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NYE Balloon Drop with Glitter Balloons

With both my kids birthdays in December, hosting a holiday party is not something that comes easy – so we’ve taken to hosting NYE for the past 5 years. It is my favorite party we host every year. We normally invite a handful of our dearest friends, do something fun for dinner (this year its fondue!), drink homemade eggnog, and celebrate a balloon drop countdown at midnight east coast time (which is 9 pm where we live). It ends up being the perfect night for our friends with kids, everyone loves it, and everyone is home in bed by 11. ;)

NYE Glitter Balloon DropHow to do a balloon drop

Hosting a balloon drop in our living room gets rave reviews from the kids and the adults alike. Last year we did it along with these confetti cannon blasters which were also super fun. Over the years I’ve learned a few tricks on how to do a balloon drop the right way. I’m partnering with Balloon Time today to share my tips for NYE balloon fun.

How to do a NYE balloon drop at home.

Glitter Balloon Drop

The first step in making sure your balloon drop is legit is to start with the right bag. After trying out a lot of the options this one is my favorite for big events – think weddings or huge birthday parties. This one is a good one for a home-based NYE party.

The trick to making a balloon drop really look great is to have different levels of balloons fall at the same time. If you pull the bag open and they all drop at once, it is a bit melodramatic.

To make ours really magical we include about 1/2 the balloons that are blown up by air and will immediately fall to the ground, about 1/4 that are freshly blown up with helium and will float upwards and about 1/4 that are about a day old helium and will float at about face level. It makes for a balloon drop that is pretty to look at and is super fun to be found in the middle of.

Glitter Balloons

NYE Glitter Balloons

Glitter Balloons

I also like to include something beyond just the basic balloons in our drops. Adding in a couple shapes and different size balloons add a great spunk to the drop. For NYE we made a set of glittered 2016 balloons to include. These balloons are fun on their own as well, in case your not planning a balloon drop – although you definitely should, you probably need to reconsider if you are not planning one.

Make the 2016 glitter balloons to have in your drop, or to just have sitting out around the party room to welcome in the new year.

The Best Balloon Drop Tips & Tricks.

Glitter balloons

Having a balloon drop that has different levels of helium in the balloons is a great reason to have your own helium tank at home. We use our Balloon Time helium tank for nearly all of our parties and shoots. It is handy to have a helium tank when planning balloon drops and other fun balloon shenanigans at home.

Glitter Balloons

To make the glitter 2016 balloons you will need:

How to do a balloon drop

Glitter balloons for NYE

Here is how I made these festive fun NYE Glitter Balloons

  1. Start by using your finger or a paintbrush to apply the glue lightly onto the balloons in the shape of a number (I quickly learned my finger was the best way to do this).
  2. Sprinkle the glitter over the glue and allow to dry.

Hang the glittered NYE balloons around the room, stick them into the balloon drop and watch your NYE become the most magical night of the year.

PS. A disco ball headband to wear on NYE.

This post is done in partnership with Balloon Time. Thanks for supporting the partners that keep this blogging party going!

(Photography ©A Subtle Revelry by Erin Holland).

2 Comments

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  1. This is such a fun idea! I have a really dumb question . . when you are putting the balloons in a bag, you just fill them with air and not helium since you want them to drop, right? I know, sounds really stupid, but just wanted to make sure!

    • Raena, Not a silly question at all. We actually do a mixture. Some with air, some with helium that way when the drop – some of the balloon will drop to the floor and some will stay in the air. It’s a fun variation that goes over well. Hope that helps!

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