I finally hunted down the 36" balloons needed. There aren't many places in England selling them yet. Some though, are selling them online for as much as £8 for ONE.
Glosticks have packs of six for £12.50.
They arrived the next day and with much excitement I contacted our local party shop who quoted me £50 per balloon for the helium, or the hire of helium canisters of which I'd need six at £48 each. They take the same amount of helium as about 40 regular size balloons. They also have an enormous opening and the shop didn't even have a canister adaptor that size so couldn't guarantee it would work.
It was the same story from three other shops and an online hire company. I have neither the money nor inclination to spend £300 on inflatable gas for six balloons!
So, putting aside my plans for beautiful Geronimo! style fringing, I had to come up with a different plan and blew them up, then using fishing line/clear jewellery thread I suspended the balloons from the ceiling over our dining table in an attempt to make them look as though they were floating.
We also took them down to the beach for some fun photos. See previous posts here and here.
They were absolutely worth every penny of the £12.50 I spent on them. I'm not sure I would be saying that if I'd paid for the helium too though. I can see why Jihan charges what at first seems quite a lot per balloon.
If you do buy these and blow them up, I did notice that they shrunk a little each day. The first evening for my birthday dinner they were huge and then gradually shrank so bear that in mind if using them for a party. The photos here were taken on the third day.
I was disappointed not to earn my first balloon trooper stripe but we had fun anyway.
{a couple of grainy phone photos have snuck in there. sorry}
That is a *ridiculous* amount of money for helium!
ReplyDeleteThey look super-purdy though so you win! ;)
Aww they look fantastic! I'd love to hunt down some and play with them.
ReplyDeleteDevon xx
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