Celebrating any special occasion can require lots of planning. Gifts, food, possibly venues and invitations all need to be chosen and arranged. That is before you add in the chaos being caused by COVID-19 restrictions! Often balloons are left until the last minute and we get asked for balloons "for tomorrow morning". Our answer to this is usually "no"! We are not trying to be rude or unhelpful, we just cannot get our gorgeous bespoke designs ready that quickly. Why not? Well, we would love to explain....
First, every design is bespoke for you. We must purchase the parts chosen by you (which is also why we require a deposit). This generally involves purchasing your balloons, but may also include ribbon, tulle, confetti, feathers, card, vinyl, glue, or lights, and batteries.
Second, all balloons are inflated in advance to check, as far as possible, they are not faulty. Depending on the type of balloon this can be up to five days before the date you want them. What happens if any balloons are faulty? We replace the faulty balloon (checking that the replacement is ok) before you receive your order. Therefore, you will never even know there was a problem! We want your balloons to look as good and last for as long as possible.
You have probably seen balloon displays which look lovely but have a foil weight stuck on the end that does not match. Usually the shades are different, sometimes the weight is a different colour entirely. Well not for our balloons! We make all weights and bases to ensure they match the balloons. Again, we need some time to purchase materials and put the weights and bases together.
Most of our designs have a message added. What better way to make it extra special and personal for the recipient? But yes, this also adds time to the process too!
As we said earlier, we probably cannot have your balloons ready for tomorrow. However, for personalised, bespoke balloons that last for as long as possible, we think that it is not something you should want either! So when should you order? Well, as early as possible! This is especially true if there are certain balloons you want as they can go out of stock. For the best result, the order (and deposit) needs to be received a minimum of a couple of weeks before the date they are needed*. After all, we think your balloons should be special for the person or event you are celebrating!
Claire
* check our 'Lastest News' page for updates due to COVID-19
About the author
Claire is a trained Balloon Decorator and owner of Balloon Base Essex.