HELP! Please, need a kit

Hey all, I have been asked to do face painting and Balloons at a party in January. I did some twisting in High school, but that was a while ago. I feel a little "lost" when it comes to supplies. I don't want to make the mistake of buying wal-mart quality balloons. Is anyone interested in putting together a kit from their supplies. Buying in smaller quantity is so hard, and I'm not sure I want to start offering balloons as a regular thing yet. Any advice on what are essentials would be awesome. I'm thinking around $50-75. Do you think that could get me going? Anyway, feel free to post or PM, I need enough for 10-15 kids at the event, but double so I can practice.

Anyway, thanks!

Go to larocks.com or tmeyers.com and order an assorted bag of 260q (260 is the size, Qualatex is the brand) to start you off, as well as a purple and black (the larger dul-action) hand pump. It will cost you less with shipping than someone putting one together for you. I would stay away from metallics to begin with, and probably neons too (if you make a mistake with the neopns, it shows in the color, and metallics are harder to blow up, and less forgiving with mistakes I've found). Have fun!

Oh goodness dear, get a $5.00 red pump and a couple assorted bags of qualatex 260s.... shouldn't be more than $20 or $30. Get yourself onto www.balloon-animals.com for a bit and you'll do fine for just a once or twice thing, especially if you've done it before. You could probably go through one 100 ct bag with practice, and then another one will most likely get you through a party unless you are doing too many the same colour for a particular design.

Longer term, I buy my colours individually because I go through certain colours much more quickly than others. Made myself a balloon apron/bag to hold all the colours sorted with same colours together and nozzles up.

Thanks guys! I had no idea that ballooning is so affordable. I have gotten used to $300 face paint bills (oh fun!) so I thought ballooning would be comparable, but happily not so!

you have to refill WAY more often, but getting started is very affordable

I just received a $450 balloon order But I hadn't ordered since May; I like to stock up about twice a year

But yea, to start off, a red pump and a couple bags of Asst 260's seem like the best bet!

And buy Qualatex to start. Easy for beginners. Some assorted bags are horrible! The kits that you find at a book store or walmart have the worst balloons I've ever seen and cheapy cheap pumps.

I teach so I have lots of supplies to put a kit together. I can make one for you with anything you like including a brand new Qualatex pump. Since you've twisted before, you know you probably will need more red and black balloons than orange and yellow for example. PM me.

Good luck with the gig!

http://www.btydirect.com/about.html is where i get mine and shipping is fast. i have compared to the others and to me these are cheaper.

I would not reccommend getting the Traditional Assortment for learning. I find that the transparent colors are thinner, and when learning new twists, you will be popping a lot. I would get the Carnival Assortment.