Is a Christmas Balloon Worth the Cost for a Six-Week Season?

Updated

For a single six-week season, a $1,512 blimp is expensive. Used for six weeks a year for ten years, the same balloon is not. That math is the whole case for buying rather than renting or going without — and it only holds if you store it properly and order early enough to actually fly it.

The seasonal business problem it solves

Tree lots, pop-up gift shops, light displays and holiday markets share one difficulty: you are temporary. You have no permanent signage, and nobody knows you are there. A balloon at 120 feet says something is happening here from streets away — which is the entire job when your business did not exist last month and will not exist next month.

That is also why a balloon suits a tree lot better than a hardware store. The hardware store already has a sign.

The cost arithmetic

View What it looks like
One six-week season $1,512 for six weeks — expensive
Six weeks a year for ten years Spread across a decade of seasons, the per-season cost drops sharply
Reported lifespan Customers report still flying the same balloon after fourteen years

A seasonal balloon spends most of its life in a box. That idle time is what makes the purchase price work: you are not paying for six weeks, you are paying for a reusable asset that happens to work six weeks a year.

Order by early November

Work backwards from your opening day:

  • Production: three to seven days from artwork approval
  • Shipping: two to five business days
  • Leave room for one artwork revision

If you want your lot name printed on a blimp for a season starting the day after Thanksgiving, order in the first week of November. Order in December and you will be flying it for the last fortnight of your season — the worst two weeks to be late for.

Cold weather, plainly

Gas contracts when cold. On a frosty morning the balloon looks soft; by afternoon it firms up again. That is not a leak, and you should not chase it with helium at dawn.

  • Do not fold or unfold it frozen.
  • If you need to box it mid-season, bring it inside and let it warm first.
  • Polyurethane tolerates the freeze-thaw cycle; PVC cracks at the folds.

What to do next

Ask for a quote. Call 1-800-791-1445 or email [email protected] and tell them the size and whether you want it printed. More at marketingballoons.com.