DIY 17th Birthday Balloon number mosaics - Large party decoration idea - supplies, balloons, cake topper, banner & free template

This post may contain affiliate links. Click here to learn more.

My baby turned 17 today!!! 

FREE TEMPLATE 

I have numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, & 8.

Send me an email under contact me and I email each evening.

#16 video shows the best printing instructions.

I've now re-used the #1 SIX times!!!! This makes seven. 

birthday #18, birthday #16, Luau #10, Halloween #1, New Year's Eve,  milestone 10K, and now birthday #17.

It still looks great and will probably use for graduation too.

The #7 template printed was a little smaller than the #1 so I had to adjust when cutting it out. I added a little to the top.

This by far was the easiest number to create and took me 20 mins to hot glue the sides after it was cut out. WOW!!!

#1 was still filled from my YouTube 10K milestone photoshoot.

BALLOONS

I usually order 5" Qualatex Pearl Onyx Black Balloons but this time I didn't order the pearlized ones and went with 5" Qualatex Onyx Black Balloons.

7" Qualatex Chrome Balloons - 100 pack

or

7" Qualatex Chrome Balloons - 50 pack

HOW MANY BALLOONS

I used all 100 of the 5" black balloons and 65 of the 7" chrome balloons to fill both numbers.

If you needed a quick fill, these 7" balloons might fit perfect if I just inflated them a tiny bit more. 

I used a hand pump to fill my balloons. Shown in picture below.

2 pumps of air - 5" Qualatex Onyx Black Balloons.

7 pumps of air - 7" Qualatex Chrome Balloons - 100 pack

I did not keep it this way but kinda good to know if I'm doing this last minute.

I like to fill randomly.

 5" balloons filled with 1 pump and 2 pumps of air.

7" balloons filled with 3 and 7 pumps of air.

BANNER - BIRTHDAY PACK

 I ordered this birthday pack for the banner.  It also came with the #17 mylar balloons but I didn't use them. I absolutely love the banner and gold and silver swirls. 

Package includes: 

40" silver 1 & 7 balloons

12 black & grey balloons

Happy Birthday black & silver banner 

4 gold & 4 silver swirls

GLITTER CAKE TOPPER

Glitter cake topper is paper but sturdy and so much nicer than I expected. 

OTHER SUPPLIES

Foam boards purchased online from Dollar Tree. Search foam boards. They come in black and white. Even with shipping they are still the cheapest.

I'm using these from Amazon since you can just pop the end off and have a brand new blade.

I purchased a bulk box of longer clear glue sticks and low temp glue gun on Amazon.

For this one I used a regular hot glue gun because I was in a hurry. I did pop a few balloons but not as many as I thought I would.

You may also like:

10th Luau Themed Balloon Mosaic - Tropical colors

18th Birthday Balloon Mosaics - Green, White, & Chrome

2020 Graduation Balloon Mosaics

2nd Birthday Mosaic - Pink, Gold, & White

16th Birthday Balloons - Gold, Black, & White

Red, White, Blue USA letters

3rd Birthday Balloon Number - Hot pink & zebra theme

10K Milestone - Purple & Chrome

Thank you for visiting my blog. Any questions? Just ask! 

Follow, like, follow, subscribe!

Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube

Birthday parade ideas - oversized car party hat - DIY tutorial - drive by celebration decor - How to make - neon / glow in the dark theme

This post may contain affiliate links. Click here to learn more.

Since the whole pandemic we've been part of 4 birthday parades. We've made signs, decorated with balloon garland, banners, and the last one I made a giant party hat!!!

The theme was glow in the dark and for an 18th birthday. We decided on all neon and even had some light up balloons and glow sticks. The party hat DOES NOT glow but since the parade was at 8:00pm it was not completely dark yet. They wanted him to see all the people and the glow sticks to still show up.

I used neon poster board I purchased at Walgreens a while back. 

Cut a triangle template.

Traced the template to make three more triangles - 4 total. 

I used the left over foam boards from the 2020 graduation balloon numbers to piece together the backing or support of the poster board triangles.  

Created 4 foam board triangles.

Attached the poster board to the foam board with double sided tape.

Trimmed any excess foam board that was showing. 

Used the excess poster board to make polka dots.

2 inch lever punch from Michael's craft store. Here is a similar one on Amazon. 

Hot glued the polka dots in place. I tried alternating colors but I really needed one more color for spacing. Two colors were always side by side. I decided to make all the same color for each triangle instead. 

Used packing taped to temporarily hold in place.

The tape helped hold the pieces in place so I could stand it up.

Once the shape was set, I hot glued the edges together. 

For extra support I used empty wrapping paper rolls to the top and bottom of the triangle from the inside. 

Hot glued in place. 

To create the pom pom on top of the party hat I used eight long Qualatex black onyx balloons and one 5" pearl white Qualatex balloon. You can use any color. I didn't have time to order neon long balloons and had these left over from the graduation non-party. Same with the white 5" balloon. It can be any color.  

I tied a deflated long balloon around the base of the 5" balloon. Make sure it's before the knot to keep it in place. Pulled the ends of the long balloon through the top of the party hat.

I inflated the rest of the long balloons and twisted them in the middle. Making a large balloon pom pom for the top of the party hat. 

Then used the ends of the deflated long balloon to attach the pom pom to the hat.  

We pulled off to the side of the road to attach right before the drive by. I'm not sure how fast you can go and it still stay attached. 

I used bungee cords to hook onto each corner of the hat and hooked the other end inside the truck on the handles. I think I could've attached them together inside the truck with an additional bungee cord.

NOTE:  I think if we have another parade I will just remove the poster board and replace with a different color. Thinking primary colors or pinks & purples. I'll update if we use it again. 

One of my favorite cars! Banner, lights, and signs!!

Thank you for visiting my blog. Any questions? Just ask! 

Follow me!

Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest