Imagine you’re doing an internet search for balloons for a seven-year old’s birthday party. You type in best balloons for fun and find a shopping site called Balloon Party. Sounds good, so you click on the link. Up pops a picture of two women in bikinis. One is holding a medium size pink balloon between her breasts, the other, facing away from you, is seated on a huge clear balloon, looking back over her shoulder. Yes, you can see her flattened ass through the latex. Both women look like they are having the time of their lives. Instinctively you know, this isn’t quite the site you were looking for.Nope, balloons aren’t just for kids. Yep, you’ve stumbled into and adult store. In this case, one that caters to balloon fetishists.

A person with a balloon fetish may be turned on by balloons being blown up, sat on, “played” with, or popped. Theories of sexual imprinting suggest that an early childhood experience, typically before age 14, sparks a person’s sexual interest which may later lead to the formation of kinks and fetishes. So, like other fetishes, the beginnings of this sexual interest are believed to form as the result of a childhood experience. One interesting difference with the balloon fetish is that an early childhood fear, in this case the sharp pop of a balloon exploding, may be the source of the fetish.

Characteristics of balloons that may be the source of the initial attraction are the bright colors and sense of fun--as they are often present at parties or other celebrations. The sensory qualities of the balloon are also intriguing: smooth texture and distinctive scent. Most notable though, the balloon’s almost magical ability to change from something very small to something very large.

Balloon fetishists can be divided into three group:

• Non-poppers do not enjoy seeing or hearing balloons popped. These are the people who are most likely to have had a phobia of balloons.
• Poppers love to see and hear balloons being popped and may also enjoy seeing the balloons being torturing or tested. These enthusiasts may even orgasm at the sight and sound of balloons popping. 
• Semi-poppers like to experiment with the limits of balloons and may in the transitioning non-popper to popper.

Like other fetishes, once you know about the existence of it you’ll start seeing it in popular culture. In the cult favorite film, The Girl From Starship Venus, the alien girl meets a fellow with a balloon fetish. The controversial horror film The Poughkeepsie Tapes also features a character with a balloon fetish.

This ‘n that about balloon fetishists:

• Key search words for the internet: balloon fetish, looner, popper, and buster.
• Typical looners are younger, 25-25.
• A variation is the Bubblegum Balloon Fetish where the fetishist is turned on by watching another person blow up balloons or bubbles with bubblegum. This can be done as foreplay, blowing the bubblegum bubbles up against another’s body for example.
• Looners do not find children with balloons sexually intriguing and may be appalled by pictures of children with balloons.
• Looners enjoy balloons externally.
• It is mostly an interest for men. Some accounts rate the difference as 1 to 30 another 1 in 100.
• Related fetishes are body inflation, latex and PVC wear, and infantilism.

Discovery Channel's Forbidden: The Balloon Fetish offers a great overview. Does all this make you wonder what pretty girls playing with balloons looks like? Previously, it was easy to find such videos on YouTube but in recent years this platform has been more picky about what's posted. Still, if you try doing a search you may come up with some such videos. Try search terms: girls, balloons, balloon party, looner.

Curious about what attraction to inflatables looks like in real life? Try watching I Love My Inflatable Animals | My Strange Addiction 

So, next time you’re at the party supply store and see and 27 year old guy buying six bags of balloons…maybe you want to ask him what he’s up to? Or, maybe not.