Inviting Helium To Your Kid’s Birthday Party

It’s your son fourth birthday and you want to celebrate the occasion with a great party in the garden. Looking for that unique touch for the event? Why not try balloons? They come in many designs and colours and are also very affordable whilst offering a fun and festive look.

Helium balloons are children’s favourite because they stay floating in the air for a long time, plus you can save your lungs! A cost-effective option is filling them by yourself – instead of purchasing them. We’ll tell you everything you need to know!

Refillable or Disposable?

These are the options whenever you want to rent a helium canister, and you might wonder what the difference between these two is. The question here is, how many balloons are you going to need? Disposable canisters are smaller whereas refillable canisters can have a capacity of 20L.

When in doubt, we advise you to go with the bigger canister. The amount of helium doesn’t just depend on the number of balloons you want to fill but also in the quantity of helium you want to put inside each one of them (and this can also vary).

What Kind of Balloon?

You probably entered the party shop thinking about buying yellow and purple balloons because these are your child’s favourite colours (at least this month!). Once inside though, you became overwhelmed with the vast choice of balloons you can actually acquire, all with different sizes, colours and materials…

Latex

This is by far the most popular kind of balloons. In their standard size, they stay floating for two to five days. If you want them to stay longer on the air, you can always use special products that will make them float up to 25 times longer.

Big Size

The maximum size for a balloon is around 24” and 36”. Their neck is bigger than normal, so you can use an adaptor to fill them with the canister. However, you can also hold the neck of the balloon tightly around the nozzle whilst you fill it, and then tie it as you would do with a standard balloon.

When a 36” balloon is filled with helium, it can pull a weight of around 750lbs. Because of this, large balloons are quite difficult to control. For instance, it may not be a good idea to use them for your four-year-old birthday party as, unless they are properly tethered, they will escape pretty quickly!

There is a trick you can use to manage balloons this size, though. You can inflate half of each balloon with normal air, then the other half using helium. In this way, they’d be easier to control (the only downside is that they will only stay on air only for a few hours instead of days).

Tiny Balloons

A small balloon is usually around 5”. Because they are so small, anything can sink them, so make sure you use a very light string to tie them (cotton is a good idea). They look especially cute if you add them as a decoration on top of the cake.

Your child’s birthday is a very special occasion (they grow so fast!) so you want to make it a lovely memory that will stay with him forever. Helium balloons are a cheap yet great idea – and if you want to fill them yourself, why not rent one of our refillable or disposable helium canisters?  We have sizes ranging from 2L to 20L and you can buy them over the phone or online.  Contact our friendly team with any enquiry and we’ll be happy to help! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more interesting updates.