What is a foil balloon?

Latex balloons were the norm until the late 1970's when the first foil balloons were produced.  Over the last 30 years foil balloons have become more and more popular.  Foil balloons come in various shapes and sizes  Originally all foil balloons needed heat sealing, but later on self sealing valves were invented and now all foil balloons 18" and larger are self sealing and therefore no longer require heat sealing.  This meant a huge time savings for balloon vendors and sales have grown ever since and now make up a larger portion of the balloon market.  Although still more expensive then latex balloons foil balloons have the advantage of having longer float times that can range from 4 days to 21 days.  Foil balloon float times depend on many factors such as elevations, humdity etc... so it is difficult to give an accurate float time for foil balloons.  Foil balloons can also be printed in more colors.  Therefore, you get much more detail on a foil balloon versus a latex balloon.