Mustache or Moustache ... it's a 'growing' trend!

For the past few years we have seen a growing trend... literally!

Harry, Monty & Big Tom! - by Sue Bowler CBA

 The Mustache, love it or loath it, it's a trend that look set to stay!

How did this more recent trend start... well doing a little bit of research, I would suggest that it might have something to do with 2 'mates' in Melbourne, Australia, who together in 2003 talked their mates into growing a 'Mo' with them, they called their event Movember after the month of November, the month they chose for their challenge! 

This started out as a bit of fun, but today 'Movember' is an amazing charity that has raised almost £100m to date with an aim to support world class men's health programs that combat prostrate and testicular cancer and mental health challenges. To find out more about Movember you can visit their website by simply click here!

As with any trend, holiday or celebration the Mustache craze has created an opportunity to design and sell mustache decor and balloons... along with many other mustache accessories!

Here are a few great idea's to help kick off your Movember decor!

Trick or Treat ... great balloon design ideas and more for Halloween!

Funny Face Taper Jack
by Sue Bowler CBA

As a child I remember Halloween as a time when we played fun games like 'dooking' for apples or apple bobbing which is probably a more familiar term for most, but that was more than a few years ago...

Halloween I am excited to say is still on an upward trend, with overall sales in the balloon and party sector increasing year on year! 

So what will you be doing to make this a successful Halloween for you?

(See below for the design recipe to create Funny Face Taper Jack on the left).

From professional tennis player to professional balloon artist.... Fiona Fisher 's incredible journey!

Fiona Fisher CBA

Well known for her amazing balloon sculptures Fiona Fisher's balloon career has grown from strength to strength since she first discovered balloons in 1999!

Fiona has very kindly shared her 'balloon adventure' with the Very Best Balloon Blog...

I have had a very varied working life over the past 36 years:  professional tennis player, antique furniture restorer and cabinet maker, cafe owner and finally, a balloon artist. 

Thinking of competing at the World Balloon Convention 2014, here are some great reason why you should!

Registration for the World Balloon Convention has now opened, so if your thinking of going to WBC then why not enter a competition too!

"To all of you who have doubts about whether or not to participate in the competitions , I say try , no matter be good or not , the important thing is to try and never stop to learn and always improve" . - Alessandro Patanè CBA

I can remember the very first competitions that I entered, it was at the Qualatex - European Balloon Symposium in Paris in 1996! I entered everything that I could, large sculpture, delivery arrangement and table centrepiece, what a huge learning curve and the start of what I can only really describe as a passion for entering competitions! 

So what motivated me? 

Helium - A little bit of what you need to know as a balloon professional Part 2.

In Part 1 of this 2 part blog we looked at helium, and a little bit of what you need to know as a balloon professional, plus a brief introduction into costing.
However, for those of you who want to really understand how to calculate your helium costs for all balloon sizes then please read on, I hope that I have managed to explain this well?

Helium cylinders vary depending on it's size and the pressure (bar or PSI) that it is filled to, so knowing what you use is very important, without this information you wont be able to calculate your costs.

The world is divided by metric and imperial calculations, which has made this blog a little more complicated to write, so I have decided to show both, starting with metric, please scroll down for the imperial calculations.

Helium and a little of what you need to know as a balloon professional Part 1

I wonder how many people who read this blog are unsure how much it costs to fill a balloon with helium?

When I first started working with balloons, I had absolutely no idea how to work out the cost of helium, along with a lack of job costing my work, everything that I ever sold was complete guess work, and very bad guesswork at that!I was asked recently if I could help someone to work out how much helium each balloon uses and how to cost it when using the job cost form, so I thought that this would be a useful blog for others too!Before we start talking about costs and prices, lets just take a few moments to review helium and a few points of safety.

How much should I charge for that... how to price your work!

"How much would you charge", is a question that I hear and see often, posted on Facebook and other social media sites, or asked when showing a design in a class.

Being creative is fun, but working out how much to sell our work for is not quite so exciting! 

Candy Swirl Arch created by Sue Bowler CBA

I suppose it’s like anything, if it’s something that is readily available at a variety of outlets, such as carton of milk or a helium filled 18” foil balloon on a weight, then it will have a ‘market’ price, however if it’s a one off balloon sculpture, event decor or even an elaborate arrangement then pricing is not so straight forward.