If you’ve stumbled onto Pinterest any time lately, you’ve probably seen a version or two of a balloon arch! It’s an easy way to fill up a big space, or to make a small space feel big – and they’re versatile to go from indoor to outdoor.
I’m gonna give you a super basic formula that’s really easy to upgrade from. You can look into different sized balloons (the really big punch balloons look amazing!) or specialty colors online.
I went with regular ole latex balloons – I got 3 different shades of pink, 2 different greens, and 2 different whites – a total of about $21. This arch was 10ft x 10ft, so we’re covering a lot of ground! I have collected a lot of artificial blooms throughout the years, but this was about $15 worth of flowers and greenery to go along with it.
What you’ll need
- Patience
- Balloons
- Balloon pump (helium is always great, but this arch was made without helium)
- Low temperature glue gun
- Double sided tape
- Packing tape
- Chicken wire (I found a super small roll of it that worked perfectly in the floral section of a craft store for $4).
The Workflow
Use chicken wire to form the shape of your balloon arch. You’ll be attaching all your hard work to this! Make sure the chicken wire is securely attached – in my case, I tied it to the frame backdrop I was using, but it can be tacked into a wall or by using command strip hooks.
Next up, balloooooons. While you’re inflating the balloons, keep in mind that they all need to be at varying sizes. You’ll be using the small ones to fill in the gaps so that your peeps don’t see the chicken wire and other lovely tape remnants. You’ll get slightly different color variations with the smaller balloons vs the larger ones, which is a plus!
Now comes the time to assemble. Take the larger balloons – using the tied end, attach a piece of packing tape and loop it through the chicken wire and back on to the balloon. Get the big pieces up, and then we’ll start filling in the rest of the shape with the smaller balloons. I pre-made some clusters of smaller balloons using the low temp glue gun, and then glued those on to the big ones. With all the remaining balloons (save the tiny ones for last!), fill in the gaps!
Finish by sprinkling flowers and greenery throughout – I went heavier on the flowers, bc #mothersday, but plain foraged greenery would work awesome, also!
Hope you give this project a go! PRO TIP: have a friend help you assemble this to avoid balloon tying fatigue. Lol.
