Toy balloon

A toy balloon or party balloon, is a small balloon mostly used for decoration, advertising and child toy.Toy balloons are usually made of rubber or aluminized plastic, and inflated with air or helium. They come in a great variety of sizes and shapes, but are most commonly 10 to 30 centimetres in diameter.Toy balloons are not considered to include "sky lanterns" (hot-air paper balloons), although these too are or were used as child toys in some parts of the world.

According to The Journal of the American Medical Association, out of 373 children who died between 1972 and 1992 after choking on children's products, nearly a third choked on latex balloons. The Consumer Products Safety Commission found that children had inhaled latex balloons whole (often while trying to inflate them) or choked on fragments of broken balloons.Parents a monthly magazine about raising children advised parents to buy Mylar balloons instead of latex balloons.

History

Early balloons were made from pig bladders and animal intestines. The Aztecs created the first balloon sculptures using cat intestines, which were then presented to the gods as a sacrifice. There are references to balloons made of whale intestine in Swiss Family Robinson (1813) and in Moby Dick (1851).