4 JUNE 4, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Glendale’s Candy Twisted Balloons
spreads smiles during quarantine
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Candy Brigham, owner of Candy
Twisted Balloons, is determined
to help people celebrate special
moments like graduations and birthdays
during quarantine with incredible,
personalized balloon creations
by prioritizing sanitation and social
distance.
“These events are really important
to people and they’re more important
now than they ever were before,”
Brigham said.
Brigham began her business seven
years ago, after transitioning from
an administrative job to entertainment.
She began with magic shows
then her hand-crafted balloon pieces
took center stage. The 50-year-old
runs her business from her home in
Glendale, where she’s lived for more
than 20 years, with the help of her
family and husband Ade Brigham.
Brigham said this time of year
is the busiest for her, whether it’s
booking events at Rego Center mall
or graduations — but once New York
went on lockdown in March, that all
changed.
“Every single event in May got canceled,
and then after that all of my
events for the rest of the year were
canceled,” she said.
But Brigham kept creating and
working within the community.
Slowly, more and more people have
reached out for her services. She’s
currently working on a giant arch
for a school out on Long Island, after
school administrators saw an Eiffel
Tower she created in celebration of
a 16-year-old’s birthday.
“They want a a double car drivethrough
arch,” Brigham said.
“They’re going to have a drivethrough
graduation so the kids are
going to drive into the arches and
it’ll be like a little parade.”
Although Brigham makes the
arches and columns people usually
associate with ballon art, what
makes her creations special is the
customized approach she adds to
every piece.
“There’s a personal connection
to the balloons,” she said. “Usually
I incorporate something about the
person, and if it’s not the person
themselves, their hobbies, their interest,
their favorite movies, theater
shows.”
One of her recent pieces include
a Mets-themed birthday balloon,
which her client said “makes even a
50-year-old feel special.”
Another client, Lisa K., recently
Photo courtesy of Candy Twisted Balloons
ordered a Minecraft-themed balloon
piece for her son’s eighth birthday,
who she said was “so happy to share
it with his classmates virtually” and
is “still playing with balloons a week
later.”
“Since my son Alexander’s birthday
party was canceled due to the
current COVID-19 pandemic, I knew
that I wanted to do something extra
special for his eighth birthday on
May 16,” Lisa K. wrote in a testimonial,
adding that she didn’t show
Brigham any photos of what they
wanted but just gave her an idea.
“She was very creative with making
the Minecraft character Steve and
a Creeper. She created an awesome
sword that was later easily removed,
which my son loved playing with.
Alexander was absolutely surprised
and thrilled with his Minecraft balloon
sculpture!”
Lisa K. added the piece was still
intact a week later.
In order to safely continue the
business, Brigham said she did
extensive research about how to
properly sanitize balloons, which
involves wiping down the balloons
with Lysol and alcohol.
It hasn’t been easy for her to secure
supplies, as there have been
shortages as well as delays, but being
a certified balloon artist has helped
her find what she needs for the time
being.
“The CDC actually has formulas
out there for you to make proper
hand sanitizer,” she said. “I saw how
I can make an alcohol-based spray
that I can use and it’s wonderful. I
spray my balloons down with it before
I deliver them, so I feel totally
comfortable and safe with handing
a balloon to a 90-year-old lady.”
She also uses acrylic paint for her
art, as Sharpie (which she’s seen
used in other balloon pieces on
social media) dissolves with alcohol
or Lysol.
Brigham is careful to wear masks,
gloves and take 10 steps back when
dropping off the balloons at people’s
doorsteps. She said as someone who
has elderly people and people with
pre-existing conditions in her family
even before the COVID crisis,
hygiene is “of the utmost importance”
during this pandemic.
And so is bringing people in quarantine
some sunshine.
Brigham plans to offer driveway
and yard social distance fun and
magic shows with sanitized balloons
for the summer.
“To get through this whole thing,
so we don’t have a second wave like
they’ve experienced in other places,
we have to be safe. We have to be
careful,” Brigham said. “And it’s
good to stay within your community.
I’m building up trust within my community
so people feel safe, and they
feel comfortable.”
For more information, visit Candy
Twisted Balloons’s website at www.
candytwistedballoons.com.
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