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.

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!

Tilly!

My Tilly balloons came a few days ago, a couple of days ahead of schedule. They look amazing, and I can hardly wait to open them up and try them out. But, of course, I have to wait, because I'll have no privacy until school is back in session.

My wife and I are going to try to arrange some alone time in September, which seems like years away, and balloons are definitely on the menu. I won't report in detail on the alone time (don't think my wife would care for that), but I will report on the balloons.

A reminder, if you're reading this on the day of publication, Popping Out will be available for free on Kindle from tomorrow through Wednesday. Good time to get in on some very stimulating reading.

Gone and Done It

I said I would. Well, at least I said I might. And today I finally did. I ordered a package of Tilly 60-inch long spiral balloons. I've never had any of these before, and I've been fascinated by them for a long time, and, well, I like the company.

I bought them on eBay, from Tilly's own account, and it shouldn't take them long to get here, because they aren't far away. I'm brimming over with anticipation, which is kind of a shame, because even after they arrive I probably won't get a chance to do anything with them until next month, after the kids are in school.

So, that will be torture. And then, when it actually comes time to use them, well, the truth is that I've always been fairly afraid of long balloons. If you've been reading this blog for any time, you know that, while popping balloons turns me on, and watching a pretty lady pop balloons turns me on more, it also scares me.

Round balloons blow up evenly all around, giving me a chance to inspect for imperfections before they get taut enough to pop (in most cases, anyway; accidents happen). But long balloons blow up along their length, and each portion gets fairly tight in very short order.

So buying these balloons that I've never had before, that kind of scare me, might seem an act of foolishness, or an act of bravery. Well, foolish it might be, but as far as bravery is concerned, we'll see when it actually comes time to blow them up.

Just a reminder, if you're reading this on the day it was published, Eric's Secret, my only story so far with a non-popping main character, is free today and tomorrow for Kindle.

May Have To Give In

I've been successfully resisting my strong urge to buy some Tilly Slim Jims for several months now, since I discovered them on eBay. It's not that they don't look like fun, it's mostly that I don't know that I've have any opportunities to put them to good use anytime in the next, well, five years or so until my kids leave home.

But now I have yet another reason to patronize the Tillotson family. If Neil Tillotson had done nothing more in his life than give us the latex balloon, people like me would still be forever in his debt. But he also created the Tillotson Foundation.

Recently, the Tollotson foundation, which supports charity in and around Coos County, donated $300,000 to various projects. This was a man who cared about the people in his community.

Neil might not have been one of us, but he gave us something special that changed our lives, I think for the better. I don't know if I would be the person that my wife fell in love with without my balloon fetish. Not that she loves my fetish so much, but I think I would be a different person without it.

When the Tillotson family decided to start making balloons again, they didn't start back up in Dixville Notch, but they didn't go far; just a little north to Colebrook, on the Canadian border.

I think this kind of dedication to both quality balloons and the local community deserve my support. I don't know when I'm going to get to try out my Tilly balloons, but I think I'll be buying some very soon.

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.

Fantasy Collides With Reality

Recently I noticed that the Slim Jim balloons, the lovely, 6-foot long balloons from Tilly, are back. I have always wanted to order a large package of these balloons, and I was really upset when they went off the market that I didn’t get the chance to have more than one or two to play with. I can get bags of 50 from Amazon.com or a wholesaler in Connecticut, and the price, for such unusual balloons, is not bad.

So why don’t I just jump on it and buy a bag? Because, frankly, although I’m very tempted to buy them, I don’t know what I would do with them. Balloons have three purposes in life. They can serve as decorations, as objects that I like to touch, or as sexual toys (preferably in contact with my lovely wife). Now I’m sure readers of this blog would have many suggestions of just what I might do with some big, long balloons, and I certainly have a few ideas myself. But the reality is that balloons this big would rarely get blown up in my house. They would sit around in a drawer for years.

Why? Well, for one because I am a wimp. Long balloons scare the crap out of me, and I have to get a lot of courage up to inflate them. Another problem is that I have no place to keep big balloons around, and I would really hate to pop a Slim Jim without having kept it around to play with for awhile. I even have trouble find a place to keep 16-inch rounds.

I do decorate with balloons, but I almost never get a chance to do that with anything larger than 11s, partly because I don’t have a lot of space, and partly because the smaller balloons don’t make my wife feel like I’m exposing my fetish to the kids if they happen to come into the bedroom while the balloons are hung up. Anything 6-feet long wouldn’t go over well.

And my sexual fantasies with them? Probably, if I’m being honest with myself, nothing that my wife would feel comfortable with.

It’s not the first time I’ve had this problem. I have a few 36-inch balloons in a drawer that may be too old to trust, but they’re there because I have some very specific fantasies involving those as well, and I have never had the chance to fulfill them. And even if I did, I’d have to pop the balloon soon afterward, because I definitely don’t have a place to keep something like that.

Perhaps someday, when the kids are grown and on their own, I’ll have a little more flexibility with big balloons. My wife and I do talk about it from time to time, and she seem amenable. For now, though, I probably have no use for bag of Slim Jims.

But, in truth, that doesn’t guarantee that I won’t buy them anyway.