A grand opening has one job: make sure people who did not know you existed notice on the day. Here is the timeline that actually works.
Three weeks out: decide and order
If you want your name printed on a blimp, work backwards. Production is three to seven days from artwork approval, and shipping is two to five business days from North Carolina.
That is roughly two weeks in the best case. Order three weeks out and you have slack for an artwork revision.
If you are inside two weeks, a 5.5-foot sphere at $350 ships faster and still gives you height. It just will not carry your name.
Two weeks out: sort the helium
Find a welding-gas or industrial-gas supplier in the valley and set up the account before you need it. About $300 for a 200 cubic foot tank.
A blimp needs about 170 cubic feet to fill, so budget roughly $255. Do not leave this to the day before; suppliers keep business hours and your opening is probably a Saturday.
The day before: inflate, do not improvise
First inflation takes some reading. Allow an hour and do it the day before, not thirty minutes before the ribbon.
After that first time it is about ten minutes and one person. But the first time is genuinely slower, and an opening morning is the worst possible moment to discover that.
The monsoon caveat
If your opening falls between roughly July and September, watch the forecast daily. Winds over 25 miles per hour means the balloon comes down, and Phoenix storms arrive quickly.
That is not a reason to avoid a balloon. It is a reason to have a plan, and to consider having us run it instead so somebody whose job it is makes that call.
Ask for a quote. Call 1-800-791-1445 or email [email protected] and tell us the size and whether you want it printed.
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