Well how the heck are you?  It’s been basically a summer off while we moved from Colorado to England, yep in the United Kingdom!  It’s been an interesting, stressful, and exciting summer filled with transition.  Click here if you want to learn more about what we’ve been doing this summer, and I’ll be sure to send you an email to catch up.

But now I’m back and ready to get back into this blogging thing. You know, where I host or throw parties, show them to you, and encourage you to do the same.

I encourage you with simple ideas that really try to cultivate a sense of community between your friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors in your home.

There is no better place to host than your home around your table or in your living room.

I wanted to get back into blogging by expanding on one of my most popular posts, it is my most popular post actually.

Who knew so many people wanted to learn how to make a balloon arch without helium?

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But one question I get over and over about this trick besides, how did you hang it up, is how long did it take to blow up all of those balloons.

And stay tuned because I’m going to be doing a post about how to hang up anything really soon!

Anyway, when I made this balloon arch, I just started blowing up balloons the old fashioned way, with my own hot air.

But I know thinking about doing that for so many balloons can be daunting for some, so today I put together a short list of how to blow up a bunch of balloons without helium or passing out from doing it yourself.

How to Blow Up a Balloon Without Helium

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5 Ways to Blow Up Balloons without Helium

1. Hand Pump

The most basic way to blow up a bunch of balloons is by using one of these inexpensive hand pumps.  You can find them anywhere really.  Target, Wal-Mart, Amazon, and I’ve even seen them at the dollar store.

I highly recommend using one with a partner though.  So one person can pump the balloon up and hand it off for tying to their partner.

Many hands make light work 😉

2. A Group of People

Another option using more than one person is to just get a group of people together and all blow up and tie the balloons together.

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I put this strategy to work for my daughter’s 5th birthday this summer.  It’s the first time we had family at one of her birthday parties so all the aunts, uncles, and cousins got to help with the decor.

3. Electric Pump

I keep seeing lots of other party and lifestyle bloggers recommend this electric pump to help blow up balloons.  I haven’t tried it myself, but some people I totally trust in this blogging space use it, so I’m sure it’s good.

And the reviews are really good too.  Again, I’d have lots of people in line to help tie off the balloons once you’re done blowing them up.

4. Air Mattress Pump

Another pump option is to use an air mattress pump to blow up balloons.

Most air mattress pumps come with adapters that are small enough to fit into balloons.  Check out this video blowing up an inflatable.  Blowing up a balloon will work exactly the same, just by putting the neck of the balloon over the tip of the pump adaptor.

I have one of these types of pumps and will definitely be testing this theory to see how to blow up a balloon with it!

5. Shop Vac Blower

This may be the most out there and advanced way to blow up a bunch of balloons, but while researching this topic I stumbled upon it and felt like I just had to share.

Watch this video to see how to blow up a balloon using a shop vac in the blower mode.

Again, you’d need to have several people ready to tie off balloons with how quickly the balloons would be blown up.

Which is the method you plan to try next?  Was there one that you haven’t heard of before?  The shop vac one was totally new for me!

Get my top rated balloon arch supplies below!


Thanks for following along and I’m so happy to be back to blogging!  I can’t wait to share more over the next few months!