In 2016, my cousin went all out for my birthday. She decorated my room without me knowing and popped confetti bombs at midnight. Her birthday was a month later, Dec. 20th. I wanted to go all out- so off to Pinterest and found an awesome idea! A Balloon Ceiling!!!! It was going to be a challenge seeing as we were roommates at the time and she was going to be home. The plan was to line the hallway outside of her room. DIY Balloon Ceiling!
Give yourself some time to figure out the best options. It took me about a week to plan and complete (please note that I was working 45+ hours that week, so it took longer than you probably could). The night of, it took about 5-6 hours to complete the project with me and another person.
(Disclaimer- I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. Please note that although there are enclosed affiliate links, they are to the actual product I used or an equivalent product, which I will fully disclose as such. In addition to this, please note that I am not making any guarantees or promises regarding the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information presented. These are just my personal experiences. Read more)
1. Helium Tank-
I looked for a decent priced helium tank. Any tank you could buy just outright was going to be expensive for the number of balloons I needed. So I turned to rentals and found a party store (Party Fair) an hour away with good prices. I got a medium tank to be sure not to run out- we definitely had enough. The rental was per day, so plan around when you can pick up and drop off. They do not charge for how much of the helium you use.
2. Balloons-
I just bought balloons at Party Fair as well since I was already there (I decided on 3 different colors in 12-inch latex). I bought a package of 72 each. Be careful with the type of balloons you want to use. Make sure to check how long they stay inflated. Regular latex balloons usually deflate within 18-24 hours. Check out these balloons from Amazon in shades of pink, similar to the ones I had bought.
3. Curling Ribbon and Scissors-
I usually have rolls of curling ribbon handy (similar to these on Amazon.) I didn’t use more than half and actually had several pairs scissors on hand and precut the ribbon into long strips. The length of the ribbon was long enough that it kept its natural spiral. You can buy cheap rolls of curling ribbon in a lot of stores including Amazon.
4.Extras-
Being the crafty person I am, I went to Walmart’s craft section and looked for extra stuff to bring this project to the next level. I ended up with matching confetti, Happy Birthday signs, some streamers, and star-shaped cardboard cutouts (picture to the right) to dangle from the ribbons. These were great because they had pre-punched holes and came in different sizes and colors. A similar product I found was these Foil Paper Stars in Silver 12 inch (12 pack) on Amazon.
I originally wanted to inflate the balloons a day or two in advance and hide them in my walk-in closet. I am glad I didn't because as I said above, latex balloons deflate and wilt within 18-24 hours. Make sure to plan accordingly to workaround this, or look into other types of balloons.
I did not think this was completely through ahead of time. At first, I wanted to just fill them in my garage, however, there were two issues.
- The ceilings were extremely high, making it difficult to grab them.
- Thankfully my helper made a good note- helium tanks make a lot of noise and our garage was directly in her bedroom.
As a precaution, we decided to inflate them in the farthest corner from her room on the same floor, which ended up to be my walk-in closet. We slowly moved the completed ones into my bedroom until will had finished. Since most had ribbons already, moving them into the hallway was extremely easy.
Ask for help! I asked several people who agreed but then at the last minute didn't. I thankfully had one of my cousins stick around and helped me. If it were just me, it wouldn't have happened. Blowing up balloons is a long and tiring process. We were able to switch off tasks so we didn't wear ourselves out completely. One of us inflated the balloons and the other tied the knots. It would have been nice and quicker if we had an additional person to tie the ribbons too. If you are planning on doing a larger space, definitely look into getting more than one tank and a bunch of more people.
1. Tie the ribbon to the balloon directly after you tie the knots on the balloons.
After my cousin inflated about 25, I realized we should have been tying the ribbon to the knots as they were being inflated. Although he was tall enough to reach them, it became difficult with the number of balloons we had. The 20-30 that did not have ribbon, were very difficult to move- we ended up using a broom and almost hit the fire sprinklers on the ceiling. Learn from my mistakes- tie the ribbon as you make the knots. It made it so easy to grab a handful of 50-60 balloons at once. Next time around, I probably will use an EZ Tie tool like this one to tie the balloons easier and faster. If you have used one of these tools, please comment! I would love to hear some feedback.
2. Cut ribbon ahead of time and you don't have to worry about exact length.
I made the ribbon all different lengths so it would be a mix when you walked through it. If you do all the same length, I would think it would be to uniform and flat.
3. Move the balloons to the final spot before adding extras.
After we filled the hallway with all the balloons, we went through and hung the star cutouts by the ribbon falling from the balloons. I scattered them around-not too many. The added bonus to the stars- as the day went on and the balloons started to deflate, they acted as anchors for a few (picture to the right.) We then hung the Happy Birthday banner right by her door and threw confetti everywhere. *NOTE* Confetti is very difficult to clean up*
4. Be ready for the cleanup.
Something I didn't expect was the next night when I got back home. 95% of the balloons were deflating and now lined the floor. With the number of balloons we had, it became a hazard, especially with all of the ribbon. There were so many that the whole hallway floor was covered and some were flowing down the stairs. It only took 10-15 mins to clean up. I only mention it to prevent the hazard I created for myself.
Completed Project
It took the two of us roughly 5-6 hours to finish the whole project. When complete, the entire ceiling had 3-4 layers on balloons. With the ceiling lights, the light shined through and gave the whole place a fun pinkish tint. Check out my video below. (You can see the direct aftermath of the project in the bedroom- There were balloons and ribbons everywhere.)
