confetti is expensive...

[blue]

I believe I'm wasting money needlessly on buying commercial confetti. I could buy few more mini electric confetti blowers by now for what I've spent so far.
I understand for larger clubs or events in bulk the cost might not be an issue anymore, but it sure is for me.

Sellers claim their confetti is made of special lighter material, but honestly it's just looks like shredded/punched mylar and tracing paper to me...

Wikipedia says confetti can be made with paper shredders but the ones I've checked so far make too small of pieces.

[White-Light]

You'll struggle to find an office type shredder that comes anything close to commercial confetti sizes. On MagicFX the confetti they sell is 55mm x 17mm.

By contrast most shredders shred to around 4-5mm wide strips (usually by 30mm). The ones that shred larger are home machines generally and have poor through put, capacity and limited operating time, even then they don't come close to 55x17.

I believe Confetti commercially is produced via die cutting not shredding.

[Shawnb]

And don't forget if indoors you should be using fire retardant confetti

[Laser Wizardry]

" 15 characters"

[Bradfo69]

As a venue manager.... this sort of talk makes me shudder a little since, me and my staff are the ones who usually have to clean up the crap after this sort of thing.

So, maybe you also know the answer to this... Karl, how in the hell did they clean up 500 pounds of confetti? I've used leaf blowers to get things like flower petals and small amounts of confetti in a pile to sweep up and vacuum but, for something that size I can't fathom how they do it.

[Laser Wizardry]

" 15 characters"

[Bradfo69]

Be glad we are talking about confetti and not glitter.... My 4 year old once filled her pockets with glitter at school unbeknownst to me. I did not discover this until after running the washing machine for what was the first of almost a dozen wash cycles that day.

My story like that was (as a kid) I left a bunch of Crayola crayons in my pockets while we were on a vacation in Canada with another family. We'd all been out for a day trip to Ottawa and everyone had worn nicer clothes. When we got back to the cabin and the mom's did laundry... everyone's clothes came out with Technicolor polka dots. THAT took a lot of loads and an expensive laundry detergent to fix.

Should I mention that it was absolutely POURING RAIN?

After I posted the question, it occurred to me you may have been outside with the biodegradable ones. My mind immediately was thinking inside.

edit: Brad- Isnt that what cleaning deposits are for? I've been a promoter and venue manager both before, and I can remember at least one occasion where the ravers trashed the place so bad I didn't even bother and let the venue keep my $2000 cleaning deposit knowing full well that they guy that venue hired only charged them $500. And I recall more than once where I quite literally went to home depot for some "parking lot day laborers" to clean a theatre after the people that rented our venue left it trashed, also at great profit to my boss the venue owner.

Good point. I have actually thought about charging a cleaning deposit because there are certainly some events where you don't even expect to have a mess and then, when the event is over it's trashed and you're shampooing cake icing out of the carpets and have gum and candy wrappers and all sorts of crap around you didn't expect.

[Laser Wizardry]

" 15 characters"

[Bradfo69]

Wow! That's substantial! I'd want a client that could afford to replace our carpets! I hate them to begin with but, I think we're stuck with them until they're totally worn out. We're talking about 7,000 square feet

[dsli_jon]

...(as a kid) I left a bunch of Crayola crayons in my pocket...everyone's clothes came out with Technicolor polka dots.

..Reminds me of the time (as a kid..) my Sisters and I were very-amused that the Family Dog seemed to like the taste of them, so... Guess what 'technicolor party favors' were on the lawn the next day? LMAO, Quite amusing.. (Hope 'PETA' doesn't read this post..

..Don't forget the 'joys' of extricating confetti from: YOUR fogger-fan guts / Projector-fans (even 'all-external', like on our RGBs..) and in your PC-case / Roadcases (how the * did it get in here?? etc, etc.. Confetti is second-only to *Styrofoam peanuts* on the 'Top-Ten products invented by the Devil'-scale..

j