Balloons To Go wherever you need on Valentine’s Day

Balloons To Go wherever you need on Valentine’s Day

By Jefferson Siegel

On Valentine’s Day Eve, a small storefront on 17th St. between Seventh and Eighth Aves. was buzzing with activity. A few steps down from street level, people were inflating balloons, creating gift baskets and preparing for one of their busiest days of the year.

At Balloons To Go, Valentine’s Day is as important a holiday as New Year’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day. On Tuesday, several people sat in front of five-foot-high tanks of helium, pressing balloon after balloon onto a nozzle and watching them inflate.

“This is like a mini-New Year’s,” said Diane Allen, an employee for two years, as she gathered dozens of balloons floating against the ceiling and tied them into bunches. Nearby, Latroy Ward and Tiffany Stewart filled mylar balloons covered with Valentine’s-themed inscriptions like “I Love You,” “Happy Valentine’s Day” and even several bearing the romance-inspiring likeness of Homer Simpson.

During the course of the day, the inflation team expected to fill at least several thousand balloons. As the assembly line covered the ceiling with more and more balloons, manager Kathy Fahey kept calling out orders for more. “We’ve got to start working on the restaurant order,” she said as she walked between the inflation room and the office. Fahey, who used to work at the Atlantic City casinos, has been working at Balloons To Go for almost two years. “I thought it would be a happy environment, because everyone likes balloons,” she explained.

In the office, owner Ellen Forman sat at her desk answering a phone that didn’t stop ringing. Forman, who grew up in New York, started a business in the 1980s that dispatched belly-dancers as human greeting cards. The man who then owned Balloons To Go contracted for her services. When he retired in 1986, Forman bought Balloons To Go and has watched the business rise like a helium-filled balloon ever since.

“Valentine’s Day has changed over the years,” Forman said as she walked under a clutch of bright-red heart-shaped balloons. “We used to do 150 to 200 deliveries, small orders to offices. Now, we mostly deliver to restaurant customers, 100, 300, 500 balloons.” Forman employs a staff of five full- and part-timers, but for holidays like Valentine’s Day, her staff triples.
Valentine’s Day, however, is not their busiest holiday. New Year’s sees 25,000 balloons float out their door to clubs, restaurants and private parties.

“We’re the only balloon company in Chelsea,” she said after taking another phone order. “We do helium tank rentals, custom imprints, custom orders.” Balloons To Go also delivers for television shows and movie sets. Recent clients included the Rosie O’Donnell Show and the Denzel Washington movie “The Manchurian Candidate.”

The company doesn’t keep banker’s hours either. “We’ll be here at three in the morning if you need us,” Forman said. “We’re customer-service oriented.”

Their selection is impressive. Every conceivable message of love and affection seemed to cover the shiny mylar balloons floating overhead. Gift baskets that can be added to balloons are filled with teddy bears, Dove chocolates and an assortment of candy.

As evening fell and the balloons continued to rise, Fahey stuck her head in the door of the inflation room. “Everyone be here tomorrow at 5:30,” she called out. Tomorrow, after all, would be Valentine’s Day and there were thousands of inflatable messages of love that had to be filled.