How To Make A Balloon Garland

I have had so many people ask me how I made the balloon garland for Bennett's birthday party so I thought I'd do a post on it. It was seriously very, very easy to make. It took me a long time though. I estimated about 4 hours. However, now that I've done it and know how to do it, I think I could have cut that time in half so I'll share my tips so you don't spend as much time on it as I did!
I ended up using about 300 balloons but I made a really long garland--35 feet. I searched all over my town for the best balloons and the best deal and Walmart had the best options. I was able to buy a pack of 15 for .99 cents which was significantly better than the party store who wanted $40 for 100 balloons. Target didn't have as many color options as Walmart.
I learned that the key to making a pretty garland was to:
1.) Have balloons of all different sizes and
2.) Get a few pearlized balloons for some shimmer here and there.

All of my balloons were the same size, I just blew them up to be different sizes. I did buy about 8 jumbo sized balloons and they looked really good in the garland.

Before you get started go on ahead and invest in a machine to blow up the balloons for you. They're on the same aisle as the balloons and only around $20 which is worth every single penny. The machine blew up my balloons in .04 seconds. The first time I used it, it filled my balloon up so unexpectedly fast that the balloon popped because I got too much air in it. So beware!!

Getting Started:
-What you want to do is tie two balloons together. Do this with every single balloon you blow up--just tie their ends together so they're grouped in two's. Once you get enough balloons, you will use a needle and fishing wire and thread the ends of the balloons through. The fishing wire will glide through the balloon really easily. Your balloon garland will quickly take shape and look really pretty!
-To hang your garland, we used command strips and placed the fishing wire on the hook. We had to tape the wire onto the command strip as well because it kept wanting to pop off the hook but the tape held it into place perfectly.
-All of the instructions I had read online on how to make a balloon garland gave me the same steps as I mentioned above. However, most of them also said once you got your garland hung, to get a few more balloons and fill in the holes by gluing balloons onto other balloons. This is what took me so long and what I would do different should I do it again. It took a long time to glue them and the ones I glued ended up popping off during the party. After I had been gluing balloons for a while, I decided it was taking me too long and would be quicker for me to thread them together like I had done with my first strand. So I went back to step one where I tied two balloons together and I attached them to random balloons here and there to make the strand look more full. This worked MUCH better and I wish I had done it from the beginning. I even think I could have done it before I had hung the strand which would have also made it easier since I was having to stand on a tall ladder to do it!

Like I said, this was super easy to do and this is coming from someone who is not a big DIY person. I'm not too bad at attempting projects but I've definitely had my fair share of Pinterest fails (mostly when it comes to baking though! Ha!!). I was worried it would look homemade but it didn't! I was actually super proud of it and Scott and my parents kept commenting on how cool it was and how good it looked. I made the garland the night before my party and I was SO worried the balloons would deflate a little bit before the party but they didn't at all. So that's another thing I would do differently--I would start working on it sooner. I wanted to wait on it until the last possible minute for fear my balloons would deflate but I could have done it earlier in the day or possibly even two nights before the party. My fingers were really sore from tying that many balloons so be prepared for that if you're planning to make a long garland!!

The garland made for the perfect party backdrop! I made sure to leave a little length on the end so it gathered on the ground and that looked really pretty! I would definitely be up for making another one. It was actually fun to do and I know I would be a lot faster at it next time. Even if you aren't a DIY'er, you can do this!! Everyone on Pinterest claimed how simple it was and I agree 100%. And hopefully with the extra tips I gave that I didn't have before, it will be even quicker and easier for you!