In “Decorate Your Party: Avoiding Common Mistakes: Part I” we talk about some of the selections you can consider to enhance the look of your party (such as colors, room size, ceiling height) . This time, let’s talk about some of the technical details of party decorations and what you can do about it.

1. Production time.

You need to know when your room will be available for your party. Many times, it is only two hours in advance. Be sure to let your decorator know about this at the beginning of your conversation. It doesn’t mean you can’t use extensive balloon decorations! But it must be taken into account. There are several ways to do it:

a) Sometimes the place where you are renting the room (either a hotel or a community hall) may provide a back room for the production of party decorations and then the installation only needs to be done in the two hours.

b) With the help of your decorator, you can choose party decorations that are quick to produce and still look amazing.

c) The decorator may get extra help, but may also charge you more due to time constraints.

d) The decorator can rent a truck and bring parts to assemble on the spot quickly. This may also come at an additional cost as it is due to time constraints at your location.

2. Ceiling sensors.

Some places have sensors on the ceiling, so if a balloon goes up, an alarm sounds and a fire truck appears 20 seconds later. Expensive for the owner and may be for you.

Do not panic! You can still use balloons. Almost all party decorations that can be made with helium-filled balloons (the kind that fly) can be made with air-filled balloons in a frame and they don’t have to be near the ceiling.

3. Do it the day before.

If, for some reason, you have to do balloon decorations the day before, keep in mind that regular helium-filled balloons (11-inch round) will be half-dead by morning and on the ground by the middle of the day.

If simple balloon bouquets are all you need, you can ask the decorator to use a tall float. This substance prevents the balloons from deflating much longer. If you have more elaborate party decorations, use air-filled balloons in a frame, as I mentioned in the previous point.

4. Transparent balloons.

Just keep in mind that they look great at first, especially if you have sparkly balloons inside, but in a few hours they will be less transparent, a little dim, and get more and more opaque as the party goes on.

5. Globes of lights.

This is a very effective technique for low light parts!!! For regular light or daylight parts, they are barely noticeable. If this is the case, one has to use much stronger lights with larger balloons, group the lights, and so on.

6. Bases for centerpieces.

Centerpiece stands, as well as long, low floral centerpieces, are sometimes art creations as well as a notable part of your party decorating budget.

However, one thing: they sit at the table together with the food. In some cases, the provider puts so many dishes on the table; the food is so colorful and abundant, that the bases are lost. In reality, the smaller the base, the easier it is for the caterer and the less it gets in the way of your guests and the food.

So when you plan to spend money on balloon bouquet bases or other centerpieces, talk to your supplier first.

7. Balloon ceiling (balloons with ribbons on the ceiling)

Things to keep in mind:

a) If the ceiling is a rough surface, many will explode during production, many more during the party.

c) A balloon occupies less than one square foot. So if you’re in a large room, you’ll need a hefty budget to fully cover the ceiling. If it does, it will work, though I’d check out the alternatives for the money. If you only partially cover the ceiling, the air conditioner or fan will blow the balloons up and rub them against the ceiling. In most cases, this will kill a large portion of them.

8. Balloon drops

The perfect party decorations for the theater room. That is, a room with a very high ceiling and a relatively small surface. Then the balloons on their way down “have time” to fly in all directions and cover everyone in the room.

In a normal sized room, we’ll be lucky if we can cover the dance floor. Also (and this is a personal opinion) the hanging net full of balloons doesn’t do much for decoration, apart from letting everyone know what’s coming. On the other hand, if someone isn’t looking in the right direction at the time the balloons are released, the whole thing may be lost.

One solution to these problems are the so-called “exploding balloons”, also known as “popping balloons”.

Relax! No real explosives used! It’s all one big balloon (3ft or larger), stuffed with smaller balloons and sometimes with confetti (check your contract with the venue! It can be a big “NO-NO”!) or even prizes of lottery One or more of these balloons are placed on the ceiling and when the time comes, they all pop with the push of a button.

You can spread these balloons around the room if you want to cover everyone, or use a few in a strategic spot if you like. No more heavy hanging nets and not a single person can guess what’s coming!

Here, it is worth mentioning that one can put these balloons together to make a wall and then blow up the whole wall… Let’s talk about that next time.