Please note – the purpose of this post is to inform, not convince you to buy from me…
If you’re looking for balloon décor for your event you may have seen DIY kits from Amazon, Etsy etc for £25, or even as low as £15.
Don’t the photos for these kits just look amazing?
Well, they should do.
They’re professional photos of quality balloon décor made by highly skilled artists using the finest materials and build methods.
Sneaky vendors steal the photos and advertise them as their own – guessing the balloons needed to make a “DIY kit” before selecting the cheapest low quality Chinese balloons and sending them out – buyer unaware.
There’s never any of the additional items shown like dried leaves or flowers but that’s a minor detail.
From what few disgruntled buyers and panicked parents have told me there’s nowhere near enough balloons to make the decoration to begin with.
The quality of balloons is so low that when inflated the shape is uneven, the shades not consistent with dye coming off on your hands and many burst during inflation making the situation even more desperate.
The smell of these low-quality balloons is often an oily petroleum smell which is not typical of a high-quality latex balloon. The smell could be a sign of oil based dyes and toxins, which are far from ideal for your lungs, eyes and skin.
Even using a professional decorator as the photo below shows, the odds are stacked against achieving anything similar to the decoration in the advertising photo.
Look at the difference from above to below – this was built by a professional and still it came up so short – the decorator who built this was left with irritated hands that smelt really bad. Would you want that for a child or a pregnant lady ?
Somebody doing this on their own with little experience and poor-quality materials will end up with a display that looks cheap, tacky and incomplete – if you don’t give up halfway through.
I’ve had a few of these people contact me before, the night before a large event and devastated parents embarrassed and stressed beyond belief for their daughter’s 18th, 21st etc.
Sometimes I have been able to help, but not always.
As I said the purpose of this blog post is to inform and manage expectations – not convince you to buy from me.
If you honestly believe you are going to get a £200-£400 organic balloon arch or similar by spending £15 and giving up an hour or 2 then you are going to be severely disappointed, these decorations take hours and the high quality balloons needed are not cheap.
I want consumers to have positive experiences with balloons, not be disappointed they were mis-lead or think they’re getting quality and ended up with rubbish.
If you want great memories and photos that come with high quality balloon décor, you’ll need to pay for it.
