Balloons Party Prop: High Style "Bunches of Balloons" Grape Display

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I love using fresh fruit on a dessert table.  It's incredibly easy (the ultimate no-bake treat!), and I love providing a healthier option.  The fruit is always incredibly popular with kids, too.  Very often it's one of the first things to disappear!

I love how cute the grape "balloons" looked in these cute cups I bought from Petite Party Studio.  But for the high effort version of the Balloons Party, I wanted something a little more elaborate.  I wanted those grape balloons to fly!

Ok, so they didn't actually fly.  But by building cloud and balloon "string" bases on which to prop up the grapes, and placing my clouds on top of a clear cake pedestal, they got pretty close!

To make these balloon props for grapes, you'll need:

  • White Fimo clay
  • drink stirrer straws
  • cotton balls
  • scissors
  • glue

I bought this box of 1000 skinny red straws at Staples for just a couple dollars.  I definitely need to figure out something else to do with the rest of these things.  

To create the balloon props, make a lump of Fimo clay, and flatten the bottom to create a base.  Poke the straws in the Fimo, clustering the straws as tightly together as possible so they'll look more like a bunch of balloons.  Use scissors to trim the straws at various heights, making the centermost straw the tallest.

Then just bake the clay (with the straws) according to the directions on the Fimo clay package.  It's done at a low enough heat that the straws don't melt.

Glue some cotton balls over the clay base, spear your grapes on the ends of the straws, and you have a unique, (seemingly) lighter-than-air way of displaying your fresh fruit.

Tip:  Once the grapes were attached, the cloud bases weren't all perfectly balanced.  Not my finest engineering job.  But a wee bit of double-stick tape on the bottom of the clay base solved that problem.

Nicole Wills, creator of Tikkido

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