Happily Mistaken

At the beginning of this year, I wrote a post about the balloons I enjoyed when I was young. In it, I made two statements that I now know to be incorrect. And I'm delighted.

The first was that Qualatex no longer makes 9-inch balloons. I thought so because I couldn't find them in Pioneer's current catalog. But I did find them from my supplier, BalloonsFAST, and they are fresh stock. So, if you like smaller balloons, that's one place to find them.

The other statement I made is, "If I had a bag of Qualatex 9s, I'm not sure I would really enjoy them that much." Well, I couldn't resist. Along with my annual purchase of balloons for decorating and fun, I ordered my fondly-remembered 9s, a bag of standard colors, just like I remember.

It took a while before I had the house to myself, but when I did, I put on a pair of sleep pants and a T-shirt, blew up more than a dozen of the small balloons, which goes a lot faster than it does with 11s, and stuffed my pants and my shirt full.

And it felt wonderful. It was the same friendly feeling that I had all along, my lovely balloons pressed against my skin. I lay down on them and savored the feeling and being pressed so tightly against them, an act that I would not have dared as a child, and only figured out was safe as a young adult.

Of course, if one of them popped now, I would be startled, but I would also probably have enjoyed it.
As it happened, none popped by accident. It was just an hour or so of sensual pleasure. But, much to my surprise, it did not excite me sexually, at all.

And when I noticed that, I remembered that, as a young adult, when I would wear balloons around my apartment just to enjoy the feeling, it was the same way. The sexual pleasures were usually separate, and the only sexual feeling I had in regards to stuffing balloons in clothing were when I would imagine women doing it, or (very rarely) actually get to watch a woman do it.

I hadn't worn balloon in my clothing this way since early in my marriage, not since I had children. But it won't be the last time. And popping the balloons after was definitely a sexual delight. So I got the best of both worlds.

So I guess, in some ways, you can go back again.

Balloons Of My Youth

I'm not that adventurous when it comes to the variety of balloons I play with. Buying Tilly 76s was a big step for me. Almost as big as finding the courage to blow them up. Mostly I have Qualatex 11s and 16s, and I don't even get the chance to use the 16s that often.

Those balloon sizes are actually a change from what I grew up with. It mostly had to do with availability, but I do sometime have a little bit of longing for the balloons I used to play with as a child, a teen, and a young adult, and frankly I think they affected the course of my fetish. It may have manifested itself very differently had I had access to the balloons I use now.

For one thing, the balloons of my youth were smaller. I often was limited to what we used to call "penny balloons," which I now know were 5s and 318s. Most of these were cheap brands, some were from Bluebird (Ashland), but occasionally I would get lucky and find Qualatex.

I remember the original Qualatex clown logo from when I was very little. It was the brand my doctor gave me after a visit. Can you even imagine doctors handing out uninflated balloons now, with latex allergies and choking hazard concerns? Wow.

The balloons my doctor gave out, though, were not 5s or 318s, they were 9s, which seemed like big balloons to me at the time. They are also the balloons I began to stuff into my pajamas. Would I have started that if the balloons had been bigger? I mean, two inches doesn't seem like much, but it makes a real difference.

Anyway, that's just speculation. I have a lot of fond memories of developing my fetish for balloon with nine-inch balloons. Sadly, as far as I can tell, Qualatex no longer makes them.

Also missing from the Qualatex line-up are 318s and 524s, the long balloons I also used to enjoy slipping down the legs of my PJs on the rare occasions when I had them. I had the same fear of blowing them up that I recently experienced with the Tillys. I had a lot more accidental pops with airships then with round balloons. Keep in mind that I was a complete non-popper until my teens.

I also remember the colors being different, especially for a time when I was a young adult. The greens and pinks, especially, had a different quality to them that I can't describe. If I saw them today, I probably wouldn't find them as attractive as the standard colors now, and of course, they didn't have the beautiful jewel tones that I mostly buy now. But those color do bring back memories.

I also remember that black balloons never got firm. I never blew them up even close to popping, of course, but they stayed so soft and squishy. I enjoyed that, but I also always expected them to pop too easily. Even now, I prefer a balloon that takes some punishment before it gives up.

There's no sense trying to recapture the past. Not only are those balloons no longer available, but I've changed, too. My balloon play is different, and with a wife and children, my circumstances are very different, too. If I had a bag of Qualatex 9s, I'm not sure I would really enjoy them that much.

But I'm glad I had them when I did. They serve me just fine as satisfying memories.

Brands Of Balloons

With my recent discovery that Tilly is back making balloons in the US again, I've been doing some thinking about an interesting aspect of balloon fetishes: brand preference.

Now, not being well-acquainted with fetishes other than my own, I don't know how much this applies beyond the world of sexual attraction to balloons, but many balloon fetishists are very selective about the brands they choose. Some are even fiercely loyal.

Like me. I rarely buy any brand other than Qualatex these days, and when I did buy other brands, earlier in my life, it was mostly out of curiosity or just because of availability. This has been my preference for as long as I can remember.

Now, Qualatex balloons are of good quality, but so are a lot of other brands, from what I've read from my fellow fetishists. Are Qualatex balloons superior from an objective standpoint? Well, I think that depends on what qualities you're looking for in balloons, and if you evaluate each brand based on your preference, you might be able to choose one brand over another in a side-by-side comparison based on your most important criteria.

Or maybe not. I think that for me, I buy Qualatex balloons because when I was forming my attachment to balloons, long before they engendered any sexual feelings in me, Qualatex was just what I thought a balloon was. I vaguely remember that my doctor, when I was very young, probably four, gave out balloons at the end of each visit. (Can you imagine that happening today, with liability and latex allergy worries?)

That memory is vague, but the memory of the Qualatex clown logo stands out vividly in my mind, and when I started buying balloons for myself, I always went looking for that logo. (Here I'm aging myself; that logo hasn't been used for many years, and I can't even find an image on the Web for it.)

So I have always associated Qualatex with what makes a balloon a balloon, for no rational reason. It seems to be ingrained into my fetish. I have used, and enjoyed, other balloon brands, but I always come back to Qualatex.

Maybe I'm unusual in that regard. Maybe others have developed their brand preferences over time, or have no preference, or no strong preference, as to brand. But I think that for at least some of us, the brand of balloon we choose is less a matter of rational thought and more a matter of impulses that ride along with our fetish.

I'm tempted from time to time to try some other brands, particularly Tilly. What keeps me away from Tilly is that all of their current balloons are rather large, and I just don't use large balloons often enough to try out another brand. But if they come out with something around the 12-inch range, I think my fate is sealed, and I'll have to give them a try.

But I have a feeling that, no matter how good they are, something in the back of my mind will tell me that they aren't as good as Qualatex. Whether that's actually true or not.

My New Year's Balloons

I finally took my New Year's balloons down, two and a half months into the year. In my house in the winter, good-quality balloons will stay shiny and firm enough to be nice to look at for several months. But when the spring comes and we start to open the windows to let in the fresh air, the balloons soon oxidize and lose that lovely shine.

We are still several weeks from that point, but I live in a house with children and don't get much privacy. So I took advantage of an empty house to have some fun with them while I had the chance.

The balloons were Qualatex jewels, and when they have been inflated for that long, the rubber is a little stiff, so they are not so good for sit-popping. But I also like to stuff balloons in my clothing, and they were still very nice for that.

I don't like oxidized balloons, so even though I was sad to not have the balloons hanging in my room anymore, I was glad I had some fun with them before they started to fade. This is different from many others who actually prefer oxidized balloons, or don't care one way or the other. Each of us has very specific likes and dislikes when it comes to balloons.

For example, a lot of people who like to pop balloons probably wouldn't keep them around so long. But I like to have balloons around to look at, and I like non-popping play, so I'm not always in a hurry to pop my balloons. Even balloons I've blown up specifically to play with sometimes end up in my closet for a time until I am in the mood (and have the opportunity) to pop them.

It's a good thing my wife understands.