It’s no secret we like using balloons to decorate, and this DIY balloon wall we made for our Galentine’s Day waffle bar has probably been our favorite yet.
Like all our DIY’s, this one is pretty easy. We’re kinda lazy like that. We want the biggest bang with the smallest amount of energy output. It is slightly time intensive, but preparations can be made in small chunks prior to your event.
The installation of a balloon wall is the hardest part. While the structure itself isn’t heavy, you will want it to stay in place on the wall, which will require nails or heavy duty tape, which may cause some damage to the wall. Ideally, you could do this on a wall that you wouldn’t mind getting slightly damaged, but what’s a little spackle and paint for the sake of creativity? (AJ, if you’re reading this, the wall is totally fine. Or at least it will be. It’s fiiiine. Don’t worry! 😬)
First, you’ll want to decide on the color scheme for your DIY balloon wall. Since ours was for Galentine’s Day, we went with a variety of pinks, red, white and these fun confetti balloons. Having different colors and sizes will bring texture and visual interest to your balloon wall.
To make a DIY Balloon Wall you will need:
- Low Temp Glue Gun (It’s important you use a low temp one. A regular glue gun will be too hot and the balloons will pop.)
- 11″ Latex Balloons
- 9″ Latex Balloons
- 5″ Latex Balloons
- Confetti Balloons
- Foam Board
- Gorilla Tape
- Hand Pump to inflate balloons- trust us, you do not want to blow all these up yourself!
- Tassels
- Greens or flowers
How to make a DIY Balloon Wall:
- Inflate about 10 balloons of each size. It’s so much easier to have a stockpile of balloons ready to go so you can just glue as you go instead of stopping to inflate balloons.
- Create the shape you want for your balloon wall using the foam board and attach to the wall using heavy duty tape. You could also use nails. We wanted a very delineated rectangle to frame the area above our waffle bar. Letters or numbers could be fun too, depending on the party theme. You can see that I didn’t completely cover the area with foam board and just made a general outline. You will be able to use the balloons to fill in the area without ruining the wall, so if you don’t have enough foam board, no problem!
- Start gluing balloons to the foam board. Our best tip is to start with the biggest ones first. Space them out and make sure to alternate colors.
- When the space is filled about 1/3 with the largest balloons, go to the next size down. Work in your middle size balloons, making sure to pay attention to color. We didn’t care about the same color being close together, as long as they varied in size. We wanted the pattern to appear random, but with some thought paid to color and size spacing.
- As you glue, you can either glue them to the foam board, or to adjoining balloons. The more balloons you add, the less foam board you will see, which is the idea. Once the majority of the foam board is covered, you can start layering in other balloons on top. Since you are using low temp glue, you can glue directly onto the balloons.
- Now work in the smallest balloons. We chose to do the boldest color, red, in the smallest size. Neither of us are too crazy about red (Anyone else feel like you either love or hate red?), but we knew we needed little hints of red. It was Galentine’s Day, after all.
- At this point, you can be finished. Originally, this was where we planned to stop. Then, I happened to come across these gold tassels leftover from another project and they looked perfect in between the balloons. We also had some flowers leftover from some arrangements we had made for the feast and decided to see how they looked. Roses were a little too much for this space, but the eucalyptus leaves were the perfect element to add. You will have to play around and see what you like depending on the colors and shape of your balloon wall.
Tips for your DIY Balloon Wall:
- Balloons can be inflated in advance and stored in garbage bags. Inflating the balloons can be the most tedious part of the process and having them ready to go is key, especially if you will be in a time crunch the day of your event.
- Take a step back. Once you have a general outline and most everything filled in, go do something else for a half hour. Seeing it with fresh eyes will help you see where you want to add more balloons and/or extras like tassels, flowers or greens. You may find that you don’t want to add anything!
- Construct the balloon wall in an area where it can double as a photo backdrop. The textures and colors make a gorgeous background!
Need another idea? Check out our pallet wall photo backdrop!
If you’re looking for a balloon garland, we love this tutorial from Paisley + Sparrow!
I love this so much! recreating it for my baby shower and adding roses instead of the gold!
Ohhh, that sounds pretty! Just don’t forget to trim the thorns!!
Do you think this would hold on a white bed sheet? Need to do something like this for a bachelorette party but I’m traveling with all my supplies
I’m not sure! I think if the sheet was taught (I don’t think I spelled that right on the wall, hopefully you know what I mean!) on the wall, I think it would work. I would just worry that the sheet would sag. I’d love to know if this works!
How did you get the foam boards to stay together? And how did you hang them on the wall?
I used a heavy duty duct tape to attach the boards to the walls. If you’re attaching it to a wall in your home, I’d recommend tacks or nails instead. The tape took a good amount of paint off the walls- whoops! The boards don’t need to stay together. If you just make a rough outline of the space you want to fill, that will give it a secure enough base to build the balloons onto. The boards will be covered by balloons, so it won’t matter what they look like.
Tape she said
Where to get the foam boards from and what sizes? The above link takes us to soem other product..
Updated the links! Thank you for brining that to our attention!
I like this idea, but I need a way to keep the balloons full! Is there something to put inside the balloons so they don’t deflate? Mine always start deflating in an hour or so. What can I do?
Hi Marcia, I have always used a balloon pump when creating balloon walls or garlands and never had issues with them deflating. In fact, I had this one pictured above on the wall for almost a month! I hope that helps!
May I asks does the glue come off the board or will it damage it? We have letters that we will start to rent out but just want to be sure it is safe to remove and redo over again