Q. What do you do with balloons?
A. Well, I don't just crank out balloon after balloon silently twisting along until all the kids are latex equipped.
Q. No?
A. No! I try and make receiving one of my balloons as entertaining as possible.



Q. How do you do that?
A. When I make a poodle for example, I'll have the kid "help" me to inflate the tip of the tail by blowing on it.

(Stretch tail end then squeeze air through to tail as child blows). The effect is that the kid just blew up the tail of the poodle by blowing on it birthday candle style!
Another thing I'll do is to tell funny clown ideas about the balloon I'm making as I make it.



Q. What's funny clown ideas?
A. Think clown character...got it? You take your clown character and come up with things about the balloon that only your character could. My character, Pom Pom, is really very serious about the silliest things. I'll make a weenie dog, (long and skinny), I'll say ,"It's like a hot dog without the buns...no here they are right here!" I'll continue with: "he's called a weenie dog, if you still have him at Halloween you'll have a Halloweenie Dog!"



Q. Do you do something like that for every balloon animal?
A. Yes I do. It's not the same lame animal joke either. Sometimes I'll be making a hat for a child, I'll say, "I just gotta measure your head, I'll take the balloon and act as if I'm fitting it to the kid's head. Then I'll step back and say, "Size 15! Same size as my feet! (or) Same size as my mom's underwear!"



Q. Anything else?
A. Just go with the flow. Get into your clown character. Say what POPS into your head.



Q. What do you say when a balloon pops?
A. Well that just never happens! haha.
I have a few things I'll say when a balloon pops. "It must be a Firestone!" is something current to use. "Bad balloon, you're fired!" is funny to say. Look serious but not mad, that's scary for kids. There are lots more ideas in my, "Tips and Tricks"...



Q. What about long balloon lines and lots of kids at a party?
A. Cheater cheater pants on fire, that's two questions. I'll answer the second one first. Lots of kids at the party, Hmmm... Hopefully you found this out in advance and came prepared. Besides just having enough balloons on hand I mean. See kids get real antsy waiting on their balloon. They think they're never going to get one! So when I talk to the parents I make sure to ask, "How many kids are going to be at the party?" I tell them there is no difference in price I just need to know so that if there are going to be many many kids attending, then I can pre-inflate some balloons.
The parents are not as likely to fib on the amount of kids attending if there is no price difference in price. When there are over 20 kids I pre-inflate the balloons, packaging them up into two black plastic garbage bags bundled up tight with a nice carrying handle.
Take first garbage bag and fill it with 30 or so different sized balloons, place balloons into bag neck end down...
so you can quickly see which size balloon you need to grab. Now fasten this bag with a tight knot at one side. Cover this bag with a second bag and knot this bag also.
When removing outer bag be sure it is the one on the outside, or else the balloons will be wrong ends out. You need to be able to see how long of a balloon you are pulling out.



Q. And long lines?
A. You're like an elephant, you never forget!
Long lines are not a problem if you keep them entertained as you create.