How-to: Balloon Garland

I can’t believe it. Yesterday marks 3 years since I decided to set up a little crafty website, just for fun. I never thought Hands Occupied would be more than a way to participate in the crafty internet world I loved following. My initial vision was simple: take some phone pics of projects I threw together and write up instructions on how I crafted them.

Since the blog’s start in 2010, I have gotten married, learned a little bit about photography, and blogged hundreds of DIYs. In honor of the big day, I’ve got a super simple (and affordable) DIY balloon garland to share with you all. Thank you, dear wonderful readers, for coming back again and again to check out my whacky and colorful craft project ideas. It means a lot that people appreciate what comes out of my crazy head.

Supplies

balloons
scissors
yarn

Directions

Blow up several balloons and tie them off. Cut a piece of yarn a few feet longer than the length you’d like the finished garland to be. Also cut several pieces of 4 inch-long yarn, one for each balloon. Tie a piece of string to a balloon.

Tie the balloon to the long piece of yarn with a square knot.

Tie many more balloons to the long yarn with the same method.

Push all of the balloons together so they cluster.

Ta da! That’s it. Since yarn is fibrous, it acts kind of like velcro and grips to itself, which is part of why the balloons stay in place.

For those of you not in the know, I’m a librarian too. I developed the balloon garland idea when given the task of decorating for my branch’s grand opening last month. The budget was basically $3. Here’s what I made with 50 dollar store balloons, yarn, and two hours. I may or may not have blistered the living daylights out of my left middle finger tying all those balloons in a row, but I think it was worth it:

Are we friends on Instagram yet?