How To Deflate & ReUse Mylar Balloons

Written By: Jen

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No party is complete without balloons, right? But do you ever feel like they’re a waste of money? They’re maybe inflated for, what, a few hours before they pop and get thrown in the trash. 

deflated mylar balloon

At least, that’s true with latex balloons. But if you choose Mylar balloons, you can reuse them without them looking warped or misshapen. Bonus!

Let’s delve into how you can deflate Mylar balloons, so you’re ready to use them again and again.

Can You Deflate and Reuse Mylar Balloons? 

You can deflate and reuse Mylar balloons. They are infinitely reusable as the valve will weaken over time, but the material doesn’t have to stretch and so doesn’t lose its shape. 

deflated mylar balloon

It’s not even difficult to deflate a Mylar balloon, it just takes a bit of time. So if you have a lot of balloons, you may want to recruit some help. Rushing it is a bad idea, as that’s how you’ll damage them. 

How to Deflate Mylar Balloons to Reuse

To deflate a Mylar balloon, you’ll need to break the seal of the valve. The easiest way is to use a straw. Insert the straw in the opening and then start to gently press on the balloon to let out the air. 

It’s really important to be gentle here if you want to deflate a Mylar balloon without popping it. A straw won’t be able to let air escape at a fast rate, but push too hard and you’ll potentially pop the balloon, or put too much pressure through the valve. 

Do that, and you’ll render the balloon useless. If the valve breaks, it won’t seal and the balloon will never stay inflated again. 

Here’s a more detailed step-by-step on how to deflate a Mylar balloon for reuse:

  1. First, locate the valve – it’s usually part of a tag, where the air or helium was pumped into the balloon.
  2. Insert a straw inside the hole. Keep pushing it in the hole until the straw passes the resealable valve within the balloon. When the straw enters the valve, there will be resistance, but keep going until the valve opens.
  3. Squeeze the balloon gently to push the air or helium through the straw to the opening of the Mylar balloon.
  4. Keep gently squeezing the balloon, folding it over on itself to ensure no helium or air is left inside.
  5. Remove the straw – you’ll be left with a flat balloon ready to store.
deflating mylar balloon

How Do You Save and Reuse Mylar Balloons?

Once a Mylar balloon is deflated, you can store it to use again. Just gently fold the balloon into a small shape, making sure you don’t try to fold it where the valve is located. You can then re-inflate the balloon at a later date.

ready to store mylar balloon

Unlike latex balloons, the outer material of a Mylar balloon doesn’t stretch when it’s inflated, so you can inflate it and deflate it as many times as you need to. You’ll just want to protect the material from damage, which is why you should fold the balloon rather than just stuffing it into a drawer.

Here are some of the ways you could then reuse a Mylar balloon:

Reinflate balloons for your next party

The most obvious way to reuse a Mylar balloon is to inflate it for a party. This is easier if you’ve bought generic balloons, but if you’ve chosen themed ones, or those showing the age of the birthday boy or girl, you might only have limited situations where they are useful again.

Here’s how to blow them up.

inflating mylar balloon using a straw

Donate the balloons 

If you aren’t going to need the balloons again, why not donate them? Advertise on social media or any local groups where people accept free items, and give them to a family in need of some extra decoration.

donation concept

Or just give the balloons to some children in your family to play with. As long as they’re supervised, Mylar balloons are generally safe for young children to have fun with.

You could even sell your Mylar balloons, if you wanted to make back some of the money. Despite Mylar balloons being reusable there isn’t much of a market for second-hand balloons so you may have to price them very low if you do want to sell them. It’s better to just gift them if you can.

Use Mylar balloons to wrap gifts 

A less obvious way that you could reuse Mylar balloons would be as gift wrap. After all, they are made from colorful and shiny materials that look great when wrapping smaller gifts.

woman wrapping a gift using a used mylar balloon

You can either use the outer design of the balloon, or if it is a specific theme that isn’t appropriate, just turn the balloon inside-out when you’ve cut it up for wrapping. The inner lining will likely just be a metallic shiny color.

How to Inflate Mylar Balloons to Reuse?

If you’re going to reuse your Mylar balloons for a party, all you need to do is re-inflate them in the same way that you inflated them the first time around.

inflating mylar balloon

Inflating Mylar balloons with air

  1. Find the valve on the balloons and insert a straw (if you’re blowing it up yourself) or an inflator valve (if using a pump)
  2. Holding the valve securely, begin inflating the balloon, either using your mouth or your pump.
  3. When the balloon is inflated to almost full capacity (don’t overdo it), remove the straw or valve and pinch the balloon’s valve together to seal it.
about to inflate mylar balloon

Inflating Mylar balloons with helium

If you’re using a helium tank, the steps are pretty similar for re-inflating a Mylar balloon.

  1. Find the valve on the balloons and insert the nozzle connected to the helium tank.
  2. Once the nozzle is inserted, you should press the nozzle, which will start filling the balloon with helium. 
  3. After inflating the Mylar balloon to around 98% or so (be careful, as helium tanks inflate quickly), gently remove the nozzle to avoid letting the helium out. As you do, pinch the balloon’s valve to seal it.

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Conclusion 

Mylar balloons have a number of advantages over latex balloons, including avoiding that nasty squeaking of rubber, but the best reason to choose Mylar is the fact that they’re reusable.

With that in mind, make sure you choose balloons that are generic enough to work for any party – then you can bring them out whenever you’re celebrating, without constantly buying new balloons that are wasteful and bad for the planet.

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Jen

Jen is your go-to expert on all things inflatable, from pools to tents and beyond. A former hot tub rental company owner, she's experienced the ups and downs of inflatables firsthand. Nowadays, she writes practical guides on maintaining and enjoying inflatables. A mom of young enthusiasts, her family's favorite outing is the inflatable fun park!

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