How to Make an Easy Balloon Tassel

I just love those great big round balloons that are so much easier to find these days.  And I love that they have so much helium and loft that you can do all sorts of cool things to embellish them that you just can't do with regular balloons.

I've already written about replacing the string with a fun garland, like the sparkling star garland used here, or a springy floral garland like I used in the Mother's Day garden party. 

But I'd never attempted a balloon tassel before.  I've seen gorgeous ones made out of hand-cut tissue paper, but I had something slightly different in mind for my craft.

I started with pre-made mylar fringe, available for just a few dollars from my local Party City.  It comes in a huge range of colors, and I loved not only the fact that it was already fringed for me, but how sparkly and fun it was.  Also, mylar is a very lightweight material (think of all the helium balloons made from this stuff) so I knew it wouldn't weight down my 36" round balloons.

I cut approximately a two foot long section of the mylar fringe banner, and simply wrapped it around the point where my balloon met my string, tacking it in place as I went with my glue gun.

While I was shopping for the mylar fringe, I also found a fun patriotic banner with these fringed flags.  They're made of slightly heavier material than the mylar fringe, but were still lightweight and shiny.  I used scissors to extend the fringing up through the blue area, stopping about a half an inch from the top of the flag.

Again, it's just wrapped around and glued on.  Easy peasy.

Great big balloons are awesome.  True fact.  But fancied up great big balloons?  Now that's really something to smile about.