Inflating Balloons Early And Still Have Them Look Professional

Ribbon, check. Party decorations, check. Balloons, check. Everything is ready to go but what about inflating balloons early for your event and still having them look amazing? In this post, I’m going to show you everything you need to know about inflating your balloons early and still having them look professional.

Inflating your balloons early can be a helpful time-saver for the day of an event and it is considered common practice among balloon professionals worldwide. So now that we have decided inflating your balloons early is a good idea, how early can you inflate your balloons? The answer to this is going to be a personal choice based on experience, quality of balloons, time available, and space (both storage and transporting).

Considerations For Inflating Balloons Early

There are several considerations you need to think about when determining the details of how, when, and where you will inflate balloons early for your event. In this section, we are going to discuss some of these considerations you may want to think about as you make your decision.

Quality Of Balloons

The most important thing to think about when figuring out how early you can inflate your balloons is going to be the quality of your balloons. 

High quality balloons are made from natural rubber or natural latex which naturally makes them biodegradable. A non-quality balloon might have preservatives, other additives, or synthetic rubbers added to them which can make them cheaper for production but it also affects the quality of the balloon.

In general, quality balloons are going to last much longer than non-quality balloons. I have used cheap or no-name brands of balloons in a pinch or for practice, and I have even had them last longer than I would have expected. However, I would not trust my balloon business or my balloon reputation with a cheap or no-name brand of balloons.

Time And Space Available

The next two things to think about when figuring out how early you can inflate your balloons is going to be the time available for setup and the space available. This will include the amount of space you have available to store the inflated balloons as well as the amount of space you have available for transport if you will be inflating the balloons at a different location than their final setup location. These two considerations go hand and hand with each other.

Usually, it is something more like you have several balloon columns, a balloon drop, 32 balloon centerpieces, and a balloon arch to inflate and assemble. Oh yeah, and the customer says you only have an hour to set up for the event. 

Let’s say you are only making a single balloon column for an event and you can inflate the balloons and place them in the exact spot you want them for the event. They are protected from the elements and other sharp objects. 

Generally speaking, the only time I allow for only an hour is if I am only required to do delivery and no setup of any kind is required. For anything beyond a simple delivery, I state that a minimum of two hours is required and as the difficulty increases so does the required time for setup. In any case, you will need to have sufficient time to inflate, assemble, and set up any balloon decorations you might have.

On average, you will need 12 mins for every 50 11″ air-filled balloons and 20 mins for every 50 11″ helium filled balloons with string. The newer you are to balloons the longer you will need to inflate the same amount of balloons. But on the other hand, the more you work with balloons the faster you will get and this time will decrease.

18 inch Latex Balloon

Average Time Needed To Inflate Balloons

*Based on balloons inflated to 9″ using a hand pump **Based on balloons inflated to approximately 11″ with helium

In general, you will need 25 cu. ft. of space to transport 50 11″ balloons. The more balloons you have the more cu. ft. of cargo space you will need and the fewer balloons you have the less cu. ft. of cargo space you will need.

Inflating Air-Filled Balloons Early

Inflating air-filled ballons early is a perfect way to prepare for an event. Air-filled balloons can last for several days without losing their shape, color, or luster (so long as you are using a high quality balloon).

I highly recommend testing the brand of balloons you intend to use by inflating balloons before your event and keeping notes of how long they look good.

Inflating Helium Filled Balloons Early

Inflating helium filled balloons is a completely different ballgame than air-filled balloons. Helium filled balloons only last for a few hours up to 24 hours from inflation without being treated. All hope is not lost when it comes to helium filled balloons.

Again, I highly recommend testing the brand of balloons you intend to use by inflating balloons before your event and keeping notes of how long they look good.

Will Air-Filled Balloons Last Overnight?

This is one of the most asked questions I get asked about inflating balloons is can I inflate my air-filled balloons the night before. The short answer is, that you can inflate your air-filled balloons the night before and they will still look good, as long as you have taken the above considerations.

Please note that this is NOT a guarantee that every balloon will last overnight (or longer) but in general, the time saved from inflating balloons early has been a huge benefit to my balloon business, as well as every other balloon decorator I have ever talked to. That is not to say that there won’t be some balloons that won’t survive the early inflation. This is normal and to be expected, please plan accordingly.

I hope this post brought value to you. 

As a professional ODM OEM manufacturer in China, ALO has been specializing in providing balloons for 24 years. For more information about custom balloons, welcome to contact us at +86 180 0119 5989 or write to us at balloons-ocean@hotmail.com. We will be happy to help you out!