Circus-Themed Decoration For Kids Parties

I recently wrote an article, ‟Birthday Under the Big Top,” that was featured in the Design Inspiration section of the Jan/ Feb/ Mar 2016 edition of Images magazine.



The colours and vibrancy of these new circus balloons are just stunning. Perfect for any age and ideal for both boys and girls, too!

36" ‟Big Top Circus Lion”
#25234
#25239 (pkgd.)
11" ‟Big Polka Dots Colourful Assortment”
#10240 (50 ct.)

‟Polka-Dotted Circus Surprise.”

This is a really effective and simple to reproduce balloon arrangement. Coordinating the new 36" ‟Big Top Circus Lion” with the fabulous 11" ‟Big Polka Dots Colourful Assortment” is an absolute winner! 



















For a truly fun and exciting entrance, how about creating this ‟Circus Parade Arch.” The fantastic ‟Wavy Stripes” Quick Link balloons™ are just perfect with the pedestal bases and the 22" ‟Circus Parade” Bubble Balloon®. 

U.S Patent No. 6,782,675

Ice Cream Theme Party Decor Ideas! - Updated August 2020

The great thing about this exciting theme is all the wonderful Qualatex^® balloons and the fabulous colours that we can use! 

Tanya Joselowsky, CBA - The Pop in Johannesburg, South Africa

Here are some fabulous ice cream-themed centrepiece ideas created by Tanya Joselowsky.

Everything coordinates at this party, from the balloons to the chair covers and table napkins. It looks fun, exciting, and very professional. Great job, Tanya!

Tanya uses ‟Big Polka Dots” and SuperAgates to give her decor that  ‟sprinkles and swirls” effect.

I love the idea of the upside-down ice cream cone.

Have you been watching "Happy Hour" with Cam Woody, CBA, and Eve Antonello, CBA? They recently created some super 'cool' Ice Cream designs! Happy Hour is a weekly Live show that can be viewed at 1:00pm CST on Mr Q's Facebook Page or over on Instagram at @eveantonellocba! If you miss it, never fear, you can always catch-up afterwards on either of these platforms.

Eve Antonello and Cam Woody

If you would like to learn how to make these fabulous design check out the video below! 

Here are some great ice cream-themed Microfoil^® balloons in the Qualatex range! 

Rainbow Swirl Ice Cream - available in 14" and 45"

I love this delivery arrangement that features the new Rainbow Swirl Ice Cream, with the fabulous new 11" Colourful Dots latex and the 18" Birthday Rainbow Dots Microfoil balloon.













I love this window display deigned by Luc Bertrand, he incorporates a great selection of balloons that compliment each other very well to create this exciting design! 

Design by Luc Bertrand

How about this cool - almost good enough to eat - "Sweet Treat" delivery! Using the 22" "Birthday Frozen Treats" Bubble balloon is the perfect topper for this great design! 

30" "Rainbow Poop Sparkles"
#97534

A huge thank you to Tanya, Cam, Eve and Luc for sharing their wonderful creativity and inspiration with the Very Best Balloon Blog!

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com

Follow me on Instagram @suebowler

"Ship ahoy!" - Pirate theme party ideas.

40" ‟Pirate Ship” 
# 11813
#16439 (pkgd)

Designing decor for children's parties can be so much fun! Creating magical memories that you know will last for many years is one of the best things about our job!


All little boys love pirates and pirate parties.
The ‟Pirate Ship” Microfoil® is a fantastic balloon. It works really well for decor and centrepiece design, too!





I love this ‟Arrrgh, A Birthday Buccaneer!” centrepiece deign that is featured in the Qualatex^® Balloon ideas section on www.Qualatex.com.

Creating a woodland-themed window or decor with some lovely balloon creatures!

When I first saw the new 37" ‟Enchanted Tree in Bloom” Microfoil^® balloon, I was very excited to see all the wonderful, different elements featured on this balloon. When I was asked to create a window display around this theme, I found it pretty easy!

People often ask me how I find my inspiration In many instances it's really easy; just look at the balloons you are working with and draw from them.

This balloon has so many exciting features; a tree, flowers, butterflies,  a snail, a caterpillar and a toadstool.

Window display by Sue Bowler, CBA.

Starting with the tree and looking at the proportions, the tree's trunk it quite thick.  I decided to use 6-balloon clusters, working with under-inflated 11" and 5" Chocolate Brown latex balloons, which I think worked really well. To make the top part of the tree, I added 11" and 5" Lime Green 4-balloon clusters to give the tree the correct height, and then added in 3-balloon clusters of Lime Green latex balloons to fill out the tree to give it a finished look. Just keep on adding the clusters until you are happy with the result. It takes a while until it starts to look like a tree!

I then added in twisted balloon flowers using the same colours as shown on the "Enchanted Tree in Bloom" balloon.

Top Picks for Enchanted Woodland Theme

18" ‟Birthday Party Fox

37" ‟Enchanted Tree in Bloom” Microfoil^®  balloon.

18" ‟Birthday Banner Garden” balloon.

Have you seen the new Woodland trend? It is adorable! And there are a lot of new balloons in the Qualatex 2016 catalogue to work on this theme. It is great for birthdays or baby showers. And just in time to welcome spring! I think we will have so much fun with this lovely new theme. I am looking forward to seeing so many great designs using them!

"Fabulous Fox" balloon available 
in both 14" and 33".

Here are some other fabulous new balloons that will work well for this theme.

11" ‟Garden & Butterflies” Festive Assortment.

18" ‟Welcome Baby Banner Garden.”

18" ‟Welcome Little Fox & Friend.”

11" ‟Woodland Foliage-A-Round.”

Please note that not all balloons are available in all countries. Please check with your local distributor.

In the next few days I will be posting part  2 of this blog - Creating a woodland-themed window or decor with some lovely balloon creatures! Showing you some great design ideas using this wonderful new range of balloons!

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com

Happy Easter — Rabbits, flowers, and chicks!

Eggs and chicks, like rabbits and hares, are synonymous with Easter. This dates back to Pagan times when eggs were considered a sign of fertility and new life. The early Christians adopted this symbolism because it helped them remember the Resurrection and having new life through Jesus.




As a small child, I remember decorating and painting hard boiled eggs, then rolling them down a hill on Easter Sunday; the first egg to reach the bottom without breaking was the winner! Today, we still enjoy Easter traditions as a family, including an Easter egg hunt (chocolate eggs, of course) and everyone really enjoys the excitement of hunting for eggs.

In the past I have made a few different designs that would work well for Easter. I love the Easter colour palettes, especially Yellow, Spring Lilac, Rose, and Lime Green as it is a great reminder that spring is on its way!

11" "Easter Bunnies & Daisies"

I made this cute rabbit in 2010! The body was made using a 20" Qualatex^® Deco Bubble, filled with under-inflated 11" ‟Big Polka Dot” to represent Easter eggs.

The head of the rabbit was made using a distortion technique. If you would like to learn how to make the head, click HERE for a direct link to the post I wrote about distortion.

How about spring flowers? I thought that these would work well for spring and Easter decor.

I loved making this flower. It was very different from other styles of giant flowers that I had made before. I liked the fact that the head of the flower tips over rather than facing forward. This flower stood approximately 5' (1.5m) tall.

This flower design was made using 27" and 13" ‟Taper Green Leaf” Microfoil balloons and the 11" Green Rainbow SuperAgate^® and the 11" Yellow Orange Rainbow SuperAgate latex balloons.

This flower stood approximately 7' (2m) tall.

18" ‟Baby Chick” Microfoil Balloon.

As soon as I saw the new 18" Baby Chick Microfoil balloon, I knew exactly what I wanted to make with it ‑ a baby chick of course! This lovely simple design can made in just a few minutes, and by

18" ‟Happy Easter Hatched Chicks.”

adding a helium-filled Easter balloon bouquet you can really add value the cutest Easter design.

Material List:

4 - 11" Orange latex balloons
4 - 5" Yellow latex balloons
1 - 12" Yellow Quick Link Balloon™
2 - 160Q Orange
1 - 18" ‟Baby Chick” Microfoil balloon.

Scraps for attaching
Ribbon
Weight for base

Here are a few more ideas that you could use for Easter or spring decor and some of my favourite balloon assortments!


I love this ‟Breezy Butterfly Delight” design. It looks amazing with the 44" ‟Luminous Butterfly” as a topper for this ‟Big Polka Dots” Quick Link column.

11" ‟Big Polka Dots” - Assorted Spring Lilac, Rose, Goldenrod, Lime Green, and Robin's Egg Blue.

11" ‟Big Polka Dots Colourful Assortment”. 

11" ‟Daisies & Butterflies.”

Easter is such a lovely time of the year. Spring arrives along with so many beautiful, vibrant colours!


Happy ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com

Star Struck Air-Filled Balloon Decor for an Awards Ceremony

Many of us decorate award ceremonies or themed events (e.g., “Hollywood Nights”). I recently decorated an awards ceremony in London.  My brief was to create decor that offered big impact and strictly air-filled. It needed to be elegant and use the colours Gold & Black.

Stars, of course are the perfect choice for an event such as this! 
I also needed to use bases and poles to give me a height for my air-filled decor, but I did not want to build a traditional style column. 

I like to start my designing process on my computer first.This allows me to play around with ideas, and once I have a design (or designs) that I am happy with, I can use these images to send to my client for their approval. 

Designing on your computer is pretty easy, and in most cases, it does not require special software if it as simple as my designs.

I wrote a blog "As a Balloon Artist, how can we find our inspiration?". - in this post it gives a brief introduction on how you can create simple designs working on your computer.