Try Aqua Balloons for yourself here

We’ve finally gotten around to doing a BMTV about the much talked about Aqua Balloons! If you are unfamiliar with Aquas, they are a crystal-clear plastic balloon, similar to the Bubble Balloon material but also very different. The clarity is really the biggest selling point of these balloons and is like nothing else on the market at this time.

The Aqua balloons come in three different sizes, the small measures 125mm uninflated and can inflate from 130mm to 230mm, the medium size measures 235mm uninflated and inflates to between 270 and 420mm. The final size is the large, which uninflated measures 470mm and can inflate to a whopping 650-800mm!

The first thing you’re going to notice from these balloons when you inflate them is that they come with a red outer film that protects the balloon prior to inflation. This starts to peel away as you inflate and you have to make sure this is all the way off before you continue inflating, as it will pull the size of the balloons down and you’ll get an un-even inflation.

The second thing you’ll notice is that the material is different to any other balloon, we say it’s close to bubble balloon but the reality is it’s more like clingfilm… if you took the cling out of it! Surprisingly though, the material is really tough. When we finished this BMTV and had to pop the Aquas, my usual method of stabbing the balloons with open scissors just didn’t work. I had to cut the necks open (or maybe I just need a new pair of scissors!). This is probably due to how stretchy the material is, creating a surface that is difficult to get under tension unlike a latex balloon.

To tie the necks you can stretch it out and tie like you would a latex balloon, tie with a 160 modelling balloon like you would with a bubble or you can heat seal. The Aqua Balloons don’t have valves so you will have to seal them somehow, but this means you can also put things in the balloon through the neck. Because of how sticky the material is however, you may struggle to even get the neck open, we have managed it with a pair of castration pliers (don’t ask!) but the instructions of the sheet suggest that you cut the balloon open from the top, insert you item and heat seal back up. This does work but gives you a flat bottom to the balloon, If you cut a curved line and heat seal multiple times then you can get the balloon to retain it’s round shape when inflated.

The final thing to mention is the float time of the balloons, you can fill all of them with helium and they will float, but because of how thin the material is, you’re looking at float times comparable to latex balloons rather than foil balloons. The small Aqua floats for 1 days, the medium for 5 and the large for 7.

It’s difficult to say how these balloons will affect the market, Mike says he is going to use loads of the smaller Aquas, but probably not the other two sizes as he knows and trusts the deco bubbles and the 3ft clear latex. Only time will tell!

Rob

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