# Balloon Drop???



## gmff (May 24, 2010)

The senior class at the local high school has contacted me about a balloon drop at the end of their graduation. Has anyone ever done this and how have you done it. Thanks.


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## jstroming (May 24, 2010)

Very easy way (if your in a theater with flyrail system):

Bridge 2 close-proximity (a few feet apart) linesets with some (any) material (i see tarp and canvas used alot) creating a "basket". Drop the downstage lineset a few feet and BOOM baby! Not all of the balloons will come out (some will get caught up against the DS lineset pipe) but at least 90% of them will if you're using a substantial amount of balloons.

The alternative way in a theater without a flyrail system is the same concept, hang from pipes (or I-beam, whatever) above stage. Tie a slipknot through DS points of basket, tie off to something side stage. then pull when you want balloons to release.

You may think your in downtown baghdad afterwards if there are kids in your show though. BOOM baby!

Forgive my lack of complete detail and high-school humor but that should give you some ideas.


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## kiwitechgirl (May 24, 2010)

Yep, and it's not difficult. (Hopefully this won't contravene T&Cs on rigging....mods?) Basically, you get a big net or piece of fabric and suspend it from each corner, hanging a foot or so below the ceiling. Attach a piece of sash cord or similar to the centre of the net/fabric, run it through a pulley or two attached to the ceiling and down to somewhere where you can get to it easily. Fill the net with balloons, and then when you want to drop them, pull up the centre cord until the middle of the net is higher than the edges, and voila - the balloons will fall!


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## Chris15 (May 25, 2010)

The normal way I'd do it is to get a balloon net from a party supplier. 
Basically you have a piece of netting and the long edges get tied together with a long series of running loops, that end in a single slipped knot, much harder to explain than do. The end of the string that has been slipped gets left long enough that when you've rigged the net safely, you can still reach the end. You yank that cord, the knot undoes and the all the running loops fall out as you keep pulling. Gravity will help...

Knots or tangles in the pull cord will lead to disaster...

A full balloon net is not terribly heavy, but be sure to hoist and rig in a safe manner...


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## MarshallPope (May 25, 2010)

I have done this several times for various concerts and rallies at my church, with everything from party store "balloon bags" to trash bags to deer netting. I was not impressed with the balloon bags. They were overly expensive and required too much force to rip out the dropping string-thing, whatever it was called. I ended up snapping one of the lines holding the bag up. Yeah, I was using monofilament, which was a mistake, but still. The trash bag would have worked OK if it wasn't for a stupid mistake I made. I filled the bag with the opening pointing up, and in the chaos of talking to the people in the ceiling lifting it, I forgot to turn it right-side-up. Only about half of the balloons ended up coming out. My favorite was the deer netting.


I got mine at Lowes. Their website is showing $13 for a 7'x100' roll.
I decided to make three drops joined together to spread the area over which the balloons would fall, and also as a safeguard in case one section didn't work. To build the bag, I cut the netting into 6 equal-sized pieces. I ziptied these together into 3 flat sheets of two side-by-side pieces each. I then ziptied these sections together halfway between the loose end and the mid-section ziptie seam. Be sure to also ziptie the ends of the bag. With the bag upside down, you are then ready to fill it with balloons. As each section was full, I went ahead and sewed it closed with the drop-string, leaving several feet to hang from the dead end as a safeguard against the string slipping out, as well as 6' or so on the pull end to work with later. I believe that I used cotton twine for this, but it could have been monofilament. After the three sections were closed with the pull-cord, I tied them together and to a long string which would actually be pulled. AFTER FLIPPING IT OVER, I tied the four corners of the bag to lines that we had dropped from the ceiling (through recessed light holes and an old motorized screen slot) and lifted it to the ceiling, making sure that the pull cord didn't catch on anything and was guided to the proper location. Make sure the pull cord is far away from anyone that may be curious. I routed mine to an old sound booth in the back of the balcony.

When it came time to use the drop, it worked very well. There were only half a dozen or so balloons that got stuck.

I'm sure that was confusing. If you would like, I can attempt a diagram... That might only make things worse, though.


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## Chris Chapman (Jun 10, 2010)

*Balloon Drop Bags (grumble grumble mutiny mutiny)*

Okay, so I keep getting requests for Balloon drops. I've had to do 2 in 13 years at my venue. In the past, we have done cobbled together drops using refridgerator boxes with safties on them that are hand dumped from our catwalks.

This may be an oxymoron, but is there an easy way to get balloon drop bags filled, and rigged in above house positions? Of course, I have to deal with house lights, acoustic clouds, and HVAC ducting that is in the way as well.

Can any of the large scale (50'+) bags be filled on the deck and then hoisted up?

I'm not a big fan of balloon drops because I can't see a way around them that isn't labor intensive. It's like artificial snow or haybails onstage... but that's another rant.


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## derekleffew (Jun 10, 2010)

*Re: Balloon Drop Bags (grumble grumble mutiny mutiny)*

Build the bag (more like a sling) out of something like this:

14'x30' Black All-purpose Netting, Poly Fencing - GEMPLER'S

A seam on the bottom is held closed with a running stitch or basting stitch of appropriate thread. To execute the cue, pull the thread, opening the seam.

You're right, it is labor intensive, but the most time-consuming part is filling the balloons (seems a task best assigned to volunteers).


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## Chris15 (Jun 10, 2010)

*Re: Balloon Drop Bags (grumble grumble mutiny mutiny)*

We discussed this not a month ago, http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/special-f-x/19849-balloon-drop.html

EDIT by Mod: This and the two previous posts have been moved here from another location.


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## Chris Chapman (Jun 10, 2010)

Thanks for the bump Derek, when I did a forum search I didn't get any results.


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