A Valentines Tale - world's fastest balloon drop

So it's Valentines Day and I am on my way out of the city, having finished my last job at 11.30am. The mobile phone rings. "I am calling on behalf of Rod Stewart. Mr Stewart has just remembered it is Valentines Day and would like 2,000 red and white balloons to drop on the audience at tonight's concert. Can you get it all done and finished by 6pm tonight." "Are you fu#*%ng joking" was my response. Further words were exchanged between myself and the caller. Anyway I agreed to do it.

I called Alicia at the office and then called Wendy and Ian to come in to the office ASAP. We assembled the equipment, sourced another 600 balloons and arrived back at the Entertainment Centre just before 1pm. 5 hours to go. 2,000 balloons and 4 MAD balloonies. We got stuck in and went like the clappers.


Here is 'Mr Stewart' doing his sound check while we are rigging the nets. Don't you love the way people address stars using their formal name....


Nets in ceiling and job completed by 5pm. Yes indeed, we were 1 hour ahead of schedule. Absolutely sensational effort by my MAD team of Ian, Alicia and Wendy. A big thanks to Maureen Egan of Balloon Elegance who came back to the Ent. Centre to release the balloons with me at 10pm.

To see some of these images you can check out the MAD Balloons facebook page.

A Tropical Carnival

We have all heard that "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" - but where does the watermelon come in...???

The sculptured fruit were on top of the covered walkway running through the company campus. 5000 people, 3 stages and large areas - how can balloons assist in creating the theme??

Well the 3mtr pineapple and 2.5mtr watermelon were a great start. Then we added 100 x 260Q's in tropical colours to the outdoor stair rails on each building. As well as providing all around colour, the "260Q explosions" highlighted the 'drummers' that were appearing on the balconies later in the evening.

A fantastic job to win. With 5 staff members on site we completed the brief on time and on budget...and the client was ecstatic.

"I love it when a plan comes together!"

Promoting Your Brand - with balloons!!

The inaugural Big Bash League in Australia and each team was focussed on building their brand...as well as trying to win a few games. We were contacted by the Sydney Sixers, and we came up with the following ideas for their home games at the SCG.

We used the majestic magenta Qualatex Numbers to create some bunches for the 'VIP/corporate partners' boxes.


After entering through our very large arch the VIP guests simply followed the pink carpet to their destination.

The finishing touch for the arch was to have the 6ers logo specially printed on the 'top' of half of the balloons in the arch.

...also about 10,000 people walked past the arch on their way to their seats at each game, so the printing on the balloons was big value for money.


The Sydney Sixers made it to the final of the Big Bash League. I reckon it must have been the sensational branding provided by MAD Balloons!!!

Happy Australia Day - 26th Jan.

Happy Australia Day Everyone.

Just thought I would add my own special touch of Australia Day to the mix.

This was a design we did for one of our loyal clubs. The brief - "show me something Australian and something new...and have it in the airlock in two days."
No problems.....

As you can see I love to mix and match with the vast array of long lasting Qualatex foils at our disposal. Tapers, stars and numbers in this one.

This design may make the cut in my WBC class in 7 weeks!!!!

The Year of the Dragon

Happy Chinese New Year. We did this great dragon entry design recently for a new Chinese restaurant - combining the year of the dragon and their opening...

if you look closely, I think you can see this guy smiling for the camera...


... of course, not all dragons are happy ones. Here I am putting the finishing touches on this fierce guy out in Western Sydney.

The large dragon head was the focal piece for the stage activities and prize giveaways at a large club.

So what type of dragon do you want....

Have a great 2012 - the year of the Dragon!

Happy Valentines Day 2012

Yesterday marked 1 month to go until Valentines day! That special day each year for young lovers, and the young at heart!

Whether you are a venue looking for some ideas to promote the romantic dinners with a 'heartfelt' entry...


or a long lasting, loving column!














Or you want to add some BIG hearts to your space
















You can make it obvious to everyone what your intentions are by dressing up your sexy shop!


MAD Balloons has endless ideas for Valentines day - whatever you want to do. We are the promotion specialists and our designs are long lasting. Call us now to get the most out of Valentines Day. It is never too early, but it can be too late.

Welcome to your Brand New Office

What do you do to welcome your staff to their brand new offices?

You call MAD Balloons for some sensational decorations.

Imagine how special each staff member would have felt walking through the doorway under the fantastic arch.
Once in they get their name badge and walk into the showroom for a welcome morning tea. As you can see it was a beautiful day and the large balloon bunches set the room off in a big way.



As well as some great branding and some awesome memorabilia the offices were brand spanking new. They did need just a little colour though...

...fret not as we had a variety of bunches through the different floors to welcome the new staff to their new desks.
Can you purchase high staff morale? I reckon you can. Call MAD Balloons for your dose of high staff morale.

This had to be ready by 7am. The full MAD team arrived on site just before 5am, and we left the site at 6.40am job done! Call us for your impossibly early installation, and we will make it happen.

it's all about the racing....

My last post was about the V8 supercars in Sydney. Well there were lots of people wanting to get on the bandwagon and use the theme for all sorts of events.

My friends at Medibank were holding a conference and used the racing theme for their event. First was a walkunder squiggly arch with racing balloons and ribbons. Almost as colourful as the start of the actual V8 race.
Then are the racing lights with real blinking lights inside. two at the front of the room.



Then finish the effect with our personalised racing masterbows on the delegates tables. A bit of visual interest without getting in the way of the presenters. We can theme these for any occasion.

V8 supercars in Sydney

The first week in December signals the last V8 race of the season and Homebush is the location. With the drivers championship on a knife edge, big crowds were expected.

My friends at the Novotel S.O.P are right in the thick of the action and wanted something with big impact and little price tag. It also needed to last the weekend.

So chequered flag pillar wrap and large 2' helium arch over the entry to the restaurant ticked all the boxes. Love my work!!

Stage Displays - class of 2011

At this time of year, there are a lot of graduation ceremonies that MAD balloons is asked to do. A regular question is how to create a stage display that is unique to the class of the year, but that will not get in anyones way, or be an obstacle on the stage. You can see what our answer is!

Using large number foil balloons as the focus and combining it with another design.
We can enclose the 2011 in arches...

or we can elevate the 2011 with some starpoints...



So it doesn't matter if the stage is large or small. The creative use of the many balloons we have available means that we can transform any size stage with a design that will not only look sensational in the photos, but will live on in everyones memory long after the event.

Pillar Wraps - Transform a Room

My thanks to Eduardo Seiti Yoshikawa CBA of ESBD in Sao Paulo Brazil. Eduardo developed the EaSY (named after himself...of course)System for wrapping pillars and columns. It is so simple, relatively quick to install and as you can see it can transform a space completely.



This pale blue and white was for a 16th Birthday. A fabulous cake table that will look sensational in the pictures.

And this one done at the Love Summit held in Sydney recently.

Where have you been????

Apologies to those who check into the MAD Balloons Blog regularly. Where have I been and why haven't I been blogging? To answer your questions please see the images below.

While Amy and jacob were Parasailing....


I was sipping on a coconut cocktail....


We all had a lovely time in Fiji!


Then there was the small matter of a birthday....


While I cannot reveal the age of the person in question, I can say that an enjoyable evening was spent with close family and friends....


enjoying the views of Sydney Harbour...and its surrounds!

NOT Nagini

...so we are driving to a job site and Kim yells out "Oh My Goodness, is that a reeeeal snake?" I look out the window and see this friendly guy poking his head up on Kim's door window. I was driving at about 80km/h so he was hanging onto the side of the van for all he was worth.
In answer to Kim's question I replied,"not sure, let's slide the window down to have a better look, and see if he IS a real snake...."

...by the time we arrived at Parramatta RSL the ringing in my ears had stopped and my hearing had returned to normal.
Kim states that she is not getting out of the van, so it is left to me to calm the savage beast. I grabbed out scaly friend off the van. If he turned and tried to attack me, this would indicate he was venomous. My plan was to drop him and run. Thankfully my highly flawed plan was not put to the test.

He seemed to be about 1.6mtrs long, but quite harmless. I wanted to catch him though just to make sure. I was channeling Steve Irwin, Harry Butler, Bear Grylls, The Leyland Brothers AND Indiana Jones, as I reached out and grabbed his head.
Don' try this at home. Note Kim's (still in van) facial expression - priceless.

And then of course we have the celebrity kiss.

our friendly snake was then released into Parramatta Park.

So next time you are in the Parramatta Park, having a picnic and you see something moving through the grass........

love yout work.

Footy Finals Fever 2011

Another season has past and the mighty Wests Tigers have made it to the final 8 again.

So my friends at Wests Ashfield want the club decked out in Tigers colours - different from last year of course.

So we start with the foyer.
Something that will WOW the members as they enter the club. OK, so let's do two columns and huge entry frame over the stairs. This will get the fans in for the game on Friday!


I also got to sell my brand new taper columns. Free standing, long lasting taper design with large helium star on top with the Tigers logo to top it off. These were placed throughout the level 1 foyer and the lounge.





Then we added some garland to highlight the signage, congratulating the team on making the finals again in 2011.


This is a close up of the sign that you could see from the entry foyer. Half way up the stairs we have a personalised square pack wall...

...or if you prefer the escalators, you won't miss out on the fun either.

Of course if the team go all the way to the big one, the Grand Final, we will get to have lots more fun. Go the Tigers!!