Birthday Balloon Wreath with Interchangeable Initials for Family Fun

This birthday balloon wreath is SO quick, easy, and inexpensive to make! Plus, thanks to the interchangeable initials, it can be used for the entire family!

 

Birthday Balloon Wreath with Interchangeable Initials for Family Fun

I love me some wreaths. I also love birthdays, and not just my own.

So what better way to combine the two than making a wreath out of balloons!

• Birthdays & Balloons = Fun
• Wreaths = Cuteness
• Therefore, Birthday Balloon Wreath = Fun Cuteness

The best part is this wreath was very inexpensive AND easy to make.

It’s also useful four months out of the year for us since I can easily change out the initial in the center depending on which family member’s birth month it is.

And it makes great party decor.

Instant celebration!

Here I’ll walk you through how I made this super cute birthday balloon wreath for my family so you can learn how to make one of your own.

 

Oh, just a little FIY: this wreath is another PBP (pre-blog project), so I don’t have step-by-step pictures for you.

Whomp, whomp.

However, it’s so easy to make, a lot of pics aren’t necessary!

 

Supplies

Here’s what I used for this birthday balloon wreath:

• 10-inch straw wreath form
• Latex balloons (lots of them! About 180-200 or so.)
• 1-inch straight pins (lots of these too!)
• Pipe cleaners (just one of each to match the balloon colors)
• 6-inch foam letters (one for each family member’s initial)
• Ribbon

 

How To Make A Birthday Balloon Wreath

Here are the quick steps for making this birthday balloon wreath…see how easy it is?!

1. Grab a balloon and a straight pin.
2. Fold balloon in half and stick pin through balloon and into wreath form.
3. Repeat process until front and sides of wreath are covered in balloons.
4. Take pipe cleaners and wrap them around a pencil to create curly-q’s.
5. Randomly stick pipe cleaners into wreath form.
6. Add ribbon loop or some other hanging method.
7. Nudge foam initial into center.
8. Hang and celebrate!

I have more details below, but it really is that easy.  Really!

 

Gathering The Supplies

I picked up my wreath form, straight pins, foam initials, and pipe cleaners from my local Michaels store.

The wreath form was just a few bucks, and the other items were about $1 each, plus I used a coupon (of course), so this project was being made on the cheap.

I then headed down to my local Dollar Tree for the balloons, however, I didn’t like the colors that my store had available, so I swung by Target.

There I was able to find what I was looking for…balloons that were in a variety of colors, not just the basic primary ones (I gotta have some pink in there!).

I made this wreath a couple years ago so I can’t remember how many bags of balloons I bought or their quantities, but doing an extremely quick and rough count, it looks like there’s about 180-200 balloons on this beauty.

 

Adding The Balloons To The Wreath Form

One evening while The Hubs was playing some Xbox (I often refer to myself as an Xbox widow….), I plopped down next to him, put on some Pandora tunes, and started pinning…and I mean some real pinning here.

Not just the Pinterest variety.

All I did was grab a balloon and fold it in half or thirds or whatever…it didn’t really matter.

I just made sure the balloon wasn’t flat so the wreath would have some dimension and “poofiness.”  I like poofy, unless we’re talking about my hair. Or shoulder pads.

Once my balloon was folded, I then stuck a straight pin through it and all the way into the wreath form.

TIP: leave the plastic around the wreath form or else you’ll have a big hay mess and both you and your room will smell like a barn.

I repeated this process over and over until the wreath form was covered on the front and sides (inner and outer) in balloons.

There was no rhyme or reason here.

I just stuck them in around each other so none of the straw wreath form was showing through.

If I noticed a gap, I just stuck another balloon on. I also tried to evenly space out the colors.

The process went by surprisingly fast and didn’t get tedious at all…unlike the wreath I made for The Cub’s nursery.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my hot glue gun, but these straight pins are what’s up!

 

Adding The Pipe Cleaners

Once all the balloons were on, I then grabbed a handful of pipe cleaners (just one of each balloon color).

To make them cute and curly like a little piggy’s tail, I wrapped them around a pencil, then cut them in half so they weren’t as long, and I now had two of each color.

Then I stuck one end of each into the wreath form, and they actually attached very securely thanks to their metal cores.

 

Adding The Foam Initials

The foam initials are the perfect size for the center. They fit just right without needing any glue/pins/clips/tape to hold them in place.

All I have to do is gently nudge them in behind the balloons.

This makes it super simple to switch them out for our family members’ birthdays.

In April when it’s my birthday, I pop in a glittery pink “C”, then in June when it’s Rowan’s birthday, I switch it out for a blue “R”, and in October it becomes a blue “B” for Brayden in the beginning of the month, and an “M” for The Hubs for the second half.

We leave the wreath up for the entire birthday month too…a month-long celebration for everyone!

Sadly, the birthday cakes never make it that long.

 

Perfect Birthday Party Decor!

This wreath made the perfect addition to The Cub’s dinosaur first birthday party that we just had.

The party was being held outdoors, and I was a little concerned about the wind causing the initial to fall out and into the food on the table below, so I made sure it was nudged nice and tight in the center.

 

The Final Birthday Balloon Wreath!

If I had to do this again, I would probably leave out the white balloons.

I think they’re a little boring and sort of grab the eye’s attention away from the other colors.

Overall, however, I love this wreath!

It’s bright and fun and cheerful…and I LOVE how it’s customizable for each of our birthdays and gets used for a third of the year.

Personalized decor makes me happy.

Plus, all in all I’d say I spent around an hour total from start to finish.

It’s definitely the quickest wreath project I’ve ever made! 

 

If You Enjoyed This…

Make sure you check out my Project Gallery for lots of other crafty creations, tutorials, and freebies!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!