The Cartoon Alphabet 0 comments

The rainy season has come with a vengeance. I was on the way home, stuck in our car which was virtually motionless in a sea of flashing headlights and honking horns. We had left the party 10:00 pm, comfortable that we had more than enough time to head back home to catch some much needed rest.

It was already midnight. And I felt like peeing.

So my sister and I started this game to take my mind off home and our lovely convenience room. For lack of a better name, let's call it the Cartoon Alphabet. You (or your opponent) start with the first letter of the alphabet, and think of a name of a cartoon character that starts with that letter. Once you've done so, your opponent takes his/her turn thinking of another name that starts with the next letter in the alphabet, and so on. The person who fails to think of a name gets a penalty. I know this game may sound corny, but believe me, it becomes fun with the challenging letters (Z?? X??), and the more creative you get with the names.

Our own game went like this:

A - Astroboy
B - Barney
C - Casper
D - Dora
E - Eeyore
F - Fiona (from Shrek)
G - George Jetson
H - Homer Simpson
I - Igor
J - Jem (and the Holograms!)
K - Kim (Possible!)
L - Leonardo (from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
M - Mandark (from Dexter's Lab)
N - Nemo
O - Optimus Prime (yea!!)
P - Patrick the Starfish
Q - Quasimodo
R - Road Runner
S - Superman (too easy)
T - Tom (and Jerry)
U - Ursula (great thinking!!)
V - Voltes V
W - Winnie the Pooh
X - X-men (Ok this is not a cartoon character but a cartoon series. I cheated...)
Y - Yogi Bear
Z - Zelda

Hope you enjoy this game!

BW
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How to estimate the number of balloons needed for balloon garlands 0 comments

Let's say you're one of those DIY overly enthusiastic mommies planning your son or daughter's birthday bash, and for some reason you're in charge of purchasing latex balloons for the decoration. Let's also say that one of the decorations you're planning to make is the balloon garland. Here comes a key questions - how would you know how many balloons you need to buy for that garland?

Never ever underestimate the usefulness of this information, as there have been many times during a decoration process where I though I had enough balloons on hand, only to find out that I needed to buy more!! This can be extra frustrating when the party will be starting in a matter of hours and you just can't find anyone who sell on such a short notice!

Balloon Garlands

First, let's begin with the basics. What is a baloon garland anyway??

garlands wrapped around columns

Garlands are collections of tightly packed balloon clusters. Balloon clusters are simply a number of balloons (usually 4-6) twisted together. Garlands can be used for arches, swags, columns. The picture above shows two-tone garlands wrapped around columns.

Number of Balloons Needed for 1 Meter of Garland

So there you have it. If for example you are planning to make a 10-meter balloon garland, simply multiply the number of balloons on the right column by 10.

Also remember that these numbers, although very useful, are only reliable estimates. The actual number of balloons you will use may vary depending on the way and the extent to which you inflate your balloons. But it's better than going to war blind, right?

Til next,

BW
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How to make the most out of your star foil mylar balloons 0 comments

Your usual star foil mylar balloons can be used in so many different ways. Putting them on a stick and placing curling ribbons does not maximize the potential of your balloon to "wow" your guests.

So I'm going to throw off some ideas which you can try for your next party, or maybe you yourself can put up your small business in creating these pieces and selling them at a affordable prices.


Centerpiece

Combine your star foil and 5" round latex balloons and thick bow ribbons to create a playful centerpiece. These centerpieces can be used for your Hannah Montana, Camp Rock, Celestial/ Galactic, Music and Hollywood inspired themes. You can create any color combination that would suit your party theme. (Available colors in Party Magic are: silver, gold, red, green, fuchsia, and blue.) These can also be used as a base for helium-filled bouquets of balloons as shown below:

Balloon bouquet


The trick is simple: Make your balloons stand out. Create this bouquet using the centerpiece above as base to your helium balloons. Combine Happy Birthday mylar balloons with your star foil balloons and mix them up with all-over print latex balloons (Party Magic will soon have all-over print star latex balloons).

Balloon pillars

These pillars are almost effortless to make but sure looks more expensive than they really are. Simple chain columns (Party Magic will soon have chain balloons) topped off with your star balloon or any of your themed foil balloons sets the stage for your big birthday bash!




Ceiling decor

Star-o-Sphere


You will need 12 star balloons to create this Star-o-Sphere. Simply tape or use a low-temp glue gun to attach the ends of your star balloon with each other. Hang this at the center of the room, attach some foil danglers or foil strips at the bottom, or let your swags meet at the top of your sphere. Will post soon a more detailed discussion on how to pull this star-o-sphere soon.

Hopefully all these ideas have piqued the inner balloon decorator within you! Send me comments if you want to share other decorator ideas or have questions and requests.

Happy Ballooning,

BW
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The Rain, Life, and the Party Business 1 comments

For some reason I am not in my usual playful mood today. Maybe it's all the rain, maybe something else. Maybe it's because I feel like I'm getting old...and I'm letting time slip by me instead of making the most out of it...In any case I am once again sunk into my emo mood where I seem to be musing about various things about life.

My sister gave birth to her second child, a son, recently. Oh how the world of my family lit up. Suddenly rooms seem to be noisier, dinners more alive, smiles more easy to make.

My dad once said of this, "That's just how life is. People are born, grow up, get married, and have children. Then they get old, and their children grow up and have their own children, and so on. That was how it was with my parents and my parents' parents, and how it will be for me and you." How simple yet complex.

Maybe that is why the party business is so seductive. We deal with people who perhaps are at the happiest point of their lives - celebrating the new life they've created. We are in the business of balloons and happiness and babies. It's ironic though how I'm talking about happiness while being sad.

BW
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An EaSY Way to Cover Pillars with Balloons 0 comments

Here's an interesting way to cover pillars with balloons. It is a technique developed by E. Yoshikawa, a Brazilian Balloon Designer, and presented by the first time in USA in August 2008 at the Balloon Camp, Las Vegas:

.

Have fun decorating!

BW

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Anyone Bored? Online Balloon Games to Unleash the Hidden Balloonist In You 0 comments

Guys, I'm usually the wake-up-early and productive type, but one thing that always kills my daily work routine is online games. Now after an hour or two of mindless mouse clicking and whooping (whoopie killed my first zombie!), I usually muster enough willpower to stop myself from ruining my night's sleep.

Recently though, I discovered a new type of online game that completely destroys my schedule: free online balloon games. In other words,

Free online games = waking up to dirty eyebags and an espresso
Free online games + Balloon theme = waking up to the sound of my boss's voice as he screams expletives over my ears

But how selfish of me to keep these games to myself. Let's share the joy shall we?

Soakamon
This one is the real culprit here. Your like in the wild wild west but instead of guns you're armed with water balloons. Eat my ballz (of urine) sucka!
Click here to play

Evil Balloon Siege
Try to hit monsters coming in and out of doors. Simple enough game but devilishly hard to hit those gremlins...
Click here to play

Bloons
Here you control a monkey shooting missiles out of his arms to hit a specified number of balloons. There's an element of puzzle here so be prepared to get your game on.
Click here to play

Barnyard Balloon
There is a balloon war raging in the farm. Control your farm animal and pop each other's balloons!
Click here to play

Anyone else knows other balloon games?

Happy playing!

BW
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Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a flying priest... 1 comments

Guys, with the movie Up just around the corner, I just remembered this one news story a year ago about a flying priest. Yes you heard me right. About a year ago, a Roman Catholic priest by the name of Rev. Adelir Antonio de Carli used 1,000 helium balloons to fly (Folks, keep that in mind. It takes 1,000 helium-filled balloons to lift a single human person. Actually, I've heard it could be done with just 500 balloons). Up, up and away he went as seen in the picture on the left.

The Rev. was aiming to break a flying record in order to raise money for charity. He was equipped with GPS, a satellite phone, flotation equipment, a thermal suit, helmet, and parachute. Sadly though, people lost contact with him when he was blown off course. Later on his colorful balloons were found at sea, but no sign of the daredevil priest. You can check the actual news article in the link below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7360416.stm

Just yesterday, I grew curious and decided to do a search on what happened with the father. Sadly though, I learned that a body was found months later and was confirmed to be his via DNA testing. The link below is the article:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/29/world/main4305742.shtml


Farewell Father...may you rest in peace in His arms.

So what's the moral lesson of the story? Kids, when you watch Up, don't try it at home!

BW


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How to make your own stage decor using flower shaped balloons 0 comments

Ok. Now that we've learned how to make balloon sizers we can move on to more exciting stuff. This post will show you how you can make use of interesting balloon shapes such as flower balloons and turn them into stage decor. Let's get on to it shall we?

Step 1. Get two flower shaped balloons and tape their sticks together. Make sure that the two balloons are of different height.








Step 2. Inflate an 11-12 inch balloon. You can use a manual pump or an electric balloon inflator, both of which are available at Party Magic. (http://partymagic.multiply.com). Inflate two of these balloons and make sure they are of the same size when inflated.

Step 3. Tie up the two inflated balloons. You can use a simple knot in tying them up but make sure the knot is secured tightly. The tied up balloons should like the picture on the right:





Step 4. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for another two balloons. The second pair of balloons can be of the same color, or of different color if you're going for a more colorful theme. In my case I chose a mono color theme of red balloons.

Step 5. Now that we have two pairs of tied up balloons, we need to tie both of them up. Place both pairs in a perpendicular fashion (or with the middle of both pairs crossing each other). Then, grab in one hand two balloons, one from each pair, and twist them in any direction. The middle part of the structure should now form a twist and look like the picture on the right:

Step 6. Place the flower balloons on a stick in the middle of two balloons in your structure. Now twist the two balloons that are in the middle of the stick of the flower balloons to lock it tight.

Step 7. Repeat the steps above until you fill up the whole length of the stick with these twisted balloon layers. In my case it took me three layers.

Step 8. As a finishing touch, you can also add a long twisted balloon at the top of your formation. In order to accomplish the twisted effect, wrap the uninflated long balloon around one of your arms while you ask a friend to pump it.




This structure can also serve as a centerpiece, if you have a table big enough to accommodate it.

Tadaaa! There you have it. That wasn't too hard, was it?

Til my next post,

BW
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Dora the Brazilian Hottie 0 comments

Is it just me, or is the new Dora such a cutie (or too cute?)

Nickelodeon and Mattel earlier this year released the actual potrait of our beloved new Dora. That's right sisters. Bowl cut, shorts, and rotund body is out, long shirt, leggings, long flowing hair, and accessories (no backpack please) is in.

I wonder, is this what a 10-year old girl should look like? More importantly, is this what you want your 10-year old to look like?
What happened to the talking backpack? Where's Diego? And where's bestfriend Boots??

Here's what I think on these very important issues:

What happened to Backpack


Looks like he ate one too many spacesuits and ladders for his own good...delicioso, anyone?

What happened to Diego


Watch out Dora. You're not the only one who got hotter these past few years.

What happened to Boots

Poor Boots...turns out the human years were way too much for a simple monkey...

But never mind what I think. Tell me what you think. Dora the New Explorer or Dora-too-cute-and-powdered-up-for-her-own-good?

BW
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Creating bubbles out of balloons 0 comments

Under the sea...under the sea...darling it's better, down where it's wetter take it from me! Yes, take it from me...I've been watching too many Disney movies that I'm starting to imagine bubbles out of balloons!! Yes, in this article we will try to make balloons look like bubbles.

A lot of people have asked me how to decorate their underwater, finding nemo, little mermaid, and spongebob themed parties. So I've decided to post some decoration ideas to recreate an under the sea scene to help you bring the land back to the sea! (or is it the other way around?)

You can easily use transparent or crystal clear latex balloons and make them look like bubbles. Combine these with blue colored styro backgrounds or tarps and then you'll recreate the look of 3D bubbles from the water! Some may also feel a bit extravagant on their use of balloons and do not feel comfortable with just using crystal clear balloons, so another alternative is to stuff a blue or light blue small (5 inch) latex balloon inside a crystal clear balloon. In this post, I'll also show you how to stuff balloons inside a crystal clear balloon.

The picture above shows a sample decor made by a balloon decorator abroad. The octopus is definitely a WOW! But the point here is the bubble effect and not the octopus! Instead of the octopus, you can place your balloon burst or pinatas in the middle.

Another impressive stage decor, but definitely very hard to do (the balloon flounder and sebastian). But again, the balloon bubbles set the stage for this under the sea theme to come alive!



As I mentioned awhile ago, combine the crystal clear balloons with a blue background to set the scene of bubbles underwater. You can also add tube balloons and bend them a bit to recreate the look of seaweeds and other underwater plants.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable with plain crystal clear balloons hanging from the ceiling?? You can also stuff a blue balloon inside! Here's how:


1. You'll need one crystal clear balloon (I suggest a size 10 or 12 inches) and one small blue latex balloon (size 5).





2. Get a stick and insert it inside the small balloon. This will help you insert it in the crystal balloon as shown below.




3. Insert the small balloons in the crystal balloon.





4. Inflate the small balloon first then lock it with a knot.





5. Let go of the small balloon and start to inflate the crystal balloon.





6. Tie a knot at the tail of the crystal balloon. Voila! You now have tiny bubbles inside your crystal bubbles! Also try putting white small balloons and alternately attach these bubbles to a nylon string. Let them dangle from the ceiling as bubbles floating from below.


XOXO,

BW
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Party Magic - my baby! 0 comments

For years, I've been dreaming about owning my own party shop. It would be colorful, filled up Doras, Nemos, Mickeys, and every other character that fills children with smiles and imagination. From my ceiling would hang circular mylars, ribbons, stars, and rubber balloons of every known color to man. Kids would gawk and giggle as they look around, and scream with delight as I announce, "free chocolates to everyone!!"

Turned out that having a real store is kinda expensive. So instead, I started with a virtual one. Start small and dream big shall we?


So let me do my plug - Party Magic is your favorite online party store, filled with everything you need for any kiddie party: mylars, supershapes, paper cups, plates, name tags, invitations, party hats, blowers, loot bags, tiaras, pinatas, you name it. What's even better is that our prices are very competitive since we source our products directly from suppliers. We handpick each design and product so as to ensure their quality as well. If you're planning your kid's party, a baby shower, or any event, be sure to visit our site:

http://partymagic.multiply.com/

Til next time!

BW
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How to measure your balloons with a balloon sizer 0 comments

Now that we have our very own balloon sizer, we're now ready for our next task: measuring balloons using the sizer. I know I know, why not just try to estimate the size of the balloon you're inflating by putting it side by side with an already inflated balloon? Well for one, I've tried this method while making my own balloon pillar, and it does not work. You'll be surprised at how the eye can deceive you in estimating sizes. In a nutshell, my pillar ended up looking like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. So on to the article:

Using your balloon sizer is very easy, however the inflating part sometimes becomes tricky. First, I'll show you three types of inflated balloons so you can check whether yours is properly inflated. Second, I will show you how to use your sizer with the properly inflated balloon.

Some balloons, when inflated, do not come out as perfectly round. So, the head of the balloon becomes under inflated while the rest of the air remains at the tail of the balloon. So when you slip it through your sizer, it does not measure up to your required size. Some people will continue inflating their balloon until they fit perfectly into the balloon sizer, not knowing that their balloon is already over inflated and now looks like an avocado!! (yum)

It looks like an avocado because of overinflating the balloon where the air already fills up the space for the tail (or the elongated or tube part of the balloon). The tail is NOT SUPPOSED TO BE FILLED UP WITH AIR. Its purpose is for the knot you will be making to secure the air inside the balloon.

Below are the three types of inflated balloons. Notice the differences to make sure that you use your balloons properly and you get the most for the balloons you paid for:

1. Under-inflated:

Clearly an underinflated balloon suggested by its long uninflated neck. Unless you want to use them for games that require sitting or stomping to pop the balloons, underinflating the balloon would pose more challenges to the game. Attempting to pop an under-inflated balloon will displace air into the uninflated portion (tail or neck part) and redistribute the stress to the rest of the balloon without popping.




2. Fully inflated:
This is a fully-inflated balloon and the right size for most games and decorations. Full inflation is characterized by a round balloon that SLIGHTLY fills up the neck but when you press both ends of the balloon, it will form a perfectly round shape.

3. Over inflated:

This is obviously over-inflated as characterized by the long inflated neck. The balloon is very tight and may make a ringing sound when tapped. Cover your ears, hide your children, and run for your life when you see this balloon, as it's just one fingernail away from popping!!







Measuring your balloons in the sizer

When you already have with you a perfectly round and inflated balloon, carefully slip it into your sizer, and if it passes through successfully and without force, the balloon is in the size specified in your sizer.
Till next time,

BW
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How to make your own balloon sizer 3 comments

I know what you're thinking. Who in the world needs a balloon sizer anyway?? Well being able to make balloon sizers is actually one of the basic skills that every professional balloon decorator should have. So all you mommies out there, fold up your sleeves and let's start!

How to make a balloon sizer using nothing but carton (literally!)

One secret to professional looking balloon pillars and arches is to inflate the balloons exactly in the same sizes. Professionals use a "balloon sizer", usually a plastic box or a flat plane with circular cut-outs of the different balloon sizes.

You can either purchase your own balloon sizer or with the recession squeezing our budget, you can inexpensively create your own balloon sizer and create balloon pillars and arches like a pro!

Step 1: Take a large cardboard box, preferably a square box. In my case, I could not find an evenly-sided box so I had to do with what I had at home: an old carton box my brother used to store his old dvds (no this is not porn!)
Step 2: Mark out the center of your circle. Get a ruler and from your point in the center, mark the radius from the center to the side. I started with the 10 inch size since this is often the size used for pillars and entrance arches.Step 3:Using the marks you've placed on four points of your circle (left, right, top bottom) and the center point, get a compass to mark out your perfect circle.
Step 4: Using a cutter, carefully cut out the circle you've marked with your compass.
With just a few simple steps, we're done in making our own balloon sizer! Repeat these steps with other balloon sizes (5, 8, 9, 11 and 12) and you can start making your own balloon structures!!

XOXO,

BW
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And Who Am I? That's One Secret I'll Never Tell 0 comments

No, this is not a blog about extremely wealthy and decadent high school teenage girls who frolic around the streets of New York in their designer Guccis and Pradas with overly gorgeous boys dancing on their fingertips. Rather, this blog is about parties. And not the sort of filled with booze and scantily clad women either. I am here to talk about parties with kids in them. Kiddie parties, children parties, parties of that sort.

When a close friend of mine whose son was about to turn 1 year old came up to me and asked for help in organizing her kid's 1st birthday party, that's when it all started for me. Both of us searched for the right venue, the right decorator, balloon decor package, the right theme, and the works, and I was initiated into the world of balloons.

I recently opened my own online party store, Party Magic, and the feedback I have been receiving from customers have been very enlightening to say the least. So many have come up to me and have asked for various advice.

So my goal with this blog is to talk about anything and everything related to kiddie parties, and also help all those new mommies, mommies who would like to be more hands-on with their kid's party experience, and even those people who are interested in the kiddie party/balloon/decoration industry. We can talk about themes, decorations, types of balloons, designs, anything you want!

So until my next post,

BW
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