I love balloons! They are a low cost and easy decoration. For me, no party is complete without some balloons. Correction, no birthday party is complete without balloons. I thought it would be great to share my steps for a quick and easy balloon column, no experience needed! And guess what? You don’t need to buy a stand! Just balloons and string can make a column or arch.

I see tons of elaborate balloon columns, arches, shapes, etc. all over social media. This is not that tutorial. It takes a lot of time and effort to construct those designs. When you manage all other aspects of a party or celebration, saving time can be more valuable than saving money. What are you trying to say, Nikki? I am saying that if you have no experience with balloon creations but want that elaborate balloon sculpture, I suggest buying it. 

This tutorial provides you with a foundation on how to create balloon columns that cost less than $10. No sped up videos here because I want you to be able to understand the technique. With this foundation, you will be able to make columns, arches, and even garlands! Are you ready to get started?

You Will Need

  • 30 + balloons (Let’s start with the typical 12″ any brand will do)
  • String (ribbon, fishing line or elastic string)
  • Dry beans or rice (I’ll explain later)
  • scissors

Your lungs are perfectly fine for this tutorial, but I do suggest purchasing an electric pump. If you plan to have parties of any kind, it will be the best purchase you have ever made. That’s why it is on my list of things I always keep on hand for projects. Trust me; you will use it often!

Let’s Get To Making Balloon Columns!

A column consists of a set of four balloons attached at their intersection. From here on out, I will refer to this as your quad. Each quad is then layered one on top of the other, in between the spaces of the previous quad until it forms a column. A long column can turn into an arch!

Building A Column

Step One: Get Some Weight

Remember those dry beans or rice? Well, I use them as an anchor weight for my balloon. No, you do not have to purchase that $3 weight to hold your column in place. Just buy a $1 bag of beans or rice. You may even have some already in your house. Yes, you will need a weight; otherwise, your column will be moving around your room. This would be perfect if you could somehow attach hands to the column and put it to work as your “balloon staff.”

Okay, back to reality. I chose kidney beans, and took one of my balloons (any color) and filled it with the beans.

I tried to create a funnel and stick it in my balloon to allow the kidney beans to slide right in. It didn’t work, so I put the beans in one-by-one. I guess I can’t always be resourceful.

Step Two: Blow Up Your Balloons

Start by creating your quads. For this first example, I am demonstrating making a column using only one color. I blow up two balloons at a time using my electric pump and tie them together. Then I take two of these pairs, wrap them around each other 2-4 times and create a quad. How do I make all the balloons the same size? I eyeball it. No one is going to come and measure each of your balloons. And if they do, get to know them better. Find out what led them to become a balloon inspector. Do they do it for fun? How many years of training did they receive? As long as it looks about the same size, you will be fine. I find comfort in precision, so I do hold my balloons up to each other to get close to the same size. 

Back to the quad! You can also blow up four balloons, tie them individually, then tie them together to make a pair. My pump allows me to save a step. Watch below:

Step Three: Start With Your Weight

No, I’m not asking you to get on the scale. I mean the balloon that you filled with beans, rice, or something else you found in your pantry. Tie your string around your weight. You’ll have to forgive me for this video. Because I used clear elastic line for beaded jewelry, it made it kind of slippery. I promise you; I can tie a knot as long as it isn’t rubber!

Step Four: Attach Your Quad

We are in the home stretch! This is exciting because you are about to make your quick and easy balloon column, unlocking a universe of possibilities. Okay, that is the creative talking in me, and I don’t want to overwhelm you. Let’s unlock the door that gets you to decorating your party. We will gently close the universe door because that is too much for right now.

What you will want to do is place your quad on top of the weight and then take your string and wrap it around at least two balloons to secure it in place. This is the beginning of where balloons may pop along the way. If they do, the great thing about wrapping them and not tying the string is that you can easily unwrap it fix the broken quad, and keep going. Remember that!

Step Five: Continue Stacking Quads

Listen carefully to this part. This is key to creating your quick and easy balloon column. You have to stack each quad in-between the spaces of the previous quad. That’s what gives it it’s “twisty” look. Huh? Okay, allow me to provide you with a diagram.

Here is an overhead view of your quad. The balloon pairs are tied and then twisted. This is what you should see as you look down on your work.

In your next quad, the balloons will need to fit snugly in-between the spaces of the previous quad. The arrows show where the next quad of balloons should lay. Since we are doing only one color, there is no need to worry about the direction to rotate the quad. You will learn about that later in this post.

Once you have placed your next quad down, it will look like so from above.

Securing Your Quad

To secure each quad to the previous one. You will take your string, gently press down on the quad you are attaching and wrap it around at least two balloons in that quad. Wrap it around all four if you’d like. Connect it tight enough so that there are no wide gaps but loose enough that it doesn’t pop. You will know if it’s too tight because you will go to move the column, and it will pop. It takes trial and error to get a feel for what is too loose and too tight, so don’t be too hard on yourself when it comes to your first column. You can be a pro with the next one. Besides, these are balloons! Have you ever heard someone say, “That’s a terrible balloon!” Of course not, because you can’t mess up balloons! Watch the video below to see it in action.

I also like to use ribbon to secure and create a column. It’s the same application as the string, but it is slightly cheaper. I do, however, find that the ribbon causes the balloons to pop more often. I think it slices through the balloon with its sharp edges so you will have to be gentle.

Keep Going!

Continue to stack quads on top of each other until you have a column! A good-sized column of 12″ balloons can be anywhere from 6-7 quads. It also depends on if you blew your balloons up to their full size. I put a knot at the top and cut off the extra string. Tada! And with the weight attached at the bottom, you can place them anywhere. If they are placed outside, you may want to have a heavier weight underneath or secure the column to a pole, fence, or wall using additional string.

Using Multiple Colors

Now that we have gone through the basic construction of a quick and easy balloon column, let’s talk about how to do multiple colors. You can do up to four colors to create that spiral look. It is all about how you construct your quad.

Two Color Balloon Column

If you want to do a duo color quick and easy balloon column, then when you are tying your pairs together, keep the same colors together. Below I am constructing a green and yellow column, so I have a pair of yellow and a pair of green.

They won’t mix until I twist them together to form the quad. At that point, they should lay perpendicular to each other.

Here is where it is essential to rotate the quads as you lay them down. I am going to create another diagram. Here is your duo color quad.

When placing the next quad on top, you will be putting it in-between the spaces, but now you have to pay attention to the color pattern. My method is to make sure the balloon on the right of the bottom quad is always the same color. Say what, now? Look at the top green balloon in the above diagram. The space to it’s right should be filled by a green balloon as well. If you see my diagram below, I have marked the color balloon that should be in that space. As long as you start out with looking at one ballon and continue to move clockwise, you will get the right result.

Here is what it looks like from above when you have laid down your second quad.

Don’t be scared. It’s like riding a bike. Once you do it, mess up and do it again, it just becomes ingrained in you. Trust me it will make sense, don’t give up!

This is what it looks like from the front. I would have added more, but I ran out of balloons!

Three Color Balloon Column

Once you learn the underlying construct of a quick and easy balloon column, understand layering quads in a clockwise rotation, then adding additional colors is easy. Your only question should be how to arrange three colors on the quad.

You will have one pair of the same color and another pair with the second and third colors. For my example below, the white (ish) balloons are tied together because they are the same color (whenever it is the same color, tie it together), and the red and blue balloons are tied together. Then twist the balloons together to form the quad, making sure that the white balloons are between the red and blue. This looks cool when completed. Here is the diagram for a quad of three colors:

You would then place another quad on top, placing the matching color in the space on the right side of the lower quad. Like this:

Keep stacking and securing the quads one on top of the other in a clockwise motion to achieve the twisting effect. It will eventually look like this:

As you stack and rotate each quad, you can always step back and look at the column to ensure you are getting the desired twisting result. Been there, done that!

Four Color Balloon Column

This is the last stop on my column train tutorial! By now, you should know how a four-color column should look. My advice for constructing a four-color column is to couple the colors. When you are tying the pairs, you join them in a union for the life of your column. The two colors that you tie together for your first quad should remain the same two colors that you continue to tie together.

In my example below, I have paired blue and green together and orange and pink together. For every quad I build for this column, I will always tie blue and green together and pink and orange together.

Again you twist the pairs together to form a quad. If you have forgotten how to twist, scroll back up and watch the video for step two.

Continue with the same process in which you secure and rotate each new quad filling the space to the right of the stack. You will get a beautiful twisting column.

You Made Your Balloon Column!

That’s a quick and easy balloon column! This tutorial took some time but once you learn the technique, it can be constructed very quickly! Give it a try. Start with one color to get comfortable, and if you mess up, it’s okay, they’re balloons. You might surprise yourself and be good at it. You may experiment and try different variations. Try three quads of the same color, then change to another three quads of a different color and so forth to create a rainbow effect. Remember what I said; this tutorial can unlock the universe of balloon decorating.

Have you tried to create a balloon column? Share your success or your failures! Ask me a question! I’m here to be your creative Fairy Guide Mother.