Stuffed Balloons: Why This “Old” Trend Still Has So Much Potential

When I first thought of stuffed balloons, I had a very specific picture in my mind: a teddy bear inside a clear balloon with a bow on top. Cute… but not exactly groundbreaking. After sitting down with Marlene Potts of Balloon Masters, my perspective completely changed.

Marlene and her husband Chris have been in business for 30 years. They’ve watched balloon decor boom, dip and roar back. And stuffed balloons? They’ve gone through the same cycle.

What makes Marlene the go-to expert is simple: she never stopped. While many of us are rediscovering stuffed balloons, she has been refining, selling and teaching them for decades. And in this conversation, I learned just how much potential they still hold if you approach them as a business, not just a craft.

Stuffed Balloons Aren’t Just Gifts — They’re Volume

One of my biggest takeaways was how we limit ourselves by thinking of stuffed balloons as one-off orders. Marlene reminded me that one birthday gift won’t pay the bills, but 100 corporate orders will.

She shared examples of:

• stuffed balloons used as centerpieces

• corporate appreciation gifts

• large seasonal promotions (Elf on the Shelf, graduations)

• supermarkets letting her set up in-store because sales jump when she’s there

When she described selling hundreds in a single promotion, something clicked for me: this is a scalable product if we treat it like one.

Price for Profit, Not Popularity

The part that stayed with me long after the recording ended was Marlene’s perspective on pricing. Stuffed balloons are time-consuming. The design isn’t the only labor. Sourcing, time spent messaging back and forth — it all counts.

Marlene sees stuffed balloons as works of art, not cheap trinkets. That mindset alone changes everything. If you want profitability, you have to price for the actual time involved and accept that your ideal customer may not be the bargain shopper.

Education Saves You Years

Yes, you can figure it out alone, but why would you when someone has already made every mistake for you?

Marlene now teaches courses, sells machines and even runs Stuffed Balloons from A to Z. Seeing how passionate she is about helping people succeed made me realize how much faster we can grow when we invest in learning instead of reinventing.

My Takeaway

Stuffed balloons aren’t “back” — they never really left. They’re just gaining attention again because we’re finally recognizing the business model behind them.

For me, the biggest lesson wasn’t about balloons at all. It was about considering a product’s long-term potential instead of dismissing it based on one preconceived idea.

Listen to my full conversation with Marlene to learn how stuffed balloons could fit into your business, whether you want a new revenue stream or just a creative way to make your clients feel seen.