Tilly At Last

I thought that as soon as the kids went back to school, I would have some alone time to play with at least one of my new Tilly 76 spiral balloons. I should have known better. My wife had time off, and though she would have been fine with me spending a little time with a new balloon when she was home, we never managed to have any time alone. Too many kids' activities and house work and, well, life going on.

So it took more than two weeks before I had some time all alone in the house to blow one up. They had been beckoning to me from my bedside drawer forever!

Now, I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm scared of long balloons because of the way the inflate all at once instead of little-by-little (in any one particular spot). So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I began blowing up this 5-footer.

First let me mention (in case I didn't before) that these balloons are pre-inflated at the factory to make them easier to inflate by mouth. On that score, I give Tilly a perfect 10; the balloons are very easy to blow up. And I kept reminding myself that, since these have been inflated before, the chances are good that any imperfections were already visited upon the workers at the factory and the bad spots have been weeded out.

It was still scary as hell. But, I'm happy to report, the balloon inflated tip to neck without popping, and I survived.

I wasn't sure what to expect from a "high-performance polymer." I though the balloon might not feel as nice as my lovely Qualatex favorites. I was pleasantly surprised. It had a nice soft feel to it, not plastic-like at all. And, being a long balloon (and not too tightly inflated because, you know, that's not how I am), it had a lot of give to it.

I played with it for awhile—very stimulating—but had to pop it because I have no place to keep it. But later in the month I get more time with these balloons, and I'm really looking forward to it. It will probably be a very long time before I use up the entire pack of 18, but I'll enjoy every minute of it.

Thanks, Tilly!