May 24th – what a lovely date! Since then, we have a one-year-old in the house, and of course it would be celebrated! (in coronavis, of course)
This time I had it in my head that we would definitely have a balloon arch at the party, so said and done - I made one!
Those of you who know me know that I usually go a little overboard with some decoration detail every time we organize a party, and the pandemic has shown me that it absolutely doesn't matter if there are 5 on the guest list or 50 - if it's a party, then it's over my brain at high speed ;)
Making a balloon arch/balloon garland/balloon arch (dear child has many names) is not at all as difficult as it might seem. I had Eurovision for company when I sat and inflated the balloons, but in the absence of that, I can highly recommend saving a few episodes of your favorite podcast to listen to when you start this. Namely, it is the balloon pumping that takes up most of the manufacturing time.
This is how you make a balloon arch from scratch
You need
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A LOT of balloons, about 80 balloons were used for my balloon arch. Choose premium balloons for longer durability.
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String, yarn or ribbon. I used fishing line.
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A balloon pump
Do this
01. Pump up two balloons at a time and tie them together. Feel free to vary the color combinations and sizes of the balloons to create a more interesting balloon arch.
02. Start tying the frame to the bow as you inflate pairs of balloons. Tie a knot around the first pair of balloons, then wrap the twine around the following ones. Try to place the knots on the balloons as close together as possible before wrapping the yarn around to create a tight and even bow.
03. This is what it looks like when the three pairs of balloons from the previous picture are wrapped together.
04. ... and this is how it looks when I have tied together 6 pairs of balloons in different sizes and colors. Continue wrapping pairs of balloons together until you have a balloon body as long as you want the bow. However, remember to save at least ⅓ of the balloons to fill in the shape of the arch later.
05. I wanted my balloon arch freestanding on the floor, so I built a stand of so-called Pex pipes, i.e. water pipes on a roll. These can be bought at, among others K-rauta. My tube was just under 3 cm in diameter. You do not need to build a stand but can choose to hang your balloon arch on something else, e.g. directly on the wall.
06. Hang the frame for the balloon arch where it will hang. It is much easier to continue building if you can see exactly where to place more balloons to achieve the desired shape.
07. Continue to inflate pairs of balloons that you can use to fill in the frame. I also chose to tie three balloons together to create an even "fluffier" filling. Feel free to make the filler balloons much smaller than the ones you have in the frame - both because they are easier to tie and because it will look nicer with different sizes of balloons on the bow.
08. Tie a ribbon around the joint of the balloon pair/trio, thread the ribbon through the balloon body where you want to fill in and fasten the ribbon either around the balloons on the body or around the stand (if you have one).
This is what my balloon arch looked like from the back.
09. Start filling in the arch with balloons. Feel free to stand a little further away so you can see where it feels like a little "fluff" is missing. Continue until you are happy with the shape. A balloon arch project is a typical example of a project that could grow and float as much as it wanted - at some stage you just need to take a step back and decide that you are done. ;)
We had two wonderful party days for our one-year-old - and the balloon arch stayed nice and fresh during both parties! In fact, it hung on for two extra days (*cough* because I hate cleaning *cough*) and it looked almost as good even on day 5. This was probably very much thanks to me choosing premium balloons instead of the regular ones thin you buy in 50 packs. (Worth thinking about if you want to make the balloon arch some day before the festivities!)
Did you get tagged to make a balloon arch for an event? Feel free to tag me in your photos (@BySandramaria) so I can see how it turned out!
Psst..! Interested in sewing a party crown to top your 1-year-old's party photos with? Here you will find the pattern of the one Maja is wearing in the pictures.
