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? 

Adding those little finishing touches to wedding decor!

I recently had the honour of decorating a wedding where the charisma and personalities of the bride & groom oozed from every corner of the room. Their love of traveling was reflected on each table showing a different photograph of their travels to faraway places, as was their enjoyment of fun and games  through the "guest book" written on wooden Jenga pieces! Every part of the wedding had their personalities stamped all over it, and for me it showed that a great deal of thought and love had gone into planning their very special day!

Finishing touches can really make a difference, they add the personal touches to a wedding and we can do the same when we create our decor!

Here are a few ideas that you can use to add that little extra touch when decorating weddings and other elegant events!

One of my first tips would be to find out what flowers will be featured at the wedding. Even though the wedding reception may be predominantly balloon decor, there will still be some flowers such as the bridal bouquet. I love to use silk flower heads to add that little finishing touch to wedding decor.


For me, balloons at a traditional wedding should be elegant and soft and not bold and over-bearing. If a colour is to be used, then it should be added carefully into the decor to ensure that decor remains elegant and graceful.

Balloon Jams! Guest Blogger Cam Woody shares her first experience at OzJam 2015!

So what is a Balloon Jam? A Balloon Jam is where balloon entertainers, beginner, intermediate, and advanced balloon entertainers - and "twisters"- get together to share ideas, techniques and designs. In more recent years, events such as the Millennium Jam, Balloon Jam Hamburg, and OZJam have opened their doors to balloon decor, giving both twisters and decorators the opportunity to combine skills and knowledge!

Over the next few weeks I will be reporting back on the above mentioned Jams with a little help from guest bloggers Cam Woody, CBA, who attended OZJam earlier this year and Steven De Maesschalck, CBA, who is currently attending the Millennium Jam! 

Cam Woody CBA

"This year I had the wonderful opportunity to be a part of OzJam 2015 in Sydney, Australia. OzJam started out as an event where twisters could get together and jam and learn. Each year the event has grown and now combines twisting AND decor. There’s something at OzJam for everyone!

Entrance to Oz by David Taylor & Brendan Ord.

Sunday, OzJam began with a group theme build coordinated by Ray Stewart. Various instructors were asked to build a section of the decor to create the Land of Oz in the hotel. The scene was complete with all the characters from the Wizard of Oz, the Yellow Brick Road, a rainbow, corn fields, & the Emerald City gate.

Step-By-Step GEO Blossom® Flower People.

Since writing my blog, The GEO™ Balloon celebrates 25 years! I promised that I would create a step-by-step recipe on how to make these adorable Flower People.

GEO Flower People by Sue Bowler CBA

They are extremely simple to make, and would make a great addition to a balloon arrangement that would certainly put a smile on anyone's face!

This short video clip will give you all the information that you need to make one of these little characters. All you need to do is add your own little bit of personality to each of your characters. For my designs, I used a selection of facial stickers that are part of a set that Lily Tan CBA has produced; these worked perfectly for me. You could make your own stickers if you have a vinyl cutting machine or you could simply draw on a face using markers pens such as Sharpies or edding marker pens. I have written two blogs,'Drawing a face on a balloon' and 'Drawing on Balloons and bring your designs to life'. Both these blogs are a great help for those of you who are new to drawing on to balloons!

The GEO® Balloon celebrates 25 years!

25 years ago, Pioneer Balloon Company was excited to launch a revolutionary new balloon called the GEO Donut^®! It was invented by Ronald E. Prater, an inventor who lived by the "never say never" philosophy! 

A balloon with a hole through the centre, it turned many heads in amazement at the Chicago Party Show that it was first exhibited at. It gave the balloon world something completely new to work with and many exciting decor opportunities.

These awesome balloons have been used to create so many wonderful designs, here are a few of my favourites!

Fiona Fisher, CBA uses both the 6" & 16" Geo Blossoms^® to create this fantastic Birthday "GEO Man". 

By using a lovely selection of vibrant coloured GEO Blossom balloons, Fiona has created a design that is fun and very sellable!

Russian Balloon Artists Olga Baranova, CBA and Olga Samoilova, CBA share their creative flair!

I recently attended the 15th Moscow Balloon Festival and I can honestly say that I was completely blown away by the incredible balloon art that was  exhibited at this event! 

One of this year's design teams was headed up by formidable artists Olga Baranova, CBA and Olga Samoilova, CBA. You might be familiar with these artists as they won first place Large Sculpture at the World Balloon Convention 2014, and then went on to win first place Master Sculpture at BACI 2014.



Olga Baranova CBA & Olga Samoilova, CBA run a very successful balloon business, Sonlnechny Veter (or Sun Veter which translates to "Sunny Wind") from their home city of Samara, Russia.

The Biggest Labyrinth in the World at the Millennium Jam 2015!

After a five-year break, the Millennium Jam is finally back! This year, the  Millennium Jam is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of IBS, International Balloon Services, Belgium.

It all began in June 2000, when IBS owners Johan Wijns and Leo Verlinden,  decided to organise their own event and the Millennium Jam was conceived! 

This event is sponsored exclusively by Qualatex^®, and returns to the Sunparks Resort, Mol, Belgium.