What is it made of? Is it safe for kids?
Sorry to burst your bubble but the chemicals found in this retro toy from your childhood might not be good news, especially for the young ones
It is a treat to find a toy from your childhood that is still being sold today. Like the little tube of gel that you squeeze onto the end of a straw and blow into a balloon. There was always a competition to see who could create the largest – and earn extra bragging rights if yours lasted the longest.
All manner of tricks were employed to that effect: Use a bigger blob of gel to get a bigger balloon. Created a whopper but it’s now collapsing? Suck the balloon’s surface to make a hole and blow in more air. To salvage leaky ones, you knew to carefully pinch together the sides of a hole to seal it.
The more curious kids in your time might have wondered what went into the making of this marvellous goo. Each tube simply had the words “Bestman Balloon” printed on its paper cummerbund. No ingredient list. No instruction even. If yours came in a box of 32 tubes, you might find a bundle of straws. But that was it. What goes into each tube of Bestman Balloon? And why does it have such a strong odour?
