Balloons were invented in England in 1824 and were used for science experiments by Professor Michael Faraday, who made the first balloons to help with his lab experiments using various gases.
They were not intended to decorate for parties and commemorations, but the light and colorful balloons in various shapes ended up doing just that. Balloons are a way to draw attention to a location, spell out a name or a number and to add some temporary frivolity to an event.
Balloons with a Flair is a Hamilton business that is celebrating and marking events with balloons today. The business recently took space on the parade route of Nottingham Way in the location that housed the venerable Graycar Travel business for the last 50 years.
Started in May 2020 in the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Balloons with a Flair now has had its soft opening, and owner Jerry Deblasio, Jr. says he is looking forward to holding a grand opening this fall.
Deblasio sees his business having a physical location in a highly visible location, as a logical next step. He was previously operating the balloon business out of his home, and felt that he badly needed more space.
Deblasio, 33, has been working in the area as a bartender and server in this area since he was 15. When the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns hit, he knew he had to change course.
“I was always one that threw big parties and loved to decorate and put out big balloon displays. I would erect elaborate set ups every time I would have a party,” he says. “Family and friends always told me that I should do this as a business and I would always say, ‘Yeah, yeah, you think?’ Then I laughed it off.”
But when the pandemic hit and he did not know when he would be able to get back to work, he thought: What am I going to do now? So he made a Facebook post that said he was thinking about doing balloon and event décor.
“I posted it and I went to bed. The next morning I woke up with over 200+ responses and people wanting to book me.” Deblasio says.
When asked what are some of the favorite offerings are for décor, Deblasio shares that many let bring his own vision to their party.
“I love everything we do for clients, but I personally like it best when a client tells me that they trust me and they just give me either their event’s theme and/or a color scheme and let me do all the creative work,” he says. “I really enjoy that, because it’s also a surprise to the client the day that we deliver or set up their event. I love to see their reaction and joy on their face, after they see the arrangement.”
He says he knew it was time to look for space to work out of when he started getting so overwhelmed with orders that he couldn’t fill all of them working in his home.
“Also, I want to bring a lot more options to clients,” he says. “I did not have the room for in my home to store all the items. Having a location divides work from your personal life, and it also looks more professional.”
Deblasio grew up in Trenton’s Chambersburg section and graduated from McCorristin High School. His dad, Jerry Sr., and mom Jill, are huge supporters and helpers.
Deblasio knows the strengths of his parents and could not grow at this pace without them.
Deblasio now lives in Hamilton Square within walking distance to the new Balloons with a Flair location.
“It wasn’t even a location that I thought about, but when I walked in to check out the space, I immediately felt like it was home,” he says. “I could envision what this business is going to grow into in the next coming years. It’s also a very well known and easy to find location to many people in the Mercer county area.”
There is plenty of parking behind the building, and the location is near a cluster of specialized businesses in the “Square” of Nottingham Way and Mercer Street intersection.
While the business attracts customers from Hamilton and the nearby towns, Deblasio has also seen interest from outside the area, as far as Millstone, Freehold and Colts Neck.
“You would be very surprised that we travel for parties a lot more than local parties,” he says. “We do our fair share of parties in Hamilton, but most of our events are a half hour plus from our location.”
He wasn’t in business before the pandemic, but as inquiries come in for more and more large-scale events, he says he reckons that party-related business is coming back after some tough times. “Everyone just wants to enjoy life now and make memories, and that is what we are here to help clients with,” he says.
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So how does one know what to order for a party or event? Deblasio says they work with very small to much larger budgets. The event planner just needs a few inputs, such as color, shape, size and a theme if any.
“When a customer calls us, they will tell us either what colors they are working with or they will let us know what type of theme, and then we will ask simple questions just to get a feel of what type of client you are working with, try and figure out a budget that they want to stay with,” he says. “And then we will show them or offer them different options or ask them if they have any photos that they saw online that they were using as an example. Then we try our best to be creative and blow them out of the park with our creations for their event.”
In these times of heightened awareness about the environment there are questions about balloons safety, eco-footprint and sustainability. Deblasio shares that 95% of the balloons he uses are air filled, with the remaining portion helium filled.
“The biggest question that is always asked is about using helium and our response is no,” he says. “As we always tell clients, helium is a gas that is costly and rising. So it will be more expensive for any type of décor to use helium. There is also a limitation of what you can do with helium-filled balloons. So our goal is to create and assemble beautiful displays that are all air filled. These will last longer than helium and will be so much more beautiful than just a few balloons tied to a weight.”
Looking to the environmental concerns, Deblasio shares that all the balloons they use are biodegradable. So if a balloon or two are not picked up in the yard, they will break down and decompose.
June is the busiest month for the balloon business, Deblasio says. Between graduations, birthdays and wedding anniversaries, he estimates that they did almost 70 parties in June this year. In a typical month, the number would be closer to 35.
Deblasio sees that having a storefront is helping the business by allowing people to see sample arrangements and get advice visualizing the décor they wish to have for their event. For now, he is offering consultation hours by appointment only, but in the fall he hopes to have additional help and offer standard business hours for walk in customers.
“We are looking to do a grand opening this fall. We are hoping to have regular store hours so customers can come in and pick up their orders. We are also looking to bring in more rental type décor items for clients, such as greenery walls,” he says.
Being on the parade routes for the Hamilton Saint Patrick’s Day and Memorial Day gives the location high visibility. Deblasio hopes for Balloons with a Flair to be a mainstay in the community, as Graycar was.
“We ultimately just want to be one with the community,” he says. “We want to build relationships with clients where they keep using us for all their events. As our motto says, ‘Come as a client, leave as a friend.’”
Jerry Deblasio in the new Balloons With a Flair storefront in the former Graycar Travel space in Hamilton Square. (Photo by Thomas Kelly.),
