How to Make a Honeycomb Ball Party Swag! 

Talk about a huge impact and drama with little cost!!  This giant swag made from honeycomb ball puffs and was a cinch to make.  Every year for the past few years I’ve been doing large installations for the crafting conference Snap.  We have done ombre helium balloons, paper chevron panels, balloon arches and now a darling honeycomb swag.  I definitely think this has been my favorite decor by far, and not because it was the easiest one to make!  (although it was the easiest one to make and install LOl)  It is the happiest swag I have ever seen, the colors the shapes the textures it’s so magical.  Ok, enough talk lets get to getting on how to make this giant party decor.

 

Where to get the honeycomb ball decor you ask?  I got mine from a few places  My favorite place was  OH Happy Day  They had the best selection, the best color combinations, and the most sizes.  However, they were the most money,  but worth it if you need certain colors.  I also got some from Just Artifacts  I know a weird name but they did have lots of the round balls for cheap!  I also found some on Amazon and a few at Zurchers.  disclaimer Zurchers had yucky colors online but might have cuter colors in store, didn’t check.  Once you get all your honeycomb balls you are going to need to put them together.

Honeycomb ball swag Step 1 add ribbon 

 

The first thing I did was to attach my own ribbon, one because this was being used for a large conference and I wanted it to look professional. and second I wasn’t sure how much of the base would show through and I wanted it to me as camouflaged as possible and third I neede a longer ribbon to tie some of the bigger honeycomb balls onto the balloon tape with. I began by cutting off the scrawny twine that comes with the honeycomb ball decorations and then I hot glued a16 inch ribbon folded in half that matches my puff.  It sounds hard but I watched one and a half Psych episodes and I was done with over a 100 honeycomb balls!   The extra length of ribbon also helped us to tie a bow in the balloon tape instead of a knot so that we could quickly dismantle the puffs after the conference. If we had to cut all the little pieces of twine after we were done it would have been a nightmare and we wanted to save the puff for other parties.

Honeycomb ball swag Step 2 paper clip them open 

I did not paper clip mine open for the conference, they come with sticky tape on them so I used the tape,  I needed to make sure my swag stayed perfect for three days of lots of people going by and kids trying to grab them down!!  and no they did not succeed thank goodness.  If I was using the honeycomb balls for a banister swag or around my door I would totally use a paperclip to keep them open, because then they are more reusable and won’t rip as easy when you take them apart.

Honeycomb ball swag step 3 tie to balloon tape 

Do you know what balloon tape is?  No?  ok, let me tell you what balloon tape is, it is 50 yard of a clear tape that has holes punched in it every inch and is used to make balloon arches.  I’ve used this for lots of balloon installations and its a lifesaver.  By having something to tie the balloon to it won’t slip and slid and move around like it would if we just tied them to a wire.  Speaking of wire you will need to thread a heavy gauge wire through ever 4th hole in the balloon tape. You need the wire to create a bendable swag and also it will give more stability to the swag, the honeycomb balls are a bit heavier then balloons.

I started by tieing the big Honeycomb balls into place and spaced them evenly apart then I just started filling in with the other honeycomb balls.  Use the big ones first no matter what the shape then fill in with the medium-sized ones.  wait till you install your swag to add the smaller ones in.  You need the small sizes 4-6 inch to fill in the holes.

Honeycomb ball swag step 4 hanging the swag

Sound hard to hang this swag?  Nope, not really we hung ours from the ceiling at the hotel with large paper clips in the airconditioner track. Ha Ha, but at home,e it is a bit easier.  I suggest using large 3 m hooks for at least 10lbs.  Use 5-8 hooks on your walls and then hang with a piece of ribbon that you tie at that exact spot of the hook,  you don’t want the hooks to be pulled from a weird angle, that might pop them off the wall.  If you are using your stair banister then do the same thing swag it up and tie into place with a piece of ribbon.  When I put my swag on my banister I just flopped one side over and tied it to the top.  If you want it around a door you can use the same 3m hooks attached to the wall alongside the moldings.

Honeycomb ball swag step 5 add the festooning 

Once you have this giant beast up you are ready to make it look perfect!  This is the time to see where your hole is and fill them up.  I loved the smaller honeycomb balls but you will get more wow factor if you use paper fans.  You can find the darling tissue paper fans from the same places you find the balls.  These fans look so lacy and give you another texture to play with.  if you are using a wall just tuck them in where you want them and tape into place.  if you hanging in a doorway then tie them to the back of the arch so that they peek out from the front.  I also added tissue paper fringe.  Its so darling and looks like macrame, it adds a cute boho look to the whole thing!

 

You guys that’s it. This project is big on drama and small on price. you could spend hundreds of dollars on a wedding photo booth or on fancy flowers.  This is just the right pop of fun that your party will need for maybe a hundred dollars or less.  and the best part is you can custom create the colors and then reuse these darling little honeycomb balls at your next party!  If you want more party ideas for you honeycomb puffs then come back in a few days when I post the cute freestanding balloon stands.  Until then I hope you have a happy day!

some links in this post may be affiliate links.  These link help to keep this blog up and running Thanks so much for supporting small crafters.