What You Should Know Before Buying Balloons at Party City

Last Fall, I was employed at the party supply store known as Party City. Something that shouldn’t be as big as a surprise as it may feel is that the majority of Party City’s business is in balloon sales; except during October because of Halloween. Because of this, I thought I would take some time to share some helpful tips to make your future balloon purchasing more pleasant.

Although some of these tips may specifically relate to Party City, many of these balloon tips will be applicable to almost any store that sells balloons.

1.      Balloon Basics

Primarily, there are two types of balloons that you can get at Party City: Latex and Foil/mylar balloons. There are several differences between the two balloons.

• Latex Balloons

  • Last about 12 hours after inflation

    Globe like balloons that people typically associate with the word “balloon.”

  • Come in a greater variety of colors.

  • Are Able to be used in a balloon release.

  • Cheaper (starting at $1.45 per balloon)

• Foil Balloons

  •  Last for at least 3-5 days

  • Come in a variety of shapes.

  • Not able to be used in a balloon release (the foil can do serious damage to power lines)

  • More expensive (starting at $2.50 per balloon)

2.      High Float is Worth It

If you are purchasing latex balloons, the employee should ask you if you would like to add high float to the balloons. High Float is a gel that is added and coats the inside of the balloons to extend the helium life inside the balloons. Employees are advised to say that it will make latex balloons stay afloat for up to 24 hours. However, in ideal conditions, it should stay aloft significantly longer. I ran a personal experiment and found that the balloons stayed aloft for almost a week.

3.      Do Not Walk In on Saturdays and Expect Your Balloons to be Blown Up Immediately

I can not stress this enough, do not walk in on a Saturday expecting to get balloons filled up in any timely manner. Do not get angry if there is a wait for your balloons to be filled. Every Party City location, on average, will blow up thousands of balloons every Saturday. Between pre-orders and online orders (which take precedent over walk ins), the wait for a walk-in order could take up to two hours. Many locations will have an employee come in hours early to get the orders started, but that mostly only covers the orders that are due at opening. Fridays are also bad, but not as bad as Saturdays.

4.      You Can Always Create a Balloon Order Ahead of Time.

How do you avoid waiting for balloons to be inflated on a Saturday? Make your order ahead of time. In fact, you don’t need a lot of balloons to qualify an order. Place an order ahead of time either in person or online. It creates a less stressful situation for the employees and customers.

5.      Every Balloon on the Back Wall Has a Code Number and/or Letters (USE THEM)

I can’t tell you the number times I had a customer come up to me and say I want the Happy Birthday balloon, only to become frustrated that I had no idea which balloons they were talking about. There are a myriad of balloons for birthdays, weddings, engagements, and baby showers. Pointing and saying “that one” doesn’t help. Each balloon has a code, just say I would like the balloon with (CODE) and maybe describe it, because sometimes balloons get put in the wrong spot.

Foil Balloons can be re-inflated and are the best bang for your buck in regards to longevity.

6.      Foil Balloons Can Be Re-inflated

This was the first mind blowing thing I learned on the job. As long as the balloons are not damaged, after the helium runs out, foil balloons can be re-inflated (with a modest inflation fee) and used again. There was a family during my first week that reuses the same balloons every year.

7.      Not All Balloons Float

Another first week experience. In general, the smaller the balloon, the less likely it is to float. So if you are hosting an event and you think that you can save some money by buying five or nine inch balloons, I have some bad news for you; they’re not going to float! The nine inch balloons can float for a very limited amount of time, but they will always look deflated.

8.      Balloon Delivery at Party City is Operated through a Partnership with Outside Parties.

Yes, balloon delivery is available. However, in my experience, it was incredibly inconsistent. This is likely the only negative thing that I will publicly say about Party City and its not even Party City’s fault. At our location, we were partnered with Door Dash for our balloon orders. Over half the time, there was some issue with the delivery. The driver may have just never shown up, the driver would only deliver part of the order (God knows where the rest of it went), the driver would take the balloons and then a half hour later just return the balloons to us with no explanation). It’s insane. I realize that not everyone wants to or has the time to pick up their balloons. All I would say is that if you need balloons for a specific event and time, you might be best served picking them up yourself.

9.      Balloon Bags are Worth the Dollar

Party City sells giant bags to transport balloons in. They can fit up to a dozen latex balloons and are worth the investment. Trust me.

10.  If You Order Balloons to be Delivered Online, Your Order Could Be Fulfilled at a Different Store Than You Think

This might be super specific to a situation I had to deal with as a lead on duty, but if you order balloons to be delivered online, your order could be filled by a store other than the one you might think received the order. Once I had a series of customers who kept calling my store, and then later in person, irate that their balloons had not been delivered. We never had the order, we didn’t fulfill the order, we couldn’t look up the order. Do I know where the balloons were supposed to come from? No. Can we check their order in the system? Also no, the computer systems only allow us to see orders for our store, we are unable to check other stores. Don’t be a dick. Don’t be a bitch. If the balloons are that important, pick them up in person, don’t rely on a delivery driver (see #8).

If you are planning on doing a balloon release, purchase or order latex balloons. If you tell an employee that you are planning a balloon release and then order foil/mylar balloons the employee should inform you that the company is not allowed to sell foil balloons for a balloon release due to damages to electrical lines. (In my opinion, any balloon release is usually bad for the environment, but I digress.)

11.  You Can Bring Your Own Balloons In to Be Filled, But…

So this is something else that many would not expect, yes, you can bring in your own balloons to be filled. You can even bring them in to be filled later as part of an order. Here’s the catch (besides having to pay for an inflation fee), Party City cannot ensure that your balloons will fill up or be filled up properly without popping. Many people will bring in cheap balloons ordered off of Amazon. Unsurprisingly, many of these balloons (including foil balloons) are a cheaper quality and will burst. I recommend, bringing in extra balloons of the ones you want blown up, just in case your balloons burst during inflation.

12.  Balloon Weights Aren’t a Scam, But Feel Like It

Final question: Would you like a balloon weight? I can’t tell you the number of times I asked that question and then gestured to the  row of multi-colored small weights lining the wall behind me. Do they work? Sure, but so does tying the balloons to literally anything else heavier than the balloons. A Teddy bear works. A frying pan works. A Coffee Mug works. Just something to keep in mind.

13.  Blowing Up Balloons Takes Time

This should seem like a no brainer and yet here I am. The number of verbally abusive customers who order a dozen (or more) balloons and then decide to berate the employees because it’s “taking too long.” Balloons don’t just magically inflate. This is doubly important if you give an employee a large character to blow up. I’m talking about those Spidermen and Olafs that glide across the floor. Not only do the employees have to blow those balloons up piece by piece, but they have to assemble them as well. This was one of my least favorite things to do (and I had to clean the bathrooms after shoplifters would shove packing materials down the toilet in an attempt to hide the evidence).

14.  Confetti Balloons Sound Great in Concept, But Fail in Practicality

Everyone sees the packaging for confetti balloons and is instantly drawn in. There is no other balloon that employees hate more than these balloons. On average, one out of every three to four balloons will burst covering said employee and the surrounding area in a sea of confetti that said employee then must clean up. Beyond that, the confetti in these balloons tends to rest on the bottom, defeating the purpose of the balloon in my opinion. Get them if you want, but I never would.

And that’s about it. I hope that this will help you in your future balloon purchases. If you were expecting some sort of salacious ending, you’re not going to get one. The company was okay. My co-workers were fine (there were a few really good ones). And the customers…well…that’s a story for another time.