Party Zealot 135pc Balloon Clips for Arch, Column Stand, Flowers

These are awesome! Way more than enough for a 20 foot balloon arch. We made an arch for our school's prom. I used electrical conduit to form the arch (available at any electrical store or home improvement box store) - it's a gray colored conduit and the clips slide on quite snuggly. (Take a clip to the store with you when you get the conduit to make sure they slide on okay.) Electrical conduit is flared at one end for about 2 or 3 inches so that one piece will slide into the next in order to connect them. I connected the two of them together when we started, and cut the flair off one of the ends so that it would have a tighter fit on the bolts I used (more on that in a moment). I believe it was the 1/2" conduit that I purchased, but you can double-check the size in the store. Other than testing, the conduit was not attached to the bases until the balloons were all done. For the bases, I used two pieces of 3/4" plywood, approximately 18"x18". 12x24" would work fine, or just about anything, give or take half a foot or so, and the thickness doesn't necessarily need to be 3/4". You could paint it if you wanted, we left it plain. In the center of the plywood, I drilled a hole and placed the longest bolt I could find through each that would fit inside the tubing (8" I think). The bolts were about $1 each, (the conduit comes in 10 foot sections for about $2.50 each).Tip for blowing up your balloons (I used my compressor to inflate them) - get a box, or modify a box so that when your balloons are the correct size, you can judge that size very accurately with the box. I.e., inflate the balloons until the sides are just barely snug in the box, then tie. Or, blow up one balloon, take a long piece of cardboard, and fold it around the balloon so that you can inflate the rest of them to the same size. We quickly realized that doing this would make the arch look more uniform. We used a gold, silver, and two black balloons on each ring. The only thing that was unfortunate about assembling the balloon arch was that none of the students I had helping me were able to tie a knot in a balloon. (seriously! what's wrong with kids these days?!) And, they seemed to have a great deal of difficulty in figuring out the simple pattern of making all of the rings of 4 balloons the same way, then when you push the next set of balloons on, line the balloon colors up, then turn about 45 degrees so that the next layer is slightly rotated from the balloons below about 45 degrees so they pack together better. It worked well to attach the two pieces of conduit together (one slides inside the end of the other). Again, we put the balloons on the ring, then from either end of the two conduit pieces that were attached (no glue was used), we pushed the rings down toward the center.When the conduit was filled with balloons, we put the bases into the ends of the conduit, then arched it upward so that the bases were against the floor. (One of the kids who couldn't tie a knot, and couldn't figure out "rotate 45 degrees" was the one who actually thought of doing this, instead of arching it and then attempting to push the conduit down onto the bolts. So, there's some hope for the future.) I can't remember exactly how many balloons we used for the arch, I think it was about 160 balloons total. I already had a couple of groups ask me if I could help them... balloon arch for homecoming, balloon arch for winter weekend. So, it seems that a lot of people were happy with the results. But, use a compressor for inflating your balloons, and I'm not taking about the little 12V car tire inflators; the things you would use with air nailers. Find a handyman or carpenter or someone who will let you borrow one if you don't have one. And, make sure you have helpers who know how to tie a knot in a balloon. With competent helpers, I think it would take about 45 minutes or less to assemble a 20 foot long arch. Someone suggested bending the conduit and making big arches that spelled out our school's name. That would be cool to see... It would definitely be doable, using tees and elbows for the conduit. But, I think they were mistaken in thinking I was that ambitious.

Worked great to make a balloon arch.

These balloon clips are GREAT!!! Please note that the inner diameter is 0.98 inches (2.5cm). A ten foot 1/2” schedule 40 PVC pipe works perfectly if you need to make your own balloon column pole. I chose that route (12” square wooden base, 1/2” metal floor flange, and 1/2” pvc threaded male adapter per pole), and made two sturdy 5-foot pvc balloon column poles for about $10.I contacted Party Zealot via their website to find out the exact measurement of the inside diameter of the balloon clip. They responded to my email the very next day, and answered every question that I had. Very customer service oriented — a big plus!!! I browsed their website and searched party zealot on youtube.com, and found some good tutorials on assembling some different balloon columns and arches. Worth watching! It really helps to see exactly how the clips work.I was able to inflate and assemble one balloon column in about 20 minutes. This was my first balloon column using these clips, and I was absolutely amazed how easy it was! I used 12” balloons inflated to 10” (the column was going to be used outside in 88 degree temperature in the shade). These clips are so much easier than stuggling with making “pairs”, the twisting to make “quads”, and struggling to flatten them out and down the pole! With this clip, you simply make sure each knot is secured in the slot, and when the ring is full, slide the ring down the pole. In used 4 balloons per ring, and nothing looked lopsided. Will try smaller balloons with 5per ring to see the effect next time. You can also make 2 tier flowers with the rings.I was concerned that I might break balloons when I inserted the knot into the ring slot, but I did NOT break one balloon! The new 4-5 slot model offers more design variety, too. Great clips, and you get 120 clips!! I only used 7 ring clips for a 5-foot balloon column. These make creating balloon columns really easy, and I am looking forward to making an arch next. I highly recommend the Party Zealot new 4-5 balloon clips. The customer service is excellent, too!!

This balloon clip design is definitely easier to use than the other circle design - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VB34V6C?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_dt_b_asin_image. I bought both types to try them out. I ended up just using these. Pretty easy to get the balloon stem in. Center hole fit easily over the homemade balloon stand. Takes a little effort to remove the deflated balloons but overall very happy with purchase. Only needed about 16 for 2 balloon towers.

Right size. Easy-to-use. Ok value

The media could not be loaded. This fits a 3/4 “ pipe but not a 1”. Now all of our questions are answered nice and clear! LOL I’m thinking maybe if you have to use a 1” pipe you could snip them and they’d open up. But it may give you a sharp edge that could pop a balloon. Good luck with your party balloons! :)

as pictured

I like the fact it makes designing the firmat of the column easy. However the fact no clear detail on attaching ballons and closing them on rings.it was difficult but they still look nice. The pcp pipes kept coming detached and the columns are not very sturdy in windy weather.recommend you have string to tie column to rail or gate to keep from toppling over.use of 10-12in ballons just inflate to 8in.4in too small waste of money