Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

Re: Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

I personally wouldnt mind that much. Especially in bigger cities there are plenty of possibilities that could make a load sudden noise. And even in a small town, most people dont think of a popping balloon at first. If that would happen to me i would guess there are some kids igniting firecrackers or something, and not at all balloons.

Re: Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

Yeah, I’d wager that 99% of people won’t be like, “They’re probably doing something sexual in there.” Hell, as Cho said, they may not even ascribe it to one particular source.

I’d worry more about bugging them at unreasonable hours.

Re: Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

My favourite ways of popping produce very loud squeaks, and I think it's that noise combined with the bangs that will give it away.

But I could try and pop them in ways that don't produce squeaks though.

I may do some tests. Like putting different size inflated loons next to a soldering iron, turning the iron on, and then going downstairs to see how loud they are when they pop, I'll go outside too.

Re: Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

The squeaks might not even be that audible from next door. Generally higher pitched sounds don’t travel as well through walls as lower sounds. If you’re really worried, make a popping room with sound dampening. Can either be cushions, blankets and duvets, or proper dampening foam if you can afford it. Bangs won’t be quite so noticeable either.

Re: Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

This is the really big problem, often times I had to quietly deflate them so as not to arouse suspicion. Popping under big blankets does help sometimes though, but it takes away the fun of it

Re: Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

It's never been a problem for me, however I'm moving in to a flat shortly and it will become more of a problem now. I'm going to use condoms instead. They barely make a noise, just a sort of 'snapping' sound that I doubt they would hear, downstairs.
I like playing with them and popping them more than regular balloons anyway, as it happens On the downside they are more expensive, but I'm not overly bothered as I already have a big stash of them

Re: Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

I had security getting into my room in a NYC hotel (before I moved to NYC) because a balloon popped while I inflated it...

This was embarassing. Security saw the balloon shards and laughed.

Re: Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

@BalloonblowerNYC
They were propably alarmed because someone thought you shot somebody and were laughing in relief. I'm quite sure they were not making fun of you ^^

I don't know if that suspicion is because you were in NYC or in the US in general, but in Europe, where guns are not that to get ahold of, most would think it's a misfiring car or something like that.

Re: Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

Just spent a few nights humping n popping balloons with wild abandon in my digs whilst I’m currently away with work thinking the place next door was empty so I was really letting go riding hard n bursting stuff. Went to get into my my car early this morning n I clocked this light on and this guy walked out of the place!

Re: Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

Not a problem in my place, but in the apartment of a friend we do think about it. I also like the noise skin makes rubbing on vinyl toys, and we intentionally do that very loudly, too.

The pillow of single-chamber air mattresses pops very loudly. We worry the neighbors may think it's something else, and are prepared to have to tell the police what happened LOL.

Re: Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

So over these last few weeks I've acquired some balloons.

Here's the stash, I've got them packed loosely in a vacuum sealed bag, which isn't actually vacuum sealed because I've heard that balloons need to be able to 'breathe'. I'm going to look more into the best way to store them so they will be okay for the long term, just in case I wont be able to do anything with them for a long time.

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I started off with buying around 90 12 inch Gemar balloons from Tesco, you get 10 in a packet and they're quite cheap, so they didn't cost much.

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Then a couple of days ago I received 50 18 inch Karaloon balloons from ebay.

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Re: Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

And today I picked up 100 18 inch Chrome balloons from the post office that I got on ebay.

To my surprise they came loose in a box, and what was even more surprising is that they look really big, bigger than the 18 inch Karaloons, if I'm not mistaken (it's been many years since I last had balloons) they kind of look like they might be 24 inch or bigger. Some ribbon also came with them.

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Here is a picture of one next to a 19 inch Karaloon and a DVD for size comparison.

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Tomorrow I should be receiving 50 16 inch Qulatex balloons from ebay.

I've been noting when my next door neighbours go out, because I'm hoping there will be a day and time where they're usually both out for an hour or more, then I would feel a lot more comfortable with popping.

I'm also going to do some popping sound experiments too, see how loud it is downstairs and outside.

And, if there never is any particular day and time when my neighbours are out for long enough, and I can't find a way of doing quieter pops, then I guess before I'm able to have balloon popping sessions I'll either have to wait until I have new neighbours on each side of me who work and so are out during the day time, or get soundproofing, or become rich and move into a house which is on it's own.

I'll report back here with my findings.

Re: Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

Those look really nice! I think they mainly look bigger because the Karaloons use a fluted shaped round mold (a boxier shape that folds in on itself when it's uninflated). These look like they'll be more of a classic pear shape which is really good to see at this size!

Re: Anyone else feel embarrassed about the neighbours hearing the noise

Hey TCL, I remember you from the UKLooners forum. My username on there was The Masked Looner.