so many different occasions!
Smile Face for Birthdays!
40 Brilliant Star #24170 U.S. Patent No. 6,782,675
This is such a great design. We have so many great Qualatex Bubble Balloons that we can work with to create the body and the message for our design, including these fantastic Milestone/Age balloons. I made a similar design for Valentine's Day using a Qualatex Deco Bubble for the body. Here is an easy to follow video clip that will show you how to use either a Deco Bubble or Bubble balloon to make these truly cute 'Bubble Guys'. Simply coordinate the balloons to suit the occasion that you are making the design for.
Funny Face Flower
Design created by Sue Bowler CBA Funny Face Flower #18052/ #15384 U.S Patent No. 6,782,675
This design is made in a very similar way to the 'Bubble Guy'. By using bigger clusters at the base and two Deco Bubbles rather than one for the body, we can create a design that has greater impact and is perfect for room decor.
Smiley Flower!
Design created by Sue Bowler CBA
I love this design! It's simple but so effective! The flower is made from helium filled 16" Smile Face latex balloons, remember to use Hi-Float to extend the floating time! The clusters in the centre (on both sides), are 5" latex balloons sized to 4.5" and 3". The flower is secured to a weighted base using a nylon monofilament line (which you cannot see). I then added 350Q for the stems from the base to the flower, securing the stem to the monofilament line at the midway point. I then added a few 160Q Green and Lime Green balloons to create leaves. This design can be recommended for a high impact delivery or for decor.
Smile Face Arch!
Smile Face Arch Designed by Sue Bowler CBA
What better way to make everyone feel happy and welcome when they arrive at the party! This Smile Face arch is fun, vibrant and extremely welcoming!
For this arch I have used a combination of 16" and 3' Smile Face latex balloons. The 3' balloon in the centre creates the perfect focal point. I added a hat and nose to this balloon for extra detail.
Naughty Smile & A Kiss Guy Design by Sue Bowler CBA
Who can resist a 'Naughty Smile & A Kiss'? A super design for Valentine's Day! Ready for collection or delivery, this design takes less than 10 minutes to make!
Once again you can easy convert this design to suit any occasion.
I have included the recipe below along with a job cost form so that you can work out how much you should be selling a design like this for.
To Download this instruction sheet visit Sue's Recipes
Design ideas for working with these fabulous balloons are endless. I found this great design by Luc Bertrand CBA. Luc has created a wonderful little character design using Qualatex Taper balloons for the main body and arms.
I love this 'Bouncing Buddy'! This would make a great delivery design and bring a big smile to its recipient!
To download instructions for this great design click HERE
If you are ever looking for inspiration for your shop window then why not fill it with 'SMILES'! Using Latex, Microfoil® and Bubble Balloons®, you could display a range of different 'Smile Face' characters and wait and see the reaction that you get from your customers. I am sure that you will bring a little extra happiness to their day! Happy Ballooning! Sue www.suebowler.com
