How to Make a Balloon Bouquet

It’s always fun to make something special and fun by hand. There’s that feeling of accomplishment, especially if you are making something for others. Seeing the gratification and smiles on their faces makes all the work you did more rewarding. I enjoy home crafts and love making things for my friends and family, especially around the holidays. One of my favorite things to make are colorful balloon bouquets. They can be playful and fun or glamorous and elegant. It’s really simple, inexpensive and colorful. Placing them on a table as a center piece for a party or special event will catch the eyes of everyone. At the end of the event, you can play a game if you’ve got people sitting around individual tables to see who gets to take the balloon bouquets home with them.Everyone will want to snatch it up. A balloon bouquet will also cheer up a sick friend or relative, put a big smile on the birthday boy or girl’s face or be a great way to give a gift. Here are some simple tips on how to make them:

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Different Colored Helium Balloons or
• Helium Mylar Balloons used for Themes
• Colorful Foil Wrapping Paper
• Multi-colors of Thin Curling Ribbon
• 1 Small Bag of Sand or Rice
• White or Colored Tissue Paper
• Scissors
• Pasta Colander

1. 
   Color Theme

   The first thing you will want to do is pick a theme for your bouquet. Next, pick message balloons (Mylar Balloons) to create that theme and express what you want to say. Then decide on the colors you want to use and match the colors of your ribbon and paper with the colors of your balloons.

2. 
   Colorful Foil Wrapping Paper

   Cut the colored foil paper into 3 foot squares. Take 4 pieces of the paper and cris-cross them so they overlap each other in the middle. It will look something like an asterisk (*). This will create a “flared” look when you are done.

3. 
   Use White or Colored Tissue Paper

   Cut the tissue paper to these measurements: 2 ½' by 2 ½' .

4. 
   Place in Colander

   After you’ve adjusted your foil paper, place it in a pasta drainer and place the tissue paper on top of the foil paper. Then add about 3 or 4 cups of sand (depending on how big you want it). You can always adjust the amount of sand. Also, you can substitute the sand with raw rice if you wish, as long as it is heavy enough to hold down the helium balloons. This all depends on how big the balloons are and how many you plan on using for your bouquet. Gather all the tissue paper together at the top and either use a twist tie or string to ensure that the sand won’t come out.

5. 
   Curling Ribbon

   Using about 1' of the curling ribbon, gather the foil paper up just over the tissue paper; tucking in any tissue paper that may be seen and tie it very tight. Although you can allow the tissue paper to show if you prefer. If you are using 8 balloons, use 8 different colors of the curling ribbon. You can use as much or as little as you like. I think they are prettier when you use a lot of ribbon.

6. 
   Balloon with String Attached

   Take the balloons which will already have ribbons tied to them and tie them to the ribbon you used to tie the paper together. Be sure to tie them very tight so they don’t slip away. Add more ribbon to make it festive and brilliant. Then bend the foil paper downward so that it has that “flared” look.

7. 
   Floral Water Tube

   If you want, you can also add flowers to the center of your balloon bouquet. Buy some flower water tubes and fill them with water, then add your flowers and stick them into the middle of the bouquet.

8. 
   Add Festive Bags of Candy

   Instead of using sand, you can fill it up with candy. Just make sure it is heavy enough to hold down the balloons.

Tips & Warnings

• Be creative by placing a message (such as “Happy Birthday”), that comes on a spiked stick in the center of your bouquet. You can also substitute the sand with a present and stuff lots of tissue paper all around it (top, bottom and sides), as long as the present is heavy enough to hold down the balloons. Have fun with this by adding some colored glitter, small pieces of confetti, small Christmas balls or whatever you like, depending on the occasion or theme.
• This is a great project for small children and teenagers too; they’ll have lots of fun!

[Thims]

on 12/19/2008 Are you actually allowed to have this much fun with balloons? Very neat! Nice colorful Pictures.

[ashawn]

on 12/18/2008 Thanks for the fun article, I love ballons!!