I am going to be going on a decorating course on 16th July (if I can get a babysitter for my 2 horrors) but the weekend before is my daughters birthday and was wanting to experiment.  

As I am working the day before the party I was hoping to get the balloons sorted on the Friday but I am worried that they will deflate a little much before the Sunday and I vaguely recall discussions on here about an official product and something similar from Halfords that help keep the balloons inflated for longer.  Have I got this right and if so what are both called?

I am starting out small ( ) and am going to attempt a Q chain Polka Dot Arch (although I will be changing the colours etc to tie in with the HSM theme and a couple of colums with the helium foil on top.  I am just going to get one of the small takeaway helium canisters for the foils and the rest is air inflated.

Hi Float is the product I've heard about that decor people use to prolong the life of their balloon arches.  

Here is a link to preserving balloons: http://www.balloonhq.com/faq/deco_Hi-Float.html

Happy twisting,
Bonnie, The Balloon Lady

Hi Yvonne.
You are thinking of the Dashboard shine/ tyre dressing that they sell in Halfords under various names, Back to Black, Black in a flash (My Favourite) Armorall etc. The official product is "balloon shine"
These will only keep the balloons shiny though or put back the shine after they start to oxidise. They do not prevent the balloons from deflating. Bonnie is right, you need Hi-Float to increase the life of the balloons.

Twistina

You only need Hi float in latex if you are helium filling them Yvonne. If you are air filling the latex you should be OK - dashboard/car valet spray on your balloons will keep them shiny if they have oxidised (gone cloudy). you just spray this on where as balloon shine you have to use a glove and believe me it can get messy.

Your foils will stay up helium filled for 5 - 7 days so should be ok and they do not need any other treatment. If you are adding them to the columns why use helium? air fill will also work.

Why are you looking to buy the disposable tanks?
email me privately (mailto:pam@balloonsandtunes.co.uk">pam@balloonsandtunes.co.uk)your phone number, I am in office all day thursday 4th june if I can be of assistance

Pam

This is the thing Pam the course I am planning on doing will not be until after her party so I had wanted to do some air filled bits to get me started but I was also going to get some foil balloons and some latex ones to helium inflate to give to the kids as part of thier party bags so I only have to put some sweets in the bag!

Obviously I have no more idea about this that what I have been researching so there are huge holes in my knowledge at present.  The idea behind a disposible canister is that it will be enough to inflate what I need but is cheaper than hiring a proper canister.  I have discovered that I can get a V size (whatever that means) for £55 plus £5.95 per month and a T size for £80 plus £5.95 per month.  Unfortunately, I have no idea so before I go hiring canisters of gas at those prices I thought I would do the course first and see what I actually need.  

Everything else I have got into business wise I have gone over board at the beginning and bought way too much stuff that I have never used and I want to make sure this time that I don't do that as I suspect it will be expensive enough to set up without stuff I don't need  

I may well take you up on your offer though Pam but I've also got to shampoo my carpet whilst both the kids are at school this morning  :roll:

I understand where you ar eocming from belileve me. dont stress I have pm'd you... dont book helium at those prices thats retail charges, youyou are running a business you should pay trade prices

Pam