Where do you get cheap helium?

I would love to start this blog with a lame joke about the soaring/rising cost of helium but I just can’t bring myself to do it.

But let's face it, helium is expensive and hard to source. That’s why I was soooo glad when they actually started selling disposable helium takes at Hobby Lobby and other major retailers. I was thrilled, until I did the math. A Balloon Time disposable helium tank claims that it holds enough helium to fill 30 balloons and retails for around 25.00. To be honest I’ve used a ton of these tanks and I get on average 25 balloons per tank. That means when I use balloons to fill my smash cake sets I’m paying around $1 per balloon give or take. If you think about how many balloons it really takes to fill a set you can imagine how expensive it can get.

So that led me on a search to find a local supplier of helium to help me control my cost of designing a first birthday set. As a business person I can tell you that it’s the little expenses that really add up and can sink your business. Don’t believe me? Ask any restaurant owner EVER!. So whenever you get the chance to trim even the slightest bit of fat from your cost of doing business...DO IT!

My quest for cheap helium led me to a source that I never would have thought of in a million years. It led me to my friendly neighborhood welding supply shop!? Now as a 6’5’’ strapping man of the world I’m pretty sure that that info SHOULD have been hardwired into my DNA but I’m simply not that guy. I am not a Handy Manny or Bob the Builder type so a welding supply shop was never even on my radar!

After a Google search and a few phone calls I was able to find a local supplier of helium that would rent me a tank and fill it for about 1/3 of what I was paying when I purchased the Balloon Time tanks. We rented an insanely huge tank that we have dubbed “El Hefe” and had it filled for around $200. The best part is that our monster tank fills about 600 balloons! That breaks down to approximately $0.30 per balloon. Not only is that a massive savings but it means that we didn’t fill our local landfill with a bunch of those pink disposable tanks!! That’s a big old win win in my book. Now for those of you who do your smash cakes sessions on location never fear. You can get a much smaller tank and save yourself from having to wrestle El Hefe down to the local park. And, the best part? When you source your helium locally you’ll be saving yourself time, money, you’ll be helping the environment AND you get to keep your dollars local!

Thanks for reading you guys and I’ll catch up with you later,

- Daniel

PS: How many of you guys use the Balloon Time helium tanks and how many balloons to you get out of one tank? Also are there any other brands of disposable helium tanks out there? Let me know your answers in the comment section below.