The Balloon Mailing Experiment

On November 13 2010, I put out the notion on Facebook that I wanted to try mailing balloon sculptures to get an ideas of the costs involved, the shipping and the durability of the balloons during transport. Four people responded to my post, and I was able to mail out four sculptures to Minneapolis, Apple Valley, Texas and France.

Here is the breakdown:

Date Packages Mailed: Dec 9th

Type and Size of Boxes: USPS Ready Post 12"x 10"x 8"

Cost of Box (empty): $1.98

Total Cost of mailing 4 boxes: $23.99

Total Cost of 4 Boxes (empty): $7.92

Sculptures cushioned with: Small round balloon (water balloon size)

Sculpture to Minneapolis, MN:

Photos before Mailing: (Duck in the Shower)

Price of Mailing : USPS Priority Mail $4.80 ($6.78 with box)

Date package arrived: Dec 15th

Delivery Time: 6 days

Did you have to sign for it? No
Did you have to go pick it up? No
Did the contents shift?
Was the sculpture distorted when you took it out?
Did you have to adjust it to make it look right?
Did any part of it pop as far as you can tell? No
Did anything deflate? No
Do you like the size of the sculpture?
How did you feel when you opened the box?
Anything else I should know? Thanks!!!

Photo upon Arrival:

Sculpture to Apple Valley, MN:

Photos before Mailing: (Seated Purple-Haired Fairy)

Sushi is very interested ; )

Price of Mailing : USPS Priority Mail $4.80 ($6.78 with box)

Date package arrived: Dec 15th or Sooner

Delivery Time: 6 days or less

Did you have to sign for it? No
Did you have to go pick it up? No
Did the contents shift?
Was the sculpture distorted when you took it out?
Did you have to adjust it to make it look right?
Did any part of it pop as far as you can tell? No
Did anything deflate? No
Do you like the size of the sculpture?
How did you feel when you opened the box?
Anything else I should know?

Photo upon Arrival:

Sculpture to Amarillo, TX:

Photos before Mailing: (Purple Monkey with Tulips)

Price of Mailing : USPS Priority Mail $4.80 ($6.78 with box)

Date package arrived: Dec 13th

Delivery Time: 4 days

Did you have to sign for it? No
Did you have to go pick it up? No
Did the contents shift? Yes, but Sculpture held together
Was the sculpture distorted when you took it out? No
Did you have to adjust it to make it look right? No
Did any part of it pop as far as you can tell? No
Did anything deflate? No
Do you like the size of the sculpture? Very Good
How did you feel when you opened the box? I felt very excited opening up the package knowing it was a balloon sculpture.
Anything else I should know? I think this was a wonderful experience. The only thing I would suggest is using priority mail boxes instead of ready post, because you can get the priority mail boxes the same size from except they are free. You can get them from anybody that works at the post office. I am so glad I was able to be part of this experience.

Photo upon Arrival:

Sculpture to Versailles, FRANCE:

Photos before Mailing: (Circus Elephant)

Price of Mailing : USPS First Class International $9.59 ($11.57 with box)

Date package arrived: Jan 12th

Delivery Time: 34 days (almost 5 weeks)

Did you have to sign for it? No
Did you have to go pick it up? No
Did the contents shift? No
Was the sculpture distorted when you took it out? No
Did you have to adjust it to make it look right? A Bit
Did any part of it pop as far as you can tell? No
Did anything deflate? A little bit but really nice as well
Do you like the size of the sculpture? YES!!!!
How did you feel when you opened the box? Really excited! I had a bad day at work

and you make me feel better with the box :-))))
Anything else I should know? You are the BEST !!!!!!!

Photo upon Arrival:

Conclusion: I was really impressed with the durability of the Qualatex balloons to hold up through the mailing (even to France where I'm sure travel conditions ranged into freezing temps!). The local packages arrived within a week or so with no damages and the average cost was about $5-$7 for the box and delivery. Driving to the the post office was a bit of a pain since I needed to go get the box, go home and stuff it, then return that day to mail it. So sculpting and mailing would need to be done on the same day and on a day I don't work so I have enough time to sculpt and mail before they close for the day. Other than that it was pretty simple! If I were to decide to offer mailed balloon sculptures regularly, I would:

-Recommend domestic mailings only, but International can be done!

-Could not guarantee condition on delivery but damage is highly unlikely

-Would choose to send all sculptures at the flat rate of $25 (Better than most floral deliveries!)

-Would choose a regular day for mailing sculptures (Say Wednesdays) to assure enough time for sculpting and mailing without conflicts

-Could not guarantee delivery date, but can assume 3-6 days for domestic deliveries

-Could offer guaranteed delivery dates in person on a regular day (like Wednesdays) within a 3 hour time limit (good for work deliveries) with signature upon reception.

Thanks Everyone for helping me with this experiment!

I hope you had fun!

Good Byes

This week was full of good-byes. I wished my current day care kids good bye as I head off to another preschool on the other side of town. I brought cupcakes, as is customary for all events at a daycare, but the kids were even more happy with their personalized balloon sculptures on a stick that they got to take home as a gift from me:

Here they are all hung up on their coat hooks. Too cute huh?

Bye Townview Montessori! I will miss you all!

I also wished another friend good-bye as she parted for Spain for the summer. She's an awesome World Languages teacher and she's hoping to firm up her Spanish with a couple of months abroad.

I made her a going away gift too. Her's was a bull and a Spanish guitar on a base of the colors of Spain's flag. Rising above is a little airplane with "Bon Voyage" on the tail. It was a big hit with the little ones at her going away party. But despite all the handling, it held up well!

Good Luck Elissa and take lots of pictures!!

New Balloon Bouquets

Here are some new Balloon Bouquets, Centerpieces and Deliveries:

Tropical Flower Bouquet

Smiley Guy

Customize: Choose body and collar color. Choose smily face or alien head. Choose props: tulips, small printed mylar balloon, diploma, ray gun, large helium mylar balloon, small gift bag, balloon animal...the options are endless.

Mylar Centerpiece

Customize: Choose your design or sentiment. Coordinate your round balloon colors. Choose your accents: flowers, spiders, ladybugs, crabs, twists, smily faces, pacifiers, turtles, butterflies, etc. Or just pick the event and we'll do the rest! We don't stock mylars so please call ahead for this one.

Sea Turtle with Coral Twist

"Things are Going Swimmingly! Congrats!"

"As the ocean is never full of water, so is the heart never full of love"

"It's a Shell-ebration! Happy Birthday!"

"Dive into Fun! Happy Retirement!"

Crab with Palm Tree

"Sorry I've been crabby!"

"Snappy Birthday!"

"Pinch me! That's great News!"

Monkey Lottery Ticket or Gift Card Holder

Can also be done as a Bear or Wiener Dog.

Balloon Deliveries

For Mother's Day, I practiced my balloon bouquets and delivered them to some of my favorite moms, including of course, my own! Here's a picture of the backseat of my car before I started delivering them:

Everyone really seemed to enjoy them, especially my boss. Since she wasn't home when I stopped by, I slipped it between her side door and the screen door. She didn't find it till a day later and it held up perfectly! Thanks ladies for letting me visit, I had a great day and I hope you did too!

Balloon Deliveries- For big impact on a little budget, try balloon deliveries! These custom designed balloon bouquets and sculptures will be delivered to home or office on the date and time of choice. Bouquets and Sculptures make great centerpieces and can be delivered during the day to be used at a party that night! Or the centerpieces can be done table to table at restaurants and sit down dinners. Deliveries come in all shapes and sizes to fit any theme or budget and make an interesting variation on flower bouquets.

More designs to come!