Well we've finally finished the new website. we've put up all the shelves, given everything a lick of paint and oiled all the rusty hinges and we think we're ready to go!

So we'd like to welcome you to the new look 81 Red Balloons website. We hope you like it!

We became Balloon Decorators because it's fun, we really enjoy what we do and even if you don't need our decorating services (yet!) we hope you enjoy coming back to our site to see what we've been up to, and joining in with some of the fun stuff we've got lined up for the future.

We've posted a few articles over the last couple of months to warm us up with the whole blog thing and fill in a bit of background for anyone who hasn't got to know us yet, so take a scroll through the archives and check it out :)

Everythings been posted in date order which means that you'll always see the most recent entries on the home page so the further back you go, the more you'll know. :)

Thanks for coming to www.81redballoons.co.uk and we hope you have as much fun reading about our antics as we had doing them!

Welcome to our world - The 81 Red Balloons team :)

Well it made us laugh!
(click on the image to see it in full detail)

:)

Don't Panic! We don't mean real cats; we love 'em and would never do anything to hurt the real thing. However... we have just over a hundred of the most revolting ornamental cats you have ever seen - unless you know different! (If you've ever come across anything worse please send us photos!)

We hate them! We inherited them when we bought our shop, just over two years ago, and no matter how hard we try we just can't get rid of them. The previous owner of Number 81 who shall remain nameless (in case we get sued!) seemed to think that buying 130 of these was a good idea! In his infinite wisdom he put them in the shop for sale for £3.95 each - guess how many he sold?

They are designed to sit on a shelf at a jaunty little angle, looking ready to pounce, however most of them don't balance, and their eyes have been stuck in with so much glue they all look like they've got a bad dose of conjunctivitis.

So your mission... should you choose to accept it - is to help us find ways of destroying them and clearing a bit of space in our shed once and for all.

If you've got any interesting or unusual ways to get rid of these cats drop Jade an e-mail at jade@postalgifts.com and if we like your idea we will send you a cat free of charge to try it out on. All we ask in return is that you send us photographs of the deed being done, and we'll publish the pics on our website.

For instance - do you have?

A Steamroller that could crush one?
A Nuclear reactor to drop one into?
A Plane to drop it out of?
Are you going on holiday somewhere that has a large gorge, or cliffs they can be thrown from?

Use your imagination and put us out of our misery, there is a choice of colour you can have a ginger, black or Siamese style if you have any preference please let Jade know when you e-mail her.

Thanks - the Number 81 Team

Number 81 is very pleased to welcome another new member of our team – Jade. Jade is a cross between a Border Collie and a Springer Spaniel, not the sanest of breeding, but extremely loveable none the less. We have been told that a cross like this is generally known as a Spollie or a Caniel, but we’re not convinced someone wasn’t pulling our leg! What do you think? Answers to jade@postalgifts.com please.

Originally a rescue dog, Jade came to us from the Diana Brimblecombe Animal Rescue Centre in Wokingham and is officially Alison, John and Holly's dog, but Cathy gets a chance at surrogate dog ownership when she gets the urge, and since recovering from the initial shock of finding a dog in HIS house Smodge pretty much ignores her, unless she gets near his food!

Although frustrated at being denied the opportunity to regularly chase the 'in house' cat, Jade has settled into Number 81 fairly well, despite an overwhelming fear of loud noises which can be a bit of a problem when your business revolves around blowing up balloons and you live five minutes down the road from a huge RAF base that flies Chinook helicopters, has bird scarers - reminiscent of gunfire on every flight path and a penchant for celebrating everything with fireworks! But she's coping a little better now, and given time, affection and possibly therapy, we all hope she will have a long happy life with us in Odiham