Shopping For Birthday Balloons

Answer 1

Most people are familiar with birthday balloons. Rubber balloons are filled with helium or air and come in a variety of colors. Mylar balloons are most often filled with helium; they have a metallic sheen, and have a variety of designs printed on them.

Rubber balloons are also called latex balloons. These balloons often do not last long, because the helium leaks out through tiny pores in the rubber. Filling the balloon with plain air will cause it to last much longer, but of course, such balloons will not float. On the other hand, you may not want your balloons to last long past the birthday celebration; random balloons floating around the house can be annoying. If you do want them to last, however, and you prefer rubber balloons, you can ask if your store has any balloons that have been treated with Hi Float. Hi Float is a substance used to coat the inside of rubber balloons to prevent the helium from leaking out. Balloons treated with Hi Float last up to 25 times longer than regular balloons.

If you want to go the mylar route, you’ll have a lot of options. There are many shapes and colors available. There are many super-sized mylar balloons as well, which can be exciting to receive. Mylar balloons also last much longer than untreated rubber balloons, because there are few tiny holes for the helium to slip through. Some can even last for several weeks! Be careful with mylar balloons around power lines, however; they can conduct electricity, and balloons that come in contact with the lines are often the cause of outages.

Be careful around children with any balloons, because they can be a choking hazard when they’re uninflated or have burst. In addition, resist the temptation to breathe in the helium; when you breathe in helium, you’re not breathing in air, so it’s like you’re not breathing at all. You can asphyxiate, even die. And that wouldn’t make for a very happy birthday at all.