Just sharing a few....

That first one made me go "ah... oh" in a whisper like a little kid!

Nice stuff Glenda! I love Thelma and Twistina's stuff.....

Metina - You are a powerhouse - already weaving!!!

Krystal - Love the beer mug and the uber cute heart wand! perfect pearl bubbles are something I haven't quite mastered!

Ashley - Love the U cat-ipede thing!! Cool!

You are all bad influences!! ha ha ha ha! Ready to break out my balloons again. Mine have been ravaged by the kids! They love them!!! I get so cranky about them using them knowing they average 10 to 50 cents a piece! Facepainting is cheaper per child for sure. And most kids don't come back asking for a new one or another after they get them!!!!!

WyndyO wrote:

You are all bad influences!! ha ha ha ha! Ready to break out my balloons again. Mine have been ravaged by the kids! They love them!!! I get so cranky about them using them knowing they average 10 to 50 cents a piece! Facepainting is cheaper per child for sure. And most kids don't come back asking for a new one or another after they get them!!!!!

Whoa! 10-50 cents EACH??

If you're buying an average bag of Qualatex(100 count) then they cost .05 cents a piece. The expensive ones(like the agates) are something that I only use once in a while, not with every kid! The Betallatex ones(which are 50 count to a bag) cost about .05 each... actually they cost .053, so a fraction over 5 cents... The 350's by Qualatex are .07, almost .08 cents each... so that's a little closer to your estimate but still not quite 10 cents a piece.

So, if you're doing a 3 balloon piece(what I typically make) then you're spending about .15 cents per kid. Say that you do about 15 sculptures in a one hour party and you've spent $6.75 for the party. If you charged $80, then you've still done pretty well for yourself!

Now, that's not including ANY of the other costs... like a pump, gas, sharpies, all that good stuff.. And it isn't as cheap as face painting.. but it's still not a big expense!

The cheapest balloons that I have found on line are from http://www.larocks.com/balloon/balloons.htm If you order over 200.00 worth of balloons there is free shipping and it is the closest thing to whole sale that I have found over the internet.

It actually says $150 for free shipping. Have you ever ordered from them before? There prices are slightly cheaper than Tmyers and free shipping would be nice. But, I have ordered balloons from an outfit in Florida that had free shipping and I got what I paid for. They took forever to ship and didn't have half the stuff in stock. When I got my order they had sustititued Qualatex for many of the Betallatex I had ordered. I wasn't happy.

I've heard good things about Larocks. I haven't ordered from them myself as they never answered my email about shipping costs to Canada and there's a place over in Detroit that sells them for about the same price... so I drive over there to get my balloons.

We have a major distributor here that is a little cheaper but no shipping with me picking it up.. I have heard allot of balloon twisters and clown that order from larocks. I have not heard anything bad from anyone that buys through them.

Good to know. Just placed a large order with Tmyers two days ago, but will try them for the next order.

Megan in SLC wrote:We have a major distributor here that is a little cheaper but no shipping with me picking it up.. I have heard allot of balloon twisters and clown that order from larocks. I have not heard anything bad from anyone that buys through them.

I think you all just made my day I was ordering from Silly Farm, i hope i'll have the same customer servic...gonna order soon for the festivals and summer whoot whoot...