Balloon by balloon, decoration by decoration, Meg Rainey (11) makes parties “pop” with her hand crafted balloon arches.
Rainey founded Balloons by Meg; her balloon arch business where she makes backdrops for any occasion. Rainey made her first arch in the fall of her eighth grade year, but her online business has only been up a few weeks and can be found on Instagram.
“I had my first ever party I hosted, it was a Friendsgiving party and I was like ‘Oh, let’s make a backdrop for taking photos’ and once I did one, now it’s like every single party has to have one.” Rainey said.
Rainey feels her balloon arches have come a long way since she made her first one. She has certain themes she likes creating for, but also enjoys any kind of theme. She is currently working on a Halloween-themed arch.
“I feel like I lean more towards the girlie birthday, but I love a good theme,” Rainey said.
Rainey even made the balloon arch and backdrop for the basketball homecoming dance during the past 2022-2023 school year. Rainey’s business could conflict with her school work, as she builds the balloon arches on her own time, but she doesn’t let it.
“It’s not that time consuming … it doesn’t really bother me. You just can’t procrastinate [on] ordering the supplies,” Rainey said
Right now, most of her clientele comes from her church and parties for the kids of her mom’s friends, but Balloons by Meg is not Rainey’s only passion. In college, she wants to pursue event planning and interior design and hopes her business grows enough to make a profit, but not so big a profit that she would be pulled in too many directions.
“I would love for it to, like, get big and stuff, but I’m enjoying it being small and I love the Instagram content of it, because I can do whatever I want with it without it being (too) personal,” Rainey said.
