How do you blow up one of those long skinny balloons?

There always seems to be a lot of stretching of them going on….don’t know if it actually helps, though.

As syz mentioned, stretching is key. I’ve spent a lot of time blowing up balloons, and I really think it helps.

hand pump.

Seriously unless you want to practice for days, the long balloons are impossible to blow up by mouth. I tried to find ways of doing it a couple months ago… I talked to a lot of people who can do it, but they all had to sit down and practice a lot over the course of a week or more.

Well, I guess being able to tell people that “I’m not very good at blowing” isn’t such a bad thing.

Am I the only one who’s mind went straight to the gutter on this one?

Perchik is right; for the long, skinny, twist balloons, you generally want to use a hand pump such as these.
I hate when I can’t blow up balloons…such a pain…

Oh I love telling people how good I am at it…
;-)

Stretching is important, but the way you stretch it is even more important. Take the portion just below the open end and stretch it sideways, that is pulling the edges away from each other – making the airway wider – as you are blowing. Once you get a little air in, it will be much easier.

Quit smoking. Just kidding.

Stretching definitely helps. But what’s key is that
you need to get over the first poof (it’s the hardest).
Get a really deep breathe ready and give it all you’ve got.
You need to have enough breathe to get it to start inflating.
Then pinch it closed really quickly before you have a hernia.
Blowing up the rest of the balloon should be relatively easy.

Balloon pump. Blowing up ballons by mouth makes me ache.

Me too I almost kill my self…balloon pump?