Balloons and the Environment - How do you communicate Environment-Friendly practices to your customers?

Keeping your customers informed and giving them information on how they can enjoy their balloons responsibly is essential for all in the balloon industry, especially customers and balloon professionals. Sharing this information can be done in several ways:

Care Cards

A care card highlights the importance of enjoying balloons responsibly to best protect the environment. These are perfect add-on to give to your clients with their balloon purchase. Cards such as these highlight the following messages:

DON'T LET GO

Please don't release helium-filled balloons outdoors - helium balloons should always be secured to a weight. Always dispose of balloons responsibly.

Balloons are a much-loved product that brings joy and helps us celebrate the special moments in life.

As a responsible balloon business, we want to protect our environment from any unnecessary litter. We have therefore made the decision not to support the release of any balloons into the environment. We encourage our customers to support this position and not undertake or endorse balloon releases of any kind. 

INFLATE SAFELY

To remove the risk of injury, always use a balloon pump and NEVER inhale helium.

SUPERVISE CHILDREN UNDER 8

Uninflated or burst balloons can present a choking hazard - please supervise small children at all times.

BE LATEX ALLERGY AWARE

Balloons made of natural rubber latex may cause a reaction in those with latex allergies. Look out for symptoms and seek help if required.

ALWAYS DISPOSE OF BALLOONS RESPONSIBLY

Remember when you've finished with a balloon, simply snip the end of the balloons with scissors before placing in a suitable bin. 

Pioneer Europe, in conjunction with the European Balloon and Party Council (EBPC), has developed a collection of environmental marketing materials that we can use freely within our businesses to educate consumers to enjoy balloons responsibly, promoting the message: "Don't let go."

There are five downloadable flyers that you can use:

Posters - these can be displayed in your shops and stores.

Leaflets - Gives even more information than the Care Card

Carecards - see above

Weight Labels - Weight Stickers will stick on the underside of many commonly used balloon weights.

These are available in 24 different languages. Click on the appropriate language and it will take you directly to the link.

Bulgarian 

Croatian 

Czech 

Danish 

Dutch 

English 

Estonian 

Finnish

Flemish 

French 

Gaelic 

​​​​​​​German 

Greek 

Hungarian 

Italian 

Latvian

Lithuanian 

Maltese 

Polish 

Portuguese 

Slovakian 

Slovenian 

Spanish 

Swedish

Social Media Posts

Having a variety of posts is important for any business, and sharing environmental posts especially will be a very positive thing to do. It will act as a regular reminder to your customers and followers that you take environmental issues seriously! 

Once again, there are some great pre-made posts that are available from www.qualatex.com, which can be found in the SUSTAINABILITY section on the website. 

Here are a few examples of the types of posts that are available.

Have you ever seen a social media post from EU Partysafe? I would expect not, as unless you know about them, you probably won't be following them... start following them today! EU Partysafe is a consumer-facing page run by the European Balloon & Party Council, a Non-Governmental Organisation that represents all the key players in the balloon & party industry. Their aim is to raise awareness & educate consumers on balloon and party-related  products.

Here are a few examples of posts that EUPartysafe shares, and you could do something similar or even better! Sharing their posts on your business page clearly reinforces the message and will potentially guide your customers to their website, which gives even more consumer information on balloons and the environment as well as other information relating to party products.

EU Party Safe posts are succinct, and always feature important facts paired with an eye-catching photo. Free photo stock can be found on the Qualatex website in the Marketing Material in the Inspiration tab. CANVA has some great photo stock, some of which is free. Using an eye-catching, and appropriate photo will help to attract attention to your posts and hopefully their important messages too! 

Did you know

Latex balloons are plant-based

In fact, they are made from the sap of rubber trees, NOT from plastic as is sometimes reported

Always re-use before you recycle

Remember:

foil balloons are not biodegradable;

flatten and store your foil balloons when possible;

re-use your foil balloons. You may be surprised how good they will look!

Here are a few more important websites that will help you to source balloon-related environmental information and messages that you can use. 

The Balloon Council - http://www.theballooncouncil.org

Pro Environment Balloon Alliance (PEBA) - https://www.peba.com.au

Let us all enjoy the magic of balloons for many more years to come, but we need your help to make this possible! Please help us to promote the responsible use of balloons! 

A huge thank you to EBPC for allowing me to share material from their Facebook page.

Happy and responsible Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @suebowler

Ballooning Tips & Tricks - Learn a Few Tips about Mixing Helium & Air, is Static a Friend or Foe, How to Resolve a Closed Foil Balloon Valve and Much More!

It can take a very long time to learn and build up knowledge in any area. Experiencing those "light-bulb" moments is very much part of the learning curve, I know well from my own personal experiences; like when I was decorating for an event and the 5" balloons inside a 3' helium-filled balloon unexplainably started popping... I had to find out why! Today, I would like to share some "tips & tricks" that will help you when working with balloons! 

Let's start with the popping 5" balloon story!

Mixing Gases

I am not sure is this is a tip or trick, but it is certainly something that we all need to know! 

Helium, or Balloon Gas is lighter than air, and air molecules are much bigger than helium molecules. Each of these gases react differently inside balloons. 

Helium inside a latex balloon moves around and gradually escapes (diffuses) over a period of time through the natural pore of the balloon. That is why the average floating time of an 11" helium-filled latex balloon ranges from 18-24 hours, as the helium escapes, the balloon will start to get smaller and eventually fall down.

Air inside a latex balloon lasts much longer, as air molecules are big and it takes a longer period of time to escape from a latex balloon - weeks and months, rather than hours. The balloons will gradually get softer but they stay inflated for a much longer period than a helium-filled balloon.

So when you put 5" balloons inside a larger balloon, it is essential that you use the same gas in both balloons! 

When you put helium-filled balloons inside an air-filled balloon, the helium escapes (diffuses) from the helium-filled balloons and the balloons will go down, the same as they would if they were outside of the larger balloon. Have you ever tried putting helium inside a 5" balloon? It will float for around 2-3 hours before it gently drops down.

When you put air-filled balloons inside a larger helium-filled balloon, a process called 'diffusion' occurs. This is when the helium naturally moves and filters through and into the latex of the smaller balloons, which causes the smaller balloons to expand and eventually pop! This is exactly what happened to me! 

Static - friend or foe? 

Static can definitely be a problem when it comes to balloons! I have heard of balloons randomly popping due to high levels of static in a room.

Static does not like moisture or humidity, and therefore water can be used to reduce the amount of static in a room, a humidifier works well, and a fine water mister spray will help when working on site. Dryer sheets can also reduce static on balloons. Some decorators carry Static Guard with them on balloon jobs, as this can eliminate static and help prevent it from building! 

To prevent static on your balloon ribbon, wet your scissors before using them to curl the ribbon. (Dip the tip of your scissors in water).

Static is definitely a friend when making confetti-filled balloons. To make confetti stick to the inside of a balloon you will need to build a little static within the balloon. With air-filled balloons it's easy; simply rub the side of the balloon with your hand, a cloth, or even better, bubble-wrap packaging - this works every time for me! I have also heard that placing balloons inside a plastic bag will help to build the static. When making helium-filled, confetti-filled balloons, you will need to ensure that you add a small amount of air into the balloon, as static cannot build in pure helium! Simply use a hand-pump and add a few pumps of air - not too many as it can make the balloon too heavy and it won't float!

If you would like to learn how to make a confetti-filled Deco Bubble, check out the great video below. 

What should you do if the valve on a foil balloon does not open easily?

When the valve of a foil balloon does not easily open, first be ultra-careful not to damage it. Sometimes these appear to be stuck closed, but with a little help, we can usually open them. The temptation is to try and open the valve using a pencil or straw, but be aware that the valves in foil balloons are very delicate and can be easily damaged. For best results, use something thin and flat such as a folded floristry wire. Hold the valve between two fingers and gently slide in the wire with the folded side. This should go very smoothly without ruining the valve. If you don't have any floristry wire, try a flat beverage stirrer, like the wooden ones supplied in coffee houses. 

Using a floristry wire, bend in half and carefully
insert it into the valve of the foil balloon.

Cold Latex Balloons

Latex balloons last longer when they are stored in a cool and dark environment, as this helps to preserve the balloons shelf life for longer. However, if balloons get too cold, they can become hard to the touch and almost impossible to inflate, like the three balloons on the left. You can easily resolve this by warming up them up! Either put the balloons somewhere warm, like on a radiator, or place them into a tumble dryer for a few minutes - et volia,  your balloons will be back to normal and as good as new! 

Stretched Balloons

Here is another great tip about warming up balloons: when you pre-inflate latex balloons, they becomes stretched and lose their original balloon shape (see below left.) These balloons are still perfectly good, and can be used for your decor and balloon design. However, if you want the balloons to return to their original balloon shape, simply warm them up using either of the techniques above.

Making a balloon round rather than traditional balloon shape.

Some balloon decor styles, such as Balloon Columns and organic décor, look better when made with a rounder shape rather than the traditional balloon 'teardrop' shape. This can be easily achieved by how you inflate the balloons. Check out the video below to see how you can achieve this. If you do not have an electric pump, you can achieve the same results using a hand-pump, following the same principle.

Did you find this post useful? I would love to get some feedback! 

Happy Ballooning Everyone and thank you for reading the Very Best Balloon Blog! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @suebowler

Mother's Day Social Media Marketing Ideas- Are you Ready?

Are you ready for Mother's Day? Contrary to popular belief, Mother's Day is celebrated on various dates around the world. However, with less than two weeks until we celebrate Mother's Day in the UK, it's important that we spend this time ramping up our social media activity to ensure maximum sales! 

Firstly, have you updated your Business Facebook Page cover? A Facebook cover is the equivalent to a shop window for a business page. Online shoppers look at it for a second and make a decision whether to stay on the page or not. Moreover, it can also work as a small landing page, a call-to-action visual and an event announcement. You can easily make your own Facebook covers using Canva: I made the one above and it took me about 5 minutes. If you would like to learn how, watch the 7 minute video below.

If you don't feel confident enough to create your own, Qualatex has impressive ready-made covers available for anyone to use! Simply visit the Marketing Materials section on the Qualatex website. They are free, and quick and easy to download! There are many different covers to choose from, for all occasions! 

Social media posts are really important to remind everyone that Mother's Day is on the way! 

Here is a selection of different styles of posts. It's important to keep them varied and interesting! 

Make sure your visual content is appealing. With all the content that you share with your audience, you always want share your best. Make sure your visual quote looks attractive and nice.

I made this visual quote once again using Canva, I found the quote that I wanted to use and then framed it using one of the pretty borders in ELEMENTS. 

Qualatex has even more applicable ready-made marketing materials that you can download. The great things about these materials is that once you have downloaded them, you can personalise them any way that you want! You could add your company name and details, or maybe quickly draft a message and a reminder that Mother's Day is coming! To find all the social media posts click HERE or visit https://us.qualatex.com/en-us/inspiration/marketing-materials/

Don't forget to use creative #hashtags to get your posts noticed! Here is a selection of #hashtags that you could use:

#mothersday

#mothersdaygift

#mothersdaygiftideas

#mothersdaygifts

#mothersdayballoons

#balloondelivery

#balloondeliveries

#balloondeliveries(mytownname)

#balloons(mytownname)

Remember that Mother's Day is a celebration for women in all walks of life, so maybe create a posts that celebrates;

Mother's 

Mum's to Be

Stepmother's

Wive's

Daughter's

Sister's

Grandmother's

Godmother's

I hope that has helped you even just a little and I wish you every success with Mother's Day!

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @suebowler 

Mother's Day Idea's and Inspiration

Mother's Day comes early for many of us this year! In the UK, the date is linked to Easter, which is different each year as it is determined by the lunar calendar. Many Eastern European countries celebrate Mother's Day on the 8th March, the same day as International Woman's Day! The majority of countries celebrates Mother's Day on the 8th May. 

This was a variation on a design that I created for my Expression of Love on-line webinar, and made a Mother's Day version using exactly the same techniques! 
Click HERE for a link to the class.

Cam Woody and Eve Antonello share balloon idea's, designs, and inspiration on their bi-weekly live show on Tuesdays at 1:00pm CST on Mr Q's Facebook page or over on Instagram at @eveantonellocba! 

Just in case you missed these two fantastic classes with Cam and Eve, I'll share them with you here so that you can catch up! 

Happy Hour with Cam & Eve: Mother's Day Designs (Part 1)

Say "I Love You, Mom!" with these sweet Mother's Day designs that are perfect for any day of the year!

Happy Hour with Cam & Eve: Mother's Day Designs (Part 2)

Say "I Love You, Mom!" with these sweet Mother's Day designs that are perfect foray of the year!

Here are a few more appealing designs perfect for those very special mother's on Mother's Day.

Mother's Day Stylish Stripes  -  Show Mum's how much we love them with this fabulous chic delivery design. Design by Garlis Bolivar, CBA, of La Gloria, Mexico City, Mexico.

To create this stylish, air-filled design, begin by creating a base of four 5" Gold latex and four 6" Rose Hearts, both ties into a 4-balloon cluster.Tie in a White 350Q to the clusters, then add Gold and Rose clusters on the other end of the 350Q to complement the base. Tie the “Love You M(Heart)M Stripes” Microfoil in to the top. Add value by tying on Onyx Black 160Q stripes and finish with Gold and Rose vinyl dots.

Mother's Day Spring Blossom Centrepiece - Make the most of Mother's Day with this centrepiece featuring a "Mother's Day Pink Peonies" Bubble Balloon® from Qualatex®. Designed by Cam Woody, CBA, Pioneer Balloon Company, Wichita, KS, USA

Queen For A Mother's Day - Treat Mom like the queen she is with this beautiful bouquet.

Designed by Brenda Fink, CBA, Party Magic & Gift, Bethalto, IL, USA

Zahraa Jawad, CBA of Forever Balloons Boutique in Beirut, Lebanon always impresses with her amazing designs! Zahraa loves adding eye-catching details, much like I do! Simply adding a beautiful satin ribbon bow can really add value to a design! I also love how Zahraa creates the word MOM using the Northstar 16" letters and the 16" Jelli Balloon Number 0! 

If you would like to learn how to make a Six Petal Balloon Flower, like the flowers used in Zahraa's design above, check out Jackie Ochitwa's video below.

Watch out for my next post when I will be sharing some great marketing ideas for Mother's Day!

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @suebowler 

Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring! Spring is in the Air, and Nature is Saying, 'Let's Party!'

I think I can speak for all of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere when I say, we are more than a bit grateful to see the spring flowers poking through the ground, getting ready to burst into magnificent colour! For me, it has felt like a very long winter, I suppose being predominantly in a state of lock down has not helped! However, it is extremely encouraging to see a few countries around the world who appear to be getting back to some sort of normality - it truly does feel like we are coming towards the end of a very long tunnel!

With Spring in mind, how gorgeous is this organic decor by Chris Adamo, I love the freshness of this beautiful colour palette! 

Fabulous Spring Decor by Chris Adamo of 
The Balloon Crew - Balloons.net.au,  
in Sydney, Australia

With that in mind, I thought it would be fitting to start looking at design ideas that reflect this magical time of year.

I love seeing the arrival of the bee's and butterflies, collecting up nectar from flowers and shrubs as they start to open. What better way to reflect this beautiful season than to create a selection of designs using the NEW Qualatex Bee range of balloons! 

How adorable is this 'Sweet as Honey" design by Eve Antonello, CBA, Pioneer Balloon Company, Wichita, KS, USA.

This new 24"  "Sweet Bees & Daisies" Deco Bubble is adorably appealing, and can be used for many different occasions! 

 #: 15733

Here are some great message inspiration when personalising your Bubble Balloons -remember, your customers need a little help sometimes!  

Just Bee Awesome

Bee led by your Dreams! 

Bee Mine!

Sweet as can Bee...

This "Sweet Bee" is available in two sizes!
38" - #16376/16305
14" "Mini Sweet Bee" - #16212

This NEW 18" - "Mother's Day Bee's & Flowers" Microfoil balloons will be a definite winner this Mother's Day! I know that I am looking forward to working with it for a future post! 

#17539/17537

Compliment your design using these fabulous Spring colours! 

Caribbean Blue
Rose
Goldenrod

"Bee" ready for the 2021 Baby Boom! Have a range of new Mother-to-be, Baby Shower and Baby designs ideas ready to inspire your customers - In keeping with the Bee theme, this "Mother to Bee" - 20" Microfoil balloon will wow any new mummies! 

20" - "Mother to Bee" 
#16436/16434

The Pantone Colour of the Year for 2021 has been named as "Ultimate Gray and Illuminating", a soft grey tone and yellow. This colour combination of Grey and Yellow will be perfect to compliment the Bee range of balloons!

For even more super inspiration for Mother's Day, don't miss out on Federico Onida's upcoming webinar: 

Join Federico Onida, CBA on February 17th 2021 for the Mother's Day Gifts She'll Adore webinar! 💐

For more information and to register visit https://www.eventbrite.com/.../qualatex-online-education or click HERE.

The webinar will be broadcasted LIVE on Wednesday, February 17th for 2 hours (90-minute class followed by a 30-minute Q&A session) at 3pm GMT, check for your location time. It will be recorded, and the link to the on-demand video will be sent to you within 48hours of the live webinar. If you miss anything during the live webinar, you will be able to go back to it on your own time.

I don't know about you but I am always looking for inspiration for my social media posts, and lifestyle photographs are always ideal for attracting attention on a Facebook or Instagram post. Have you checked out the amazing FREE Social Media resources available on the Qualatex website recently? There are lots of exciting new posts and images available. Click HERE for a direct link. The great thing about many of the images is that you can easily add your own caption or message.

Check out the 2021 Qualatex  Spring & Summer Collection, click HERE for a direct link.

Make sure that you check out the 2020 Qualatex Everyday Essentials, it features the Bee range and much more! Click HERE for a direct link.

As you may have gathered, I am really excited that we are heading into this new season, it feels like a whole new energy, and renewed hope is on the horizon. We have many great events over the next few months including Easter and Mother's Day, with many great Qualatex balloons to work with! 

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @suebowler

Balloon Columns, Stacks, Pillar's and Towers... so what is in a Name?

How much does a name matter? It has recently reached my notice that the designs that I would call Balloon Columns are being referred to by other artists as Stacks, Pillars and Towers. So to help me to clarify all the different names a little bit more, I asked members of the QBN Facebook group what they called theirs, and if they felt that the name was important?

Almost all those who responded said that they use the term Columns like I do. This isn't surprising, as they have all completed the QBN program and that is the term that they were taught and used within the program, and also it is the name that has been used forever by the balloon industry. However, some of the response from group members explained that all the different names are often used by their customers, and therefore for marketing and promotional purposes they also use them all to ensure that they do not miss out on any opportunities to promote their designs.

I have looked back through all the different resources that I received as part of the QBN program, and it actually clarifies that a Column is a straight, vertical line of balloon garland which to be fair does not represent the vast types and styles of decor that would come under the heading of a column today! Balloon décor styles have changed considerably over the years, and today there are new trends and styles of décor that were not shown or taught when many of us studied the QBN program. So, I decided to delve a little deeper to see if I can relate a name to a style of decor.

Instagram was the perfect go-to resource to assist me with my research, as I was able to see the types and styles of decor that are posted under each of the hashtags.

#ballooncolumns - 136,087 posts (3rd February 2021)

#ballooncolumn - 37,120 posts

The designs featured under the hashtags "Balloons Columns" and "Balloon Column" on Instagram are a complete mixture of styles and types of balloon structures, ranging from what I would call a traditional column to smaller air-filled arrangements, that I have now discovered are often called Balloon Stacks - see below! 

This was a design that I made for a corporate event, I had a hard time giving it a name, but once I found it, it made total sense - Elegant Sculptured Column

Elegant Sculptured Column by Sue Bowler

#balloontowers - 11,264 posts (3rd February 2021)

#balloontower - 11.4 posts

The definition of the word "tower" is a "structure typically higher than its diameter," - therefore it is much the same as a column.

A lot of the designs featured on Instagram are pretty much the same as Balloon Columns, but with a real mix of styles and types of balloon structures.

Design by Dominic Cassidy and Keith Stirman  - The Boys of Q Corner

Pillars are often known as "a usually ornamental column", and it too has a close relationship to the term "column" and in fact describes the term well.

#balloonpillars - 8,567 (3rd February 2021)

#balloonpillar - 6,271 posts

Bright Bubble Column

Designer name: Tina Giunta, CBA, Shivoo Balloons 

#balloonstack - 5,410 (3rd February 2021)

The term "Balloon Stack" is a style of design that is predominantly an air-filled balloon arrangement that often features a number as topper, or has a focal balloon that is on the base of maybe 2 or 3 clusters of balloons. This is a style of decor that has grown in popularity over the past few years, and I love all the accent details that are often added to the designs!

I love this design by The Luxe Event Company NW Ltd, in Skelmersdale, England. This is a perfect example of a beautiful Balloon Stack!  

Design by 

The Luxe Event Company NW Ltd, in Skelmersdale, England.

From what I've observed, Balloon Columns, Towers and Pillars pretty much describe the same  styles of balloon décor and it would be very easy to see why people would use all three names to relate to this style. The only one that stands out as being a little different are Balloon Stacks, as this name is typically applied to smaller air-filled arrangements that are on a cluster-style base.

Does the name that we use matter? From a marketing point of view, I would contest that all the terms being used are relevant, especially to a client base. When it comes to hashtags, why not use all three?  You might find that customers relate to different names! For me personally, a Balloon Column will always be a column, especially because it's a term that I used when I first started working with balloons and it is a recognised name within the industry! However, I am certainly not opposed to anyone that uses any of the other names, as each of the definitions prove that they are all very relevant! 

A big thank you to all the QBN members who helped me with my original question, it all makes perfect sense now 😄

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @suebowler