Balloon Template — Complete Guide

Balloon is a birthday page made of giant metallic foil balloons. On the cover, a huge foil number floats over the top corner of your cover photo (or, if you'd rather not show a number, a bunch of heart, star and round foil balloons), and its curling ribbons run down across the photo to a bow tied at its corner. Every section below hangs from a ribbon on a little foil tag, the countdown floats in printed balloons, your photos are lifted by balloons of their own and the reply card is tied like a present.

Balloon is one of Fotify's simpler designs: its look comes from one foil colour you choose — any colour at all — and how that foil catches the light.

This guide covers how Balloon looks, the options unique to it, how to apply it to your event, and how it lays out each section of your invitation.

Balloon is available on every plan, Free included.

For an overview of the template gallery and the picker, see How to Customize Your RSVP Invitation.

What makes Balloon different

Standard templates change colours and fonts over the same shared layout. Balloon replaces the layout itself: its own cover and closing, its own section heads, and its own treatment of the message, countdown, gallery, story, programme and reply.

Signature design elements

• A giant foil number — the number you type (an age, a year, a "100") drawn as an inflated foil balloon with a crimped seam, a glossy rim and a valve at the bottom. Leave it blank and a bunch of a heart, a star and a round balloon floats there instead. Balloon never works a number out for you
• Real foil — highlights, colour and deep reflections drawn in your colour, with a band of light gliding across the foil now and then
• Curling ribbons — from the cover balloons down to a bow, and from the top of every section down to the little foil tag that carries its label, so the page reads like strings of balloons from top to bottom
• One foil colour, three finishes — pick the colour from the suggested foils or from the colour picker, then choose chrome, pastel matte or holographic
• A light party or a party night — a pale room tinted with your foil, or a dark one that makes the foil glow
• Chunky, friendly type — your event name, titles and numbers in Fredoka, a round display face; everything you read in DM Sans
• Always readable — whatever colour you pick, even a pale yellow or a near-black, the text, the tags and the buttons are adjusted until they read clearly

When to choose Balloon

Balloon suits celebrations that want to feel festive, bright and a little bit shiny:

• Kids' birthdays — a first, fifth or tenth birthday with the age in a big foil number, in pink, mint or gold
• Milestone birthdays — a 30th, 40th or 50th, in chrome silver or rose gold on a party night
• Parties of any kind — leave the number blank for a bunch of balloons and rewrite the cover tag
• Baby showers and gender reveals — pastel matte foil in mint, pink or holographic blue

Whatever the occasion, the photos your guests take matter as much as the invitation. Guests can scan the event QR code and add their photos to the shared gallery. See how Fotify works for birthdays.

For a confetti-sprinkled party page, try Confetti. For a disco night under a mirror ball, try Glitterball.

Applying Balloon to your event

1. Open your event, click Invitation in the sidebar, then the Invitation tab
2. In Design Template, click Change template if the gallery is collapsed, and find Balloon under Designs (it is listed under the Birthday filter, and under Party and Baby shower too)
3. Optional: press Try it on to see Balloon with your own invitation details in the live preview — nothing is saved until you press Use this design
4. Or click the Balloon card to apply it straight away
5. Open Balloon options below the gallery to pick your foil and the other options described below. Changes save automatically

Balloon works on every plan. On free events a small "Made with Fotify" badge appears in the bottom corner of the invitation; any paid plan or an active subscription removes it.

Switching to another template later is non-destructive: your event content stays exactly as you entered it, and your Balloon options are kept in case you switch back.

Balloon options

Balloon has seven options of its own. They take the place of the standard colour and font controls, which Balloon doesn't use.

1. Foil colour

The colour of the balloons, their ribbons, the tags and the buttons. Pick it two ways:

• A suggested swatch — Rose gold (default), Silver, Gold, Holographic blue, Pink or Mint
• Pick any color — the last chip opens your device's colour picker, so you can match your party colours exactly. The colour's code is shown beside the chips

Any colour works. Balloon keeps the colour's hue and draws the shine and the shadows itself, so even a very dark or a very pale pick still makes a shiny balloon. A grey gives silver balloons. Tags and buttons use a deeper (or, on a party night, a lighter) shade of the same colour so their labels stay readable.

2. Finish

• Chrome (default) — bright highlights and deep reflections, like a classic foil balloon
• Pastel matte — a soft, low-shine foil, sweet for kids' parties and baby showers
• Holographic — the foil shimmers through the colours next to yours, like a hologram. Tags, buttons and ribbons stay in your own colour

3. Backdrop

• Light party (default) — a pale room in a tint of your foil, sprinkled with confetti dots
• Party night — a near-black room in the hue of your foil, where the balloons glow

4. Balloon number

The giant foil number on the cover, exactly as you type it: digits only, up to 3 (for example "1", "30" or "100"). Leave it blank to show a bunch of a heart, a star and a round balloon instead. Balloon never takes the number from your event's date or name.

5. Floating balloons

On by default: the balloons bob gently on their ribbons, the gallery photos sway and a band of light glides across the foil now and then. Turn it off for a still page. Guests whose device asks for reduced motion always see the page still.

6. Cover tag

The little foil tag above your event name (up to 60 characters). Leave it blank to use the default ("You're invited to a party"). Try "Mia is turning 5", "Dirty thirty" or "Surprise!".

7. Closing line

The big line at the end of the page (up to 80 characters). Leave it blank to use the default ("Let's celebrate").

Every piece of text Balloon prints on the invitation — the cover tag, the Count me in buttons, the section labels and titles, the countdown units, the closing line — can also be rewritten directly on the page: switch the live preview into edit mode and double-click the text. Section titles you have already set in their own settings (story, countdown, gifts, where to stay, getting there, FAQs) are edited in place the same way.

How each section is treated

Cover

Balloon's cover replaces the standard header. On a wide screen the text stands on one side and the balloons on the other; on a phone the balloons come first:

• Your cover photo in a white frame, slightly tilted, keeping the horizontal crop you set
• The foil number (option 4) or the bunch of balloons floating over the photo's top corner, their curling ribbons running down across the photo to a bow tied at its bottom corner. Without a cover photo the balloons float on their own over a soft glow, their ribbons gathered in a bow underneath
• The cover tag (option 6) tied with a bow, your event name in the round display face, the date and time and the place — the time follows the Show time setting of your invitation's cover, the date and the place follow Show date and Show location, and every guest sees the date you picked, whatever their time zone
• A Count me in button that scrolls to the RSVP form. It only appears when your RSVP section is visible, and never on a save-the-date page

Your event name is printed exactly as you typed it. Long names step down a size so they never break mid-word.

Section heads

Each section opens centred: a curling ribbon drops from above to a bow tied on a little foil tag with the section's label, then its title and, for the story and gifts, your subtitle or gift message.

Message — a note with a heart balloon

Your message on a white card (a dark one on a party night), centred at reading size, with a small foil heart balloon tied to the card's top corner by a bow. A long message aligns to the start of the line.

Countdown — printed balloons

Each unit — days, hours, minutes and, if you show them, seconds — is a round foil balloon with its number printed on it, bobbing on a ribbon down to a little tag with the unit's name. It counts down to your event's date and time in the venue's time zone, and shows your completed message once the moment arrives.

Gallery (Carousel) — photos lifted by balloons

Every photo in a white frame, tilted a little, hanging from its own small foil balloon on a short ribbon: a round, a heart and a star in turn. Two across on a phone, three on a wide screen (four when you have exactly four photos); a short last row is centred.

Story — tied along a ribbon

One long curling ribbon runs down the story, and each milestone is a card tied to it with a bow: its photo, its date on a foil pill, its title and its text. On a wide screen the ribbon runs down the middle with the cards on alternate sides; on a phone it runs down the side. A milestone without a photo is simply a shorter card.

Itinerary — balloon tags

Every moment is a gift tag: a foil end with a punched eyelet and the time, then the moment, its place and any note on the tag itself. The moments are grouped under each day's heading (only when the day has a date or a label). Your entry icons are not shown: the tag is Balloon's marker.

RSVP — a reply card tied like a present

The reply form sits on a card with a ribbon wrapped across its top, a bow at its corner and a foil heart balloon floating from the bow, under the section's tag, its title and your RSVP deadline. On a save-the-date page the card holds the save-the-date note instead of the form.

Gifts, Event Details, Location and Save the Date

These share their structure with Fotify's other picker-coloured designs, dressed in Balloon's rounded cards, foil buttons and ribbon heads:

• Gifts — every registry, payment option, charity and wishlist item on its own card, grouped under small labels when you offer more than one kind. Payment details sit in an inset box with a Copy button; pay links, scan-to-pay QR codes and wishlist reservations appear as buttons on each card
• Event Details — a card per topic: the dress code with your suggested and avoided colours as swatches, where to stay and getting there as small cards (with a Book button where you added a link), and the FAQ as questions that open on tap
• Location — a map card beside an address card with your address, your directions and an Open in Maps button. When a map can't be shown, the map card draws a pin with the venue's coordinates; without coordinates the address card spans the row
• Save the Date (Calendar) — one card with the title, the event date and Google, Apple (downloads the calendar file) and Outlook buttons

Closing

The bunch of balloons once more, their ribbons gathered in a bow over your closing line (option 7), the date and place, and a last Count me in button.

Sections that use the shared layout

These sections keep Fotify's shared layout and are dressed in Balloon's style:

• Photo upload, QR code, Table assignment, Playlist, Sub-events, Special treatments and custom sections

Each sits in the same column as the rest of the page on a rounded card, with titles in the round display face and buttons in your foil. Photos in custom sections are capped in height so a tall portrait never takes over the page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can Balloon show the age automatically? A: No. Balloon only shows the number you type in Balloon number, so nothing on the page is ever guessed from your event's date or name. Leave it blank for the bunch of balloons.

Q: Can I type letters or a word in the balloon number? A: No — the foil number takes digits only, up to three. Put words in the Cover tag instead ("Sweet sixteen", "Happy birthday Mia").

Q: I picked a pale colour. Why are the buttons darker than my foil? A: The balloons keep your colour as it is, with shine and shadows drawn around it, but tags and buttons use a deeper shade of the same colour so their labels stay readable. On a party night they use a lighter shade with a dark label instead.

Q: Does Balloon work for adults as well as kids? A: Yes. A chrome silver or rose gold foil on a party night with a "30" or "40" suits a grown-up party; pastel matte pink or mint on a light party suits a first birthday or a baby shower.

Q: Does Balloon work in right-to-left languages? A: Yes. In Hebrew and Arabic the layout mirrors: the balloons float over the other corner of the photo, the ribbons and the story mirror, and the tags point the other way. The foil number always reads left to right, and the cover photo's crop stays as you set it.

Q: Does the page move? A: Only gently: the balloons bob, the gallery photos sway and the light glides across the foil. Turn Floating balloons off for a still page; guests whose device asks for reduced motion always see it still.

Next steps

• See How to Customize Your RSVP Invitation for the template gallery and how to try a design on before applying it
• Compare the other party designs: Confetti, a confetti-sprinkled party page, or Glitterball, a disco night under a mirror ball
• Let guests share their photos with a QR code: read about Fotify for birthdays and digital invitations with RSVP

Need help? Get in touch through the in-dashboard help widget.