How to Fill Your Confetti Filled Gender Reveal Balloon

A gender reveal balloon is generally a Jumbo 90cm/36" latex balloon. Yours may come with confetti for you to insert into the balloon, or it may have the confetti already inside. Here are our tips for filling your Gender Reveal Balloon:

Add the Confetti

If your confetti is not already inside the balloon you first need to add it. Do this by simply pushing the confetti in through the neck opening of the balloon with your fingers.

When jumbo 90cm balloons are fully inflated with helium they can lift a maximum weight of up to 340g. This varies depending on how full your balloon is, if the helium is 100% pure or mixed with air, the weight of the confetti inside, the weight of the tassels, ribbon and/string. 

We recommend that you fill your 90cm balloon with a maximum weight of 30g of confetti, and inflate the balloon to a size of 75cm in diameter. 

This will give you a good amount of lift as well as allow you to add tassels/ribbon/streamers to the balloon. 

When fully inflated with helium jumbo 90cm balloons have a serious amount of pull and can be quite difficult to control outside even in light winds. Children find them particularly difficult to handle and they need to be well tethered or could be lost very quickly.

Inflating Your Balloon

There are 3 ways to fill your Jumbo 90cm balloon:

1. All helium - This will give you the longest float time and the most amount of lift. This is the most expensive option.

2. All air - Filling with air means your balloon will not float on it's own, you will need to hold the balloon up with your hands to pop it. Filling the balloon with air is free. We do recommend you use a hand pump or electric inflation device.

3. A mix of air + helium - Most shops will automatically fill your balloon with a 60/40 mix of air and helium. You can also do this yourself at home by inflating the balloon part way with air first, then adding the helium until the balloon is full, but getting the right mix so your balloon floats is very tricky and we do not recommend you do this yourself. Also be aware that when inflated with half air + half helium the balloon will not stay afloat for as long or be able to handle as much weight (e.g. confetti inside or balloon tassels). 

Jumbo 90cm balloons have a large neck opening so can be a little more tricky to fill than regular 30cm balloons. I have found that simply holding the neck of the balloon tightly around the nozzle of the helium valve or air pump works fine. You can tie the balloon neck in a knot as you would a standard balloon.

Float Time

Jumbo 90cm confetti Gender Reveal balloons filled with helium can float for 2-3 days however this is dependant on how they are handled, transported & mostly importantly: weather. Helium gas is sensitive to temperature so avoid extreme heat & extreme cold. On a hot day your balloon may only float for 12hours. Our recommendation is to inflate the balloon very close to the start time of your event. Please be aware of hot or sharp objects, as these will cause your balloon to pop.

SIZING:

Inflating your balloon to the correct size is essential to ensure it is not overinflated and may pop, under inflated as it may not have the right amount of lift, especially if you are adding tassels, garlands or confetti. The easiest way to ensure you are inflating your balloon to the right size is to measure a space between 2 objects that you can place the inflated balloon between, for example between to chairs.

A Jumbo 90cm balloon is best inflated to approx 75cm in diameter to allow for the helium gas to expand due to weather conditions/room temperature. This is also a good size as it will fit through a standard doorway if you need to move the balloon into another room.

Measure a space of 75cm between a wall and the back of a chair.  Inflate your balloon in the space until it touches both the wall and the chair. Tie it off, attached a ribbon and a weight and its done!

Tips for Your POP Moment

The POP moment of your gender reveal happens really fast and there is no 'do-over' so we recommend you set up a camera or phone to film the entire event, as well as assign someone to take photos.

Ensure you hold the neck of the ballon when you go to pop it incase the balloon becomes detached from the string or the string breaks - you would hate for your gender reveal to float away.

Having the balloon above your heads will also ensure you are showered with confetti from above, rather than an explosion right in front of you.

______________

WARNING: Balloons are not toys. Children can choke or suffocate on non-inflated or broken balloons. Adult supervision is required. Keep non-inflated balloons away from children, and discard broken balloons immediately.

PLEASE NOTE: Balloons are fragile in nature. We use the highest quality latex balloon available, however please use great care when inflating. If you are concerned please order extra balloons for your event if you are concerned about popping. We do not offer refunds on balloons.