Grad Gift

Both my husband and I had a sister graduate this year!  So hard to believe both girls are all grown up *tear.*  For my hubby's sister's gift, we chose to give the gift of cold, hard cash.  I'm sure it's just her size.  However, to warm it up a bit...it just seems so impersonal...I had to add a little flare.

Ok, guys, so the original idea was this:  Roll up the bills, insert into balloon, fill with helium, and tie to something heavy.  Look...floating money!  And it was an awesome idea...until I found out that apparently helium goes bad after a while.  You see, I had a tank leftover from my bridal shower...my mom only blew up a few balloons and the tank has enough gas for 30, so surely there was enough left.  However, I blew up the first balloon and it sank like a rock.  PLAN B!

When you don't want to spend another $20 on freaking helium and you don't have time to run to your nearest balloon retailer for a shot of the stuff, you have to get creative.  So I took my money-filled balloons and tied them to wooden skewers...you know, the kind you put food on.  I curled the ribbon and tied them to a photo holder and voila! it worked.  So yeah, not as cool as intended, but it still turned out better than sticking cash in an envelope!

Here's what you need:

Latex balloons, curling ribbon, something heavy to tie it to (if you're using helium), and cash (the more bills you use, the more obnoxious it is...go nuts...do all ones...hell, do pennies!)

If you're like me and have dysfunctional helium, get yourself some skewers or thin dowels and some tape.

Roll up your bills like so:

Insert into balloon:

Inflate!

Now here's where it got tricky...

If you have helium, it's super easy...tie off your balloons, tie on some ribbon and then attach the ribbon to your heavy thing and you're done.  Easy-peasy.  If you're using skewers, keep reading...

I had to tie the balloon off AROUND the skewer...simply knotting the ribbon around the already tied off balloon did not work.  Then add your ribbon (it helps fill in the gaps between balloons.  Curl that ribbon.  Once you've done this with all your balloons (I did 5...I wouldn't recommend any more than that), tape all the skewers together as though you're making a balloon bouquet.  Using more of that ribbon, attach the balloon bouquet to your object of choice...secure it well!!!  All done!  Here's what my finished product looks like:

The 'GRAD' is actually a photo holder and the skewers are attached to the wire photo holder thingy.  

Now my husband wanted me to add glitter or confetti to the balloons so that when she popped them, she'd have glitter rain down on her...which in theory is cool.  However...have you ever tried to get rid of glitter?  They don't call it the herpes of the art world for nothing....