Ordering a balloon is not like ordering a stocked product. Something gets manufactured to your artwork, on a clock that starts when you approve a proof, and arrives once. That makes the paperwork stage more important than the shopping stage. Here is what to settle before you pay.
Get a delivered price, not a unit price
Ask for the number that includes everything.
A clear quote looks like: 13-foot blimp **$1,526**, full-colour artwork on both sides included, shipping **$135**, UPS Ground from North Carolina. Or: 5.5-foot sphere **$350** plus **$27** shipping.
Things that should not appear as surprises later — artwork setup, colour charges, proof fees, or the line. Every unit includes your choice of a **120-foot tether line or a 105-foot metallic pennant line**, one or the other. A fill hose is **$45** if you need one, and that is the only normal add-on.
Send artwork that will actually work
The most common cause of a delayed order is artwork, and it is the part you control.
**Vector where possible.** Logos as vector files scale to blimp size cleanly. A small raster logo pulled from a website will not.
**Real colour references.** Give brand colour values, not “our blue”. White panels are used precisely so printed colour reproduces accurately — but only if the target colour is specified.
**Design for 120 feet.** Few elements, high contrast, heavy type, nothing small. Detail that is invisible at altitude costs print quality and gains nothing.
Understand when the clock starts
Production runs **three to seven days from artwork approval** — not from the date you paid.
Shipping adds **two to five business days**, UPS Ground, continental United States.
So the honest planning rule is roughly two weeks from placing the order to flying, and the artwork stage is where delays actually happen. If you have a hard date, work backwards and settle the artwork first.
A plain in-stock 5.5-foot sphere skips the print step entirely and can ship in **one to two days**, which is the fallback if you have left it late.
Approve the proof properly
You are approving the thing that gets built. Check three things specifically:
– **Spelling and phone number.** Obvious, and it is the mistake that gets caught after delivery more often than any other. – **Colour.** Against your brand reference, not against memory. – **Placement and scale.** How large the logo sits relative to the panel, and whether anything important lands near a seam.
Once approved, the clock starts and the panels get printed.
Know what is arriving
One carton, **60 by 26 by 3 inches**. Not a crate, not a pallet — a single long box, and somebody needs to be there to take it in.
Keep the carton. It is the storage container for the life of the unit.
The day it arrives
Open it and check the artwork against your approved proof before you need it. Do not discover a problem on the morning of a sale.
Do not plan to inflate for the first time in front of customers. First inflation takes reading the instructions — it is genuinely not obvious. After the first time it is about ten minutes with one person.
Have your helium sorted before delivery. A 200 cubic foot tank runs about $300 from a local welding-gas supplier, roughly $1.50 per cubic foot. A blimp needs about 170 cubic feet for a fill, around $255; a sphere about 87 cubic feet, around $130.
Ask these before you pay
**Material.** You want polyurethane, not PVC. Polyurethane handles UV and recovers from folding; PVC goes brittle in sun and holds a crease that becomes a failure line.
**Warranty scope.** Wear is covered — if it wears out in service, it goes back for a replacement. Weather loss is not covered, by anyone.
**Airspace.** A supplier who knows this business will tell you that below 150 feet above ground the FAA is not involved in tethered balloons, that the standard 120-foot flight height sits deliberately under that line, and that within five miles of controlled airspace you call the local tower.
**Liability.** $1,000,000 in coverage, behind a record of one claim in forty years for $2,000.
The one thing a website cannot tell you
Whether a balloon or a blimp suits your particular site. Frontage width, approach speed, tree lines and prevailing wind all change the answer, and none of them are on a product page.
That is a five-minute phone call, and it is worth making before you spend $1,526 on the wrong shape.
Questions we get
What does a 13 ft advertising blimp cost?
$1,526 printed, with full-colour artwork on both sides included in the price. Shipping is $135 UPS Ground from the factory in North Carolina.
How much helium does it use?
About 170 cubic feet for a full fill, roughly $255 at $1.50 per cubic foot from a welding-gas supplier. It loses about one percent per day, so top off every three to seven days.
How high does it fly?
120 feet on the standard tether. That is deliberately below the 150-foot line at which the FAA becomes involved in tethered balloons.
What happens in wind?
Winds forecast over 25 miles per hour, bring it in. Wind does not wear a balloon out, but it can lose one.
How long until it ships?
Three to seven days from artwork approval, plus two to five business days shipping.
More at marketingballoons.com.