AIBU to buy a helium tank and fill the balloons myself?

[CloserIAmToFine]

We need about 25 helium balloons for DD's party, and we will need the same amount again in a few months for DS. DD's party is on a Sunday so there aren't many places open to buy balloons. (I've been told I can get them the day before if I pay extra for hi-float but I'd rather not.) It seems easier and cheaper to just buy a helium tank and fill them ourselves. Is this as straightforward as it seems? Any tips for filling the balloons? Should I buy the optional "valves" or just tie them myself?

Thank you for any guidance!

Helium is also used to fulfil broadcasting restrictions.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=w6UhXivPyw4

You can also get small helium canisters from ASDA for balloons

No I meant latex balloons not foil.

I always get balloons done the day before and they last for days without he hi-float.

If you look at the pics I've added these balloons where collected on a Saturday morning, stored in a back hall and brought to a venue the Sunday afternoon and they look perfect fine. They stayed up for another two days after this.

Why does everyone keep saying they won't float after a day, of course they do as you can see from my pictures

eubyru I worked in the industry. I'm sorry, but that's bollocks.

On the rare occasions someone pushed us to do balloons on Saturday ready for early morning pickup on Sunday, the balloons were always down (and we used hi-float as standard).

I remember the hysterical balloon thread!

I am shocked at the helium inhaling thing. We had a great family tea time inhaling saggy balloons and filming each other talking. I am normally v responsible!!

Explain my balloons then I've always purchased and stored day before as I never have time on the day of event to go out. I also never buy hi-float.

We are all posting to help the op so I'm telling her if she gets them down the Saturday afternoon and stores In a cool place without hi-float they will be fine.

My dp worked for a large card company as a supervisor many years ago and he always done the balloons.

You can argue against me all you like my pictures speak for themselves. Do those latex balloons look down to you? No.

Then perhaps your balloons where bad quality mines weren't sorry about that.

According to Wikipedia - the situation re helium is not as bad as was once feared. Helium balloons for everyone!

"Previously, terrestrial helium—a non-renewable resource, because once released into the atmosphere it readily escapes into space—was thought to be in increasingly short supply.[11][12][13] However, recent studies suggest that helium produced deep in the earth by radioactive decay can collect in natural gas reserves in larger than expected quantities,[14][15] in some cases having been released by volcanic activity.[16]"

Great! Helium sandwiches for tea then.

Eubryu your balloons look pearlescent, which do usually last few days.

Plain latex balloons don't generally last more than 12 hours, I learnt that the hard after way after inflating the balloons for DS's party the night before.

Metallic balloons can last for months.

You won't get as many balloons out the canister as the box says.

I always inflate our own balloons for parties.

eubyru Your pictures don't prove anything.

A lot of places will include hi-float as standard, so you won't know you're getting it included.

Latex balloons just do not last that long; I know it to be fact, having worked in the industry.

I worked with various balloons from various companies; it's nothing to do with quality, it's to do with the fact that latex balloons do not last that long.

Ugh. There's a helium balloon ban in this house after doing 35 for DD's 3rd birthday almost broke me financially and mentally. The canister did nowhere near as many as i thought it would (prob my inferior technique) so I had to order another canister on next day delivery and some of them dropped before the party despite hi-float. AND we spent over £100 AND I got chastised on MN for using finite resources for frivolity. (Wasn't a big pile-in, luckily )

We always do our own and hire an industrial size tank from our party supply shop and pay a monthly fee on the tank.

We buy qualtex balloons as they're excellent quality you'll also need a balloon guide to prevent over filling dead easy to make with come card.

Yes latex balloons bought on the Saturday for Sunday christenings and they have been fine. Advised to keep in cool dark place until required. Never heard of Hi float.

A few puffs from a balloon can't harm you Paradise. The very worst that could happen if you overdid it massively would be that you'd pass out and hit your head as you fainted.

Sucking directly from the pressurised canister or climbing into a giant balloon filled with helium (no, really) can kill you.

I've got cannisters of helium and 50 balloons from eBay or Amazon for about 30 quid. Defo do it yourself x

Tesco sell helium canisters.

Thanks Winter I will try to avoid accidentally stumbling into any giant helium balloons from now on

Sorry, what is the actual situation with helium then? That very helpful link indicates that is a storage problem, rather than a resource problem. Is that right?

It is also a resource problem. Helium is split from natural gas, and as we know fossil fuels are finite. Additionally, once helium is released it will not be contained by the earth's atmosphere, and will be lost into space. There is no way to create helium so once it is gone, it is gone.

I saw the helium tanks in the card factory for £20 last week

Thanks It's all going to be fine. What about Wikipedia info though?

It just says that there may be more available than previously thkught, not that it wont eventually run out.

It's a 'shifting deckchairs on the Titanic' argument though,

Yes, Helium can (expensively) be obtained from the processing of fossil fuels, but they are in themselves a finite resource.

Are people really so ignorant that they don't understand this?

and pretty much all climate change activists were dismissed as 'hysterical' in the early days

Also said our bottle could be recycled- not at my local tip!