#SPON
19th October 2015
DISCLAIMER: This blog post is a paid-for advertorial. All opinions expressed are my own; this is a product I genuinely love. Thank you to Balloon Time for the fantastic collaborative opportunity.
When my lovely friends over at Balloon Time offered to send me a helium tank and a massive bag of balloons, my mood was positively inflated (get it!?!?!). However, this was not just for my own entertainment – and DEFINITELY not just an opportunity to make my voice go all squeaky – it was actually for something far more important. This year, the much-anticipated Rugby World Cup is being hosted in England – the first time since 1991. I am collaborating with Balloon Time to put together the perfect party to celebrate the Rugby World Cup Final which kicks off on Saturday the 31st of October. Why not create your own balloon-bash to celebrate the final too?
When planning a party, my first thought is always balloons. Nothing says ‘celebration’ quite like balloons, however this is not always as easy it seems. Thankfully, with Balloon Time, there’s no need to wrestle with pre-inflated balloons in your car or struggle to carry them down the street – Balloon Time goes wherever you want to go. Instead of paying out half your life savings and selling three of your internal organs on the black market in order to have balloons inflated in a shop somewhere miles from where you need them, grab a Balloon Time Standard Helium Kit (30 assorted latex balloons included) and take it wherever you need to go. Retail prices start at just £22 and the process couldn’t be easier. I’ve got to admit, I definitely over-estimated how difficult using the tank would be; it was honestly the easiest and most stress-free procedure ever. The balloons inflate effortlessly – because who wants to break a sweat right before a party? – and are fantastic quality.
Now it’s time to get creative and have some fun! I decided to show my true patriotism by using flag colours as the theme for my bash. I (stupidly) predicted that England would make the Rugby World Cup final – I’m an optimist, okay? – and so prepared my party accordingly. Obviously you’d need to wait until you know who’s going to be playing in the final, but use this is an example of how to decorate, according to my unfortunately useless predictions. Good thing I’m not a gambling man!
I designed my balloons to look like the rival team flags. In this example, I used England and Romania, but you could create the flag easily for just about any country as they’re mostly blocks of colour. I thought this was a really fun and quirky way to show your support, acting as the perfect back-drop to your party. To do this, I cut the balloons’ ribbons to different lengths and then stuck the bottom of each piece of ribbon to a long cardboard box on the floor. This acted both as a weight and as the basic structure of my flag, as sometimes balloons have a wild mind of their own and refuse to co-operate. If this feels a bit fiddly or you’re simply short on time, just arrange various bunches of colour co-ordinated balloons for cool pops of colour around your venue.
Now every great party needs great food, so I made some funky rugby-themed cupcakes to fit with my theme. Cupcakes are a must for any party; they don’t take too long to make and can be incorporated into just about any theme, subtly but cleverly tying everything together. You can do just about anything in regards to decoration – Mary Berry would be proud. Mine follow a basic chocolate cupcake recipe, with beautifully blobbed and swirled green icing and an edible-foil rugby ball to top it off. Super simple but effective, these cupcakes emulate a rugby ball in the grass and taste a-ma-zing. The icing is a simple buttercream with green food colouring mixed in. Meanwhile, my foil-toppers were found in the depths of Amazon – the website, not the tropical rainforest. This is the most delicious way of supporting your favourite team, and, no matter the end result, you'll always feel like a winner!
For the final, you could also set up two large jars and allow your guests to place their bets on the winner. Label each jar, one for each opposing team, and watch the jars fill up with loose change. This makes the evening a little more competitive and fun, as the winners win the combined contents of the jars!
I hope this post has encouraged you to hold your own Rugby World Cup party and given you some inspiration for how to decorate! Balloon Time is the world’s first and best-selling portable helium kit, bringing colour and fun to celebrations around the globe for more than 30 years. For more information and details to find your nearest retailer, check out balloontime.com – there’s some incredible inspiration for other celebrations too which I’m sure you’ll love!
Don’t forget to tweet any of your creations to @balloontime and @jackbenedwards or share them on facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/BalloonTime As a side note, check out my ‘bunch of grapes’ fancy dress party balloon creation hidden in the following collage! Have a lovely day and, until next time, goodbye!
By Jack Edwards