So here’s some backstory.

In… 2009, I got this idea. “What if we blew up like, 2010 balloons and filled a room with them for New Year’s?”

I proposed this to some friends. After the initial “ARE YOU CRAZY? NO!” I get a call a few hours later that goes “So I found a website where you can buy a ton of balloons for really cheap.”

Fast forward to now, and it has become a tradition. My friends and I spend a few days blowing up about 2050 balloons (we always do some extra because poppage does happen) with air compressors and duct tape on our fingers to prevent chafing from the latex; we’re all really good at tying balloons now. And then we number however many the year will be. Hence, this year we numbered up to 2013. And we fill a room and turn it into a giant, static-y ball pit. It’s enormous fun, and when you turn the lights out and get under the sea of balloons, you can see all the static zipping about. (we keep it all in with plastic on the doors and velcro)

We hang up the current year balloon, and the new year balloon, and at midnight we pop the old year balloon to send it out with a bang, as it were.

And then at like, 1am we start popping the others to clean up, and hope the neighbors don’t call the police.