As we prepared to celebrate 365 days with our sweet little sparkplug, in true first-time mom fashion, I wanted to mark her first birthday in a memorable manner.
Enter: Pinterest.
After scrolling my way down the inspiration rabbit hole, I convinced myself that a brilliant balloon garland couldn’t possibly be that hard to create, right? I mean, in what world are balloons intimidating? In the spirit of awesome first birthday parties, I decided I’d give it a try.
I headed to the party supply store and was in the middle of the balloon section when I found myself suddenly without the confidence that I had when Pinterest planning in front of my computer. My arms were overflowing with a variety of different balloons and a very wiggly child determined to get down when a saint of a cashier asked if I was attempting the balloon arch, and then offered a bit of advice that was too good not to share with every other momma out there attempting to create Instagram-worthy balloon decorations for her kiddo’s birthday.
It’s called “Balloon Decorating Strip”. And It’s a game changer.
For under $5 you get this 25-foot roll of magic that’s essentially a strip of clear ribbon with holes evenly spaced about an inch apart. Once we had the balloons blown up, we had our garland up and ready to go in less than thirty minutes.
Here’s how it works:
- First, decide if you’re going to let it float on its own or pin it to the wall. If you want it to be free standing, you’ll want to fill the balloons with helium. I, however, thumbtacked mine against the wall and blew up the balloons on our own.
- Once the balloons are blown up, just pop the tied-off end into the pre-punched holes on the strip.
And voila. It’s seriously that simple, guys.
If you’re thinking of giving it a go, here are a few other things to keep in mind:
- I was going for more of a balloon garland than a thick balloon column or arch, so I spaced the balloons out to every other hole.
- If you’re using multiple colors throughout, don’t spend too much time worrying about evenly alternating colors – especially if you’re doing an arch or column. The tape tends to organically twist and turn once the balloons get on there.
- I didn’t cut the ribbon until I was SURE I was done putting all the balloons on it.
- For what it’s worth: I was told to not blow up balloons until the day before, however I started a full week early because, well, life with an almost one year old means that my plans tend to have a fair share of interruptions.