Frog Prince Paperie & Tikkido got together and dreamed up TONS of super creative Balloon Themed Party Ideas! (And if you’re on the hunt for even more, here’s a train themed party with great balloon centerpiece and decor ideas too.) It’s summer right now, so even if you don’t have a birthday to celebrate, all the fun activities from this party might just inspired you to go play outside!

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• Balloon obstacle course with hurdles, a floating tunnel and balloon forest
• Awesome rainbow balloon hat!
• Twisted balloon sculptures that touched the sky!
• Sugar cookie hot air balloons & fluffy meringue clouds
  
• Custom balloon coloring pages

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Paula…

There is a simple, undeniable joy to balloons.  A bit of latex, string, some helium- such simple, ordinary things- but put them together and you have childhood magic, and the perfect inspiration for 3-year-old Brady’s birthday.

The party was held in a park, where the balloons could fly high and the children had plenty of space to run.  With the sky as the ceiling, there was no need to limit ourselves to a standard dessert table backdrop.  Instead, we wanted to draw the eye high, and take advantage of the beautiful outdoor setting and our Balloons theme.  Four large, 36″ balloons at the corners of the dessert table floated high in the air, and fabric bunting cris-crossed between the balloons, creating a festive, simple, sky-high cover for the table.

Lunches were served in simple kraft-brown boxes, tied with more of the same fabrics, cut into ribbon strips.  The children flipped over this simple presentation, which turned a simple lunch into an exciting present for each child.  Lunches were served on a pint-sized table, easily created by simply resting a round folding table on top of cinderblocks, rather than unfolding the legs.  The guests sat on round pillows on the grass–and of course, the pillows were covered in more of the fabrics used throughout the party and tufted in the center with a balloon-shaped button.

The food itself was very simple.  Three year olds don’t ask for a lot!  Grilled cheese sandwiches (made with round homemade bagels, to keep with the repetition of round, circle shapes), balloon “strings” (shredded carrots), and water.  Simple, easy, delicious, and exactly what the birthday boy wanted.

For dessert, we had a lot of fun playing with the light-as-air balloon theme.  Homemade meringues, piped into cloud shapes and dusted with silvery blue luster dust.  Cupcakes topped with vibrant icing to match the party colors and colorful sprinkles, flying custom balloons printables.  Grapes, nature’s perfect balloon-shaped treat (and the favorite item on the table with the three year olds!).  Sugar cookies in sparkling designs made to match the printable collection that inspired the entire party.  Sky parfaits–so easy and dramatic, but so simple with layered blue jello and cool whip.

Twisted balloon sculptures in the decor and as fun party hats really added to the fun.  It’s easy to find true artists to hire with a simple google search, but I found fabulous tutorials on YouTube, and for a few dollars of balloons, made some children very, very happy, and created some really fun party decor elements.

For activities, we created a balloon obstacle course- a balloon tunnel, hurdles, a floating tunnel, and balloon forest.  The perfect thing to keep busy three-year-olds happy and burning off energy!  But you know what their favorite activity of all was?  Popping all the balloons that made up the course!  They were also utterly enchanted with taking turns holding the bunch of big balloons and running around the park.  What a lovely reminder that it’s the simple things that are the most successful at a party!

The favors were my favorite element.  The bunches of lollipop balloons came from the local Party City.  Already perfect for the theme, but I wanted to add a little something extra.  I simply took a picture of the birthday boy, printed out copies of that photo, and used a pair of sharp scissors to cut away the background.  The customized printable thank-you tags were then glued in mini-Brady’s hand, creating a whimsical, personalized, perfect favor for the little guests.