What are Balloon Buddies and What Do They Have to do With Flowers?
With Vonda taking a well-earned week off, Lori flies solo — and invites one of her favorite Flower Clique members and texting buddies, Denise Chresos, owner of The Flower and Balloon Gallery in Indiana, Pennsylvania (yes, the town is Indiana and the state is Pennsylvania). Planned a whole 24 hours in advance, the conversation covers Denise's path from sunglass-kiosk employee to shop owner, and the surprising side passion that's become a serious profit center: balloon artistry.
From the Sunglass Hut to shop owner
Denise's floral career started in 1996 or '97 when her Sunglass Hut manager mentioned a local flower shop needed help. She'd never received flowers in her life and could identify exactly three varieties — carnations, roses, and daisies — but she learned on the job, worked for the owner for 16 years, and bought the shop when the owner retired in 2013. Last August she made two big leaps at once: relocating from a tucked-away Victorian house with no parking to one of the busiest intersections in town, and rebranding with an open floor plan — salon-style rolling toolboxes, butcher-block workbenches, and a vibe that makes people want to walk in.
How a balloon man built a niche
The balloon side began when the previous owner bought a small balloon business — helium tank rentals and mylar add-ons. Then trade magazines started arriving showing full sculptures built from latex balloons, and Denise talked the owner into buying supplies for a six-foot "balloon man" in a tuxedo holding a birthday message. She only had to send one or two out before the phone started ringing: "are you the place that makes the balloon man?" A balloon octopus followed, then balloon costume classes at the Balloon Boss Summit in Orlando — a week-long convention covering both design and business practices — where she learned to build wearable penguins, eagles, flamingos, and llamas that made her shop, in spectators' words, the best part of the local parades.
Balloon Buddies: marketing with a heart motive
During COVID lockdowns, the balloon community launched a nationwide movement called Adopt a Grandparent, and Denise ran with it. She called every nursing home in her county, counted the residents, and invited the community — via nothing more than Facebook and Instagram — to sponsor a "balloon buddy" for each one. Once all 87 residents of the first facility were covered, her team built 87 balloon buddies and delivered them with tags reading "you weren't forgotten." They repeated it for every nursing home in the county; her chiropractor even traded free X-rays for balloon buddy purchases and funded several homes at once. One resident hugged her buddy and said, "Now I have a friend." Denise is clear that business was never the motive — but the seeds she sowed came back anyway: nursing homes now call her shop for sympathy and get-well flowers, and the newspaper covered the deliveries.
The Big Balloon Build — and why balloons sell flowers
The week before recording, Denise returned from the first-ever U.S. edition of the Big Balloon Build in Vincennes, Indiana — chosen as one of just 65 balloon artists from five countries and 22 states. The team used 125,000 balloons to build a life-size Candyland board game (with Hasbro's blessing), complete with 20-foot candy canes and a walk-through forest. Admission was a bag of groceries: the event collected 14,300 pounds of food for nine local food banks, plus a fundraising dinner and fashion show for the Knox County United Way. The line to walk through ran 90 minutes deep until 10 p.m.
Back home, the business case is compelling. Balloons are about 13% of Denise's sales — roughly $40,000 last year — with a very nice profit margin, and they pull flower sales along with them. Organic balloon garlands and arches for weddings and showers now get fresh flowers woven in, and her local prom, which ordered only a balloon arch last year, came back this year for the arch plus 30 floral centerpieces. As Denise puts it: get them in for balloons, then ask, "do you need flowers?"
Key takeaways
- You don't need the whole balloon world — start with one signature item the other shops in town don't offer, then upsell in both directions.
- Everything is air-filled, no helium required, so supply shortages aren't a barrier.
- Invest in education: Balloon Boss Summit, Balloon University, and similar conferences teach both technique and marketing.
- Community-first projects with a genuine heart motive — like Adopt a Grandparent — build a reputation no ad budget can buy.
- If outreach isn't your personality, hire for it: Denise's new office hire landed a monthly car dealership account on her first attempt.