A hand pump for balloons, one piece on a card. The pump is about 28 centimetres long: a plastic cylinder with a plunger and a tapered nozzle that you slide the neck of the balloon over.
You put the balloon on the nozzle and pump in short, quick strokes. An ordinary party balloon is taut in a few movements, and you hold it in place with one hand while you work.
The gain is in the numbers. One or two balloons you can still manage by mouth, but with a bag of fifty, or with the oversized versions, a pump is the difference between ten minutes and half an afternoon.
Not the most exciting purchase for a party table, but the most useful one. Anyone who regularly sets up birthdays, communions or class parties is better off keeping one in the cupboard.
