I (Tony the Balloon Guy) haven’t done much with it yet, but on twitter.com, I’m balloonguyusa.
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Archive for April, 2009
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Monday, April 27th, 2009IHOP again!
Monday, April 27th, 2009For about 18 months, I (Tony the Balloon Guy) entertained at the IHOP in Spring Hill (3636 Commercial Way, which is US HWY 19) before they ended their kid night.
Well, starting Tuesday night, April 28th, 2009, it’s kids eat free 5-9 p.m., and Tony the Balloon Guy is there 6-8 p.m., making balloon art in a silly way for kids of all ages.
And I’m still working with Phyllis the Face Painter on Wednesday nights at Golden Corral in Brooksville, and on Thursday nights at Anthony’s Italian Restaurant in Trinity (New Port Richey area), too. For times and addresses of those restaurants…
Easter Fun
Sunday, April 12th, 2009Seems like every year a church hires us (Tony the Balloon Guy and Face Painter Phyllis) to entertain at an Easter egg hunt. Last year it was in the Orlando area. This year we were closer to home, here in Hernando County, at the Heart Center Church of God.
Fun bunch of kids! And the right size crowd, so we didn’t have to rush rush rush to get to everybody. These kids were interested and impressed by our work, and kept coming back again and again to see “What else can you do?” And it was fun to show them.
Nothing makes your day like a line full of kids saying, “Wow, you’re really good at that!”
It’s Easter evening now, and I hope a good day was had by all!
Happy Easter!
Friday, April 10th, 2009Good Friday is wrapping up as I (Tony the Balloon Guy) type this, and I want to take a moment to send out Happy Easter wishes to any Easter-celebrating folks who may have stumbled onto this blog.
Happy Easter!
What I Like About Here
Friday, April 10th, 2009I (Tony the Balloon Guy) work at two restaurants weekly – Brooksville’s Golden Corral on Wednesdays, and Trinity’s Anthony’s Italian Restaurant on Thursdays.
But I have relationships with a couple other restaurants that go way back to my beginner days, and I stop by at those whenever I feel like it, work for tips, pass out some business cards, and catch up with old regulars.
Today I went to Cici’s in Spring Hill to work the lunch crowd. As I was making something for a young man of about eight years of age, he watched in amazement, and told his mom, “THIS is why I love coming here!”
And that’s why I love my job.
Hope your job treats you as well!
Psi-Kick!
Thursday, April 9th, 2009Every now and then, kids at a party (or a restaurant) will ask me (Tony the Balloon Guy) if I know what their names are. I don’t KNOW why!
Anyway, this happened at a party recently, and the girl didn’t remember that all the kids were wearing name tags! When I “guessed” her name, she was surprised, and then everyone laughed (including her) when she realized how I knew.
Another girl put her hand over her name tag and told me to guess HER name.
I studied her face for a moment. We do a lot of parties, so we meet a lot of little girls, and we hear a lot of popular names.
“Your name…” I said, “… is EMILY!!!”
Total shock! I nailed it!
Lucky I didn’t say “Madison.”
A young man told me to guess his name next, and I demolished the spooky psychic mood by saying that his name was “Property of Athletic Department” – from his shirt. But when he said his real name, I realized that he was a little boy I used to see at Denny’s every Tuesday night when I did balloons there years ago. So that was a happy surprise. I feel old when I see how big the kids are getting.
Often I use my “psychic powers” when guessing what I kid will want made of balloons. Got a dinosaur on your shirt? You probably like dinosaurs! Got a baseball shirt? You’d probably enjoy a balloon baseball in a balloon glove! Got a pony on your shirt? Bet you’d like a pony made of balloons!
Once at Golden Corral, I did this with a Spider-Man-loving kid. “You must be a fortune teller,” Mom said. “He LOVES Spider-Man!”
“Yes,” I said. “I did study the fortune telling arts. But I couldn’t see a future in it.”
Ah, the old jokes…
Let’s Dance
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009We (Tony the Balloon Guy & Phyllis) built a really cool arch for the entranceway of the prom for Crystal River High School. Gotta say, the organizers picked beautiful colors, and the rest of the decorations (which we didn’t do) were outstanding. Hope the kids had a wonderful time!
We’ve done balloon decor before (grand opening stuff, wedding stuff, delivery stuff), and I’ve entertained with balloons at homecoming dances, but this is our first time doing decorations for a high school dance – especially decorations so BIG! We had a great time.
Business is booming (can I say “booming” about balloons?), and we hope that’s true for everyone reading this. Except for the Hernando County Fair, everyone who hires us year after year is still hiring us this year, and we have new clients all the time. The Hernando County Fair had to drop the rodeo, too, so I’m not taking it personally. Plus, this year we did the Pasco County Fair, and that was way fun, too!
Think about us the next time you’re throwing a dance. Or anything else that needs super-special decorations.
