Confetti Magic is frequently asked whether they can make custom confetti for an event and the answer is of course, ‘yes we can’. Unfortunately there are a number of critical restrictions that quite often put the brakes on the whole idea. ‘We hate to say no’ say Ian Woodroof, M.D. at Confetti Magic, ‘so I’ve produced a few guidelines to let event organisers know what can and can’t be done and how long it takes’. ‘The bottom line is, the longer you give us, the easier and less stressful it is for everyone’…
For this purpose of this article, I’m only going to look at tissue and Mylar (metallic) confetti. This is the type of confetti you will see launched from cannons at theatrical stage shows, product launches and music tours.
The ‘easiest’ is custom cut confetti. This involves first making a cutter. A simple outline like a butterfly or petal is best and these can be made around 5cm across. The more detail required, the larger the pieces of confetti have to be. We can include cut-outs within the shape subject to the overall dimensions. For example, the Paul van Dyk ‘PVD’ metallic confetti is 9cm x 6cm to maintain the detail. Prices start at £850 + vat for 10kg.
Both tissue and Mylar work equally well and the material colour can be mixed if required. The minimum order is 10kg of one shape and takes up to 4 weeks for delivery.
Custom printed tissue confetti is the next favourite, but is subject to a hefty 100kg minimum order. It is therefore only really suitable for music tours, longer theatre runs and multi event product launches.
Because the paper is so light, it has to be screen printed and cut by hand. Machines cannot cope with the thin paper and it is simply not worth while setting everything up for less than this. A one sided, single colour print on a single colour paper is the cheapest option. We can mix the paper colour but not the ink colour within one print run. The confetti is cut into squares or rectangles depending on the shape of the printed image. These are typically around 2.5cm x 5cm rectangles or 4cm x 4cm squares. Prices start at £3000 + vat for 100kg. Delivery takes at least 6 weeks.
Two colour/three colour prints can be made but this pushes the price up as each colour is printed separately by-hand.
We can print and die cut at the same, so if you would like a circle with your logo centred on it, that’s not a problem. This has to be a single colour print only and we have to make a cutter as well, so again, this costs a little more.
Double sided printing is a new addition to the range. We recently printed double sided confetti bank notes for a pantomime with Shane Ritchie on one side and ‘Lord Mayor Loadsamoney’ on the back. Because of the flame retardant paper we use, the print on one side is crisper than the print on the other, so simple, bold images or words will work best on the back.
Multiple confetti designs may be possible within one print run providing we can fit them on a single sheet of paper and each design is the same size for cutting.
When the Commonwealth Games organisers contacted us requiring over 400 different designs printed on postcard sized confetti, a different approach was needed.
We printed these digitally, allowing us to print a single ream of paper of each set of designs. This method also allows us to print in full colour. The minimum order is 1 ream of paper. This equates to around 3.5kg of cut confetti, enough for just one event. The set-up costs and production costs are high, so you would still be looking at a starting price of around £1000 + vat. Delivery takes at least 6 weeks.
Custom confetti is a fantastic way to get your message across to a vast number of people in a unique and fun way. That fact that it is not easy to do makes it all the more unusual and offers you the means to make your event or production different from the rest.
If you would like any advice or a specific quote, please contact Confetti Magic on 01582723502