If you’re tidying up your kids party while they sleep or you just hate the noise of balloons popping then learning how to pop balloons quietly is essential.
Below we have 5 easy methods you can use to ensure that you can deflate all of your balloons without disturbing or scaring anyone:
1. Pierce The Balloon In The Neck
The rubber in the neck of the balloon is not taut.
This means that you can pierce it without the balloon popping in the same way it would if you were to pierce the balloon anywhere else.
Take a needle or sharp implement and pierce the balloon as close to the knot as possible.
The air will slowly seep out until the balloon is fully deflated.
2. Use Tape Or A Plaster
The ‘bang’ of a balloon popping is caused by the rubber detracting back in on itself as the air rushes out instantaneously.
The key thing you need to do to stop a balloon from making a loud noise is to stop the rubber from moving quickly.
One way to do this is to use tape such as sellotape or even a bandaid.
Place this anywhere on the main body of the balloon.
Then take a pin and pierce the balloon through the tape or bandaid.
If you are using a bandaid make sure you pierce the balloon through the sticky part of it, not the padded part.
The tape will hold the rubber of the balloon together so that it will not ‘pop’ when pierced.
Instead it will leave a small hole through which the air will slowly escape.
3. Cut The Neck Above The Knot
If you want to pop a balloon quietly then piercing it’s neck is always a good idea.
The neck will never be as fully taut as the rest of the balloon as the way ballons are made combined with the knot in the neck means that there is a lot of unstreched rubber in the neck.
If you pierce the neck the rubber will not aggressively roll back making the pop sound.
To quietly pop a balloon using scissors follow these steps:
- Pull the knot away from the balloon to create space for the scissors to cut above the knot.
- Take the scissors and cut a hole as close to the knot as possible.
- To save tidying up one extra piece of balloon avoid cutting the knot completely off.
4. Pop The Balloon Underwater
The one certain way to pop a balloon without making any noise at all is to pop it in a vacuum.
Unfortunately most people don’t have easy access to vacuum chambers.
A more accessible alternative is to pop your balloons underwater.
To do this follow these steps:
- Fill your bath up.
- Submerge the balloon to the bottom.
- Pop it with a pin.
- Done!
The water in the bath will absorb the sound energy so instead of a loud pop all you will hear is a small splash as the water fills the gap that was occupied by the air in the balloon.
5. Pinch The Rubber
This method is slightly more tricky than the others but it can be a good party trick.
Be aware this method works best on balloons which have a bit of slack in them and aren’t 100% inflated.
To use the pinch method take your thumb and index finger and pinch about one inch of the balloon.
Bring your fingers together with the pinched balloon rubber between them.
This will create a loose bit of rubber which isn’t completely taut.
Use either a sharp implement or the fingernails of your free hand to puncture a hole through the loose pinched bit of rubber.
Air will start to leak out.
Do not unpinch the balloon until a at least a third of the air has come out.
If you immediately release the balloon after piercing it then it is likely to still pop.
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