17/09/2026
b u c k l e • u p • s h e ‘s • a • R E A D … 🤍📖👩🏽🏫🎈
This number balloon has been sat on my desk since the end of April… with the intention to create a post to acknowledge my 8th year in business in plenty time on the 3rd June!
We’re now on the 17th September! 3 months and a bit later 🙃 Truth be told, life is • l i f i n g . June came, the end of term chaos came, the Summer holidays passed in a flash, quickest one yet, busy times. And I had a P1 starter in amongst all the School orders 🥹 And then a 9th Birthday for Evie the first week of school, then just 3 weeks later, a 5th Birthday for Ayda too. So not only being Mum, juggling the holidays, running the business, planning for my own girls birthdays, trying to make theirs extra special and trying to look after me too. And as much as I’d like to come up for some air now, the pressure of getting Christmas Designs out is next on the list. When my brain is personally still trying to play catch up and just process the past few months and I just want to breathe, literally breathe 🫠 can anyone relate?! Being in this type of event industry is relentless, always having to be one step ahead with Seasons. And yes, once upon a time, you could say I was ‘on it’. And would have already had designs up by now…
But yes • E I G H T • Y E A R S • as, The Personalised Assistant 🥰 Incredibly proud of my achievement and extremely thankful to all those who support me and my business. Behind the polished photos on here is a lot of hard graft, time, patience, care. Some breakdowns and self doubt along the way. I take pride in the work I produce, the morals I have about being creative in this industry and the consistency I have shown. The consistency in my brand, my reputation, and most of all, my originality.
But jumping back to my point of the pressure of Christmas. In what is now, a massively diluted industry, where everyone seems to be ‘doing balloons’ - ‘learning’ online (do Marks & Spencer dish out their recipes and tricks of the trade to Tesco and Asda?!) have a business as a sideline, and still have a proper wage coming in, but let’s remember those who aren’t even properly registered or doing things by the book.. those simply doing a ‘copy and paste’ of other people’s work. Surely in a creative industry you want to be creative with your own mind?! And not just make a ‘quick buck’. Yes taking inspiration is great - if you make it your own and credit properly!!! But honestly, it exhausts me, seeing the same designs being punted out for ‘The Return’ this year …. And a race to the bottom with prices!! And what’s worst still, the amount of people using AI to create balloon images to sell their products (they haven’t even taken the time to create their own designs yet) or even worse still, stealing other people’s images and posting that too. People who charge cheap are completely devaluing balloon art. So when you come to a proper business, an owner that earns their living from their craft, with years of experience, quality products, morals… they can be seen as too expensive. Because people struggle to put the value towards the person and the time because others charge cheaper. Or you can buy balloons cheap from the typical bargain sites.
You can absolutely take offence to this. I appreciate it’s a post close to the bone and could prove controversial. But funnily enough, all these words have been typed up from my heart and I say it with CHEST…not chat GPT! My image here is mine. It’s not AI. I’ve taken time to create this, and time to type this up. And read it over and over again. I’m in the minority these days. But I’m happy to stay there, I’m happy to be an OG. And I will always respect and support those with standards. It sits right with my morals. Maybe I’m the busy fool?! But this is my full time job, my wage, my living. I’m passionate. I care. Maybe too deeply. But this is what I’ve built, from the ground, up. This is what I’m holding on to. Throughout family life and working it around my girls. Grateful 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
Did you spot him? 👀❤️
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Did you spot my creativity within the photo that relates to my post? Peach Number and Grey Text (to relate to my brand) Crayon (to relate to school) Balloons & Paper Chains (to relate to my girls birthdays) and Mr Balloon Elf (to relate to The Return 2026) 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼
If you’re still here and made it… THANK YOU SO MUCH 😅 that’s me said my piece for another year, and maybe I’ll finally get caught up with posting all my photos from 2025 onwards 🤣🤣… famous last words!
Peace and LOVE,
Jennifer, The PA x🩶🍑
