What's the cheapest way to fill up a bunch of helium balloons?

[ErinAndTonic]

My friends hen weekend is coming up and I've got like 40-50 balloons I want to fill up with helium. A quick google and I'm horrified at how bloody expensive it is, hobbycraft want £5 a balloon 😨

People of mumsnet where do you go for helium balloon filling? I can see there are several options but I'm looking for the cheapest as I'm already spending a ton on this!

I have ordered all the balloons from AliExpress so don't have the option of filling them wherever I've bought them from.

TIA 😊😊

I think you can buy your own cannister from any party shop. But helium is finite so it's considered to be the very breath of the devil.

Please don't. Really bad for the environment.

They can harm wildlife if they're lost or released deliberately.

www.argos.co.uk/sd/helium-canister/

Buy your own canister a large one should be enough £35/40

Or fill with air and attach balloon sticks so they stand up straight

Would it be cheaper to get a canister instead of paying per balloon. You can get a one from argos that clames to fill 50 balloons for £40. You could probably find it for less if you shop around.

So awful for the environment, and the waste of helium. Please just don’t

Please say this is for indoors, you're not planning to release them outside are you?

My local cake shop will fill a helium balloon up for £1

Please please please please please please please Please please please please please please please Please please please please please please please Please please please please please please please

dont have Helium balloons

appalling waste of a precious, finite medical resource

terrible for the environment

You can buy a can for about thirty quid and fill them yourself, though as pp said, Helium is a finite commodity that is better used in MRI scanners etc and would be best not wasted in balloons.

For filled balloons card factory would be cheapest

You probably know this already but you need helium-specific balloons; ones designed for air won't work

just no, why are people still doing this shit

How are you going to feel if someone you love desperately needs and MRI scan some stage in the future, and there is no Helium available?

Why aren't helium balloons against the law?

Honestly its 2023 why are we still wasting helium on ballons and risking animals killing themselves on ones that float away?

40-50 balloons? No, just don't.

Don't but you probably will do anyway, so please at least make sure none get released accidentally or on purpose.

Ok thanks everyone - no need for all the abuse, I hadn't a clue about any of this because I'd never had any need for a helium balloon my my adult life and my memory was just of family members having a tank on birthdays etc

I just thought it was a nice thing to do for my friend and didn't realise it was such a sensitive subject. I didn't realise it was so terrible! And no I was never planning on releasing them outside, it's just for inside the house.

@Nimbostratus100 this is one of the most alarmist, patronising things I've read on mumsnet. I've no interest in using helium myself, but those canisters are already in the shops. THE OP isn't heading to her nearest hospital to steal the helium from the MRI scanner.

Home bargains sell the canisters quite reasonably

Not remotely alarmist or patronising.

Helium is required for medical procedures

There is a finite ( and very small) amount on the planet. It is irreplaceable

The OP is planning to fill 50 balloons with it for a pissup

What do you THINK is going to happen when it is gone?

Come on, @winterpastasalad - what do you think could possibly happen when helium is no longer available? Explain please, why wasting it in balloons is ok?

I dont get your point about it being in canisters in shops? The Op is creating a market to put more helium in canisters in shops

It is absolutely criminal

It isn't "criminal". Tone it down and OP might listen and change her mind. You're going at a nut with a hammer.

They end up in landfill or getting loose and killing birds and animals. Some end up in the sea.

Regardless of the helium argument, they're awful things.

THE OP isn't heading to her nearest hospital to steal the helium from the MRI scanner.

No, but it's not available for use in the MRI scanner because it's stuck in a canister to inflate non biodegradable rubber balloons, that will end up in landfill after just one night's use. Which may endanger wildlife. I know OP won't have any control over that (so I'm not blaming them when they inevitably do).

Stick to banners OP, please - or enlarged photos of your friend through the years on the walls / tables / paper plates.