Hosting a Balloon Jam

Here are some pointers on how to host a balloon jam.

Invites: Balloon jams are really about balloon twisting, but other entertainers such as magicians, jugglers, clowns, mimes, and street performers occasionally twist balloons, so try to contact as many entertainers as you can. Look through your telephone book, rolodex, pilot, and web forums -- then email, telephone, and mail these entertainers inviting them to your balloon jam.

Dates: If you trying to have a successful balloon jam, do not pick a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday nights to have the event. This is prime working time for entertainers and your turn out will be low. Consider slower nights of the week Mondays, Tuesday's, and Thursday's for your event.

Jam Time: Keep in mind many balloon entertainers have a fulltime job and cannot show up in the middle of the afternoon. Consider early evening start time with stragglers fighting traffic arriving later in the evening.

Location: The location should be relatively easy to get to and have ample parking. Try to find a location that is near expressway or are easy to access. Avoid locations that are in bad neighborhoods, poor parking, difficult to access, or just plain out of the way locations.

Restaurants: If you entertain at a restaurant, getting permission to have a balloon jam is easy, but if you are approaching a restaurant that does not have entertainment, I suggest you do the following.

• Meet with the owner/manager and ask permission to use their establishment
• Explain what a balloon jam is
• Reassure the restaurant that you will assist in the clean up
• Explain that entertainers are friendly people and are willing to entertain and children eating at the restaurant will more in likely receive a balloon
• Lastly is that you will request all participants to support the hosting restaurant by purchasing food or drinks.

House/Apartment Jam: If you are having guest over, make sure the house/apartment is clean! Nobody like working in a dirty environment, clean up before Twisters arrive. You want to consider having a community garbage can available for twisters to discard unwanted scraps or fault designs. If food or beverages are being consumed, buy recognized products and have enough food and beverages. You are hosting an event - go grocery shopping! People are coming to share there balloon knowledge with you for free, at least you can do is make sure they have drinks and food to snack on.

Raffles/Door Prizes: Keep in mind there are a lot of balloon jams around the world and balloon manufactures, authors, and entertainers are ask to provide something for free. Some will, others are just tired of being asked. I would suggest you contact some balloon artists who have produced material and see if you cannot buy one of their book/video/cd/dvd at wholesale cost. Either you can pay out of your own pocket or tell the guest that for $1.00 the can enter the raffle to win a tape. This way you can recoup some of your money if not all.