balloons

[elaine_l]

Anyone done ballons at a party? Am I better off renting a helium tank or buying "ready made"?

[Jill]

I picked up a disposable helium tank at Sam's Club for $22. It came with a bag of multi-colored latex balloons. I used it for decorating at a Class reunion, so I bought specific colored balloons at Paper Warehouse. Paper Warehouse had the identical helium tank for $30. They also had mylar balloons and the skinny balloons to make balloon animals. If latex is an issue, it might be more cost effective to purchase the mylar balloons prefilled.

[suzska]

I'm not sure, but I think that Target/Wal-Mart might also carry a tank like that. I never got one, but I know a friend use to get them somewhere like that for parties.

[loomis1]

We bought a tank at Wal-Mart and extra balloons. The tank was $19 or $20. I think the up side to using a tank is that you don't have to transport dozens of filled balloons in your car. One less thing to go do before the party. Prices are pretty competitive otherwise.

[elaine_l]

I ended up calling a local party store and buying 20 helium-filled balloons "premade," with ribbon strings. I got my choice of colors (I picked 4 different ones) and they cost 60 cents each, any quantity.

(They would deliver any number of balloons for a flat $10 additional, but I picked them up myself.)

It worked out great. For $12 my daughter got more balloons than she ever imagined, and the look on her face when I arrived home with them was priceless. We put them on the ceiling in the living room, and they made a nice 'forest' with all the ribbons hanging down. She screeched and ran and jumped and danced and played for an hour nonstop... until the guests arrived and she was a bit shy. :)

The guests liked them, too. It WAS kind of fun to play in the ribbons, and make the balloons bob up and down, and.... :)

[cluelesswonder]

One caveat on the balloons whether picked up or DIY - the latex ones only last between 6-8 hours (employee at Party City let me into this secret). They actually will stay afloat for about 18 hours, but they start to lose the "shininess and fullness" at about 6-8 hours. I ended up ordering 3 dozen balloons from Party City for $3/dz - really cheap! I didn't have the time or space to spend a couple of hours blowing up helium balloons since we were doing a party at a food court where a kids concert was being held. I also bought a special extra large Sun mylar balloon for my daughter and tied it to her chair - she felt extra special! I did have some trouble fitting the balloons into the minivan though. I completely forgot how much space they would take up! Luckily my DD was asleep and didn't notice being surrounded by the balloons. After the party, each child ended up with a few balloons each and the rest came home to my DD's room. The ribbon forest was a great treat and she was so excited she jumped and danced around for about an hour afterwards -more excited than at the BD party!

This year, I may try to have them in her rooom for when she wakes up. Not sure how I can do that though timing wise.