Welcome to BMTV!

First off we would like to say a big thank you to Mark Drury from Qualatex who came in last week to show us how to make some fun wedding decorations that you could take selfies with! It’s very “of the moment” and would do well at wedding receptions. If you’ve not seen the video, click here to see it!

We’ve got another bank holiday on the 1st of May, this means we are closed but business is back to normal on Tuesday.

A supportive industry

Did anyone see the London Marathon? There was one guy who collapsed 150 metres away from the finish line after running 26 miles! His legs turned to jelly and he just couldn’t walk anymore. People came to his aid however and helped him across the finish line and this got Greg thinking about support.

We are very lucky in the UK balloon industry to have not one but two industry bodies in the form of NABAS and BAPIA. If you are a member, you have access to their private Facebook groups and can ask questions of other balloon decorators and retailers. Because they are closed groups, you can talk about how to price balloons or how to deal with a tricky customer without it being shown to the world. People usually respond to your questions instantly on there as well so it’s well worth joining either NABAS or BAPIA. You also get the added bonus of your public liability insurance is included in membership, and you won’t get a cheaper deal on insurance anywhere else!

Speaking of BAPIA, John Bowler and Mike Hurst did a training webinar recently where Mike showed how to make a giant number from Quicklinks. Mike pre-recorded a video and screened it live while Mike and John answered questions of people who were watching. We think this type of online training is the future for this industry. You can’t replace face-to-face training for interaction with the trainer and networking with other balloon decorators, but online training is so accessible and people don’t have to take time out of running their business. So this is going to be our “Question of the Week” would you be interested in online training and if so, how much would you pay?

Wedding season is almost upon us!

We’ve got a lot of new products for the upcoming wedding season, we’ve got these bride and groom foil balloons from Amscan that you can make hold hands, and we’ve got a couple of engagement ring balloons. One says “I do” and the other says “happily ever after”.

We’ve also got these Orbz balloons, one has a spring theme and there is a clear Orbz with a confetti theme on it which is proving to be a popular theme for wedding balloons. There is also this heart foil happy ever after and round foil best day ever!

Greg has a little tip for creating a wedding style bow out of organza, and it’s simple. All you do is scrunch the organza together and tie a piece of ribbon round the centre, simple!

Holographic and banners

Now we inflated this happy birthday balloon because the image on the website does not do it justice. It’s the sparkly holographic that is also carried through to these it’s a boy, it’s a girl. Oaktree have brought out some more of their range of banners, we have Happy Birthday Mum, Boy, Daughter and Teenager. These are great for those occasions when you don’t have a milestone birthday but still want to decorate! We also have this SALE banner that is perfect for a shop announcing a sale!

Father’s day

The next big thing before Halloween is Father’s Day and we have a whole wealth of balloons including this massive Father’s Day balloon with “love you dad” and “you’re the best” on it. There are some funky 18 inch foil balloons such as this tape measure shaped balloon and this shirt and tie balloon from Kaleidoscope. We have loads of balloons so take a look at our selection now. We are mentioning it because people have started buying it.

No minimum order

Someone phoned up this week and asked what our minimum order was, and we don’t have one! We did this intentionally as it frustrated Greg when he started in the balloon industry that you had to buy a case quantity of balloons or place a £50 order. We also cater for lower quantity orders by offering 1st and 2nd class delivery options from as little as £1.50.

Rob

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