UK Poundland Beach Balls

Pvc_and_Pooltoys · #1 09-05-2022, 05:16 PM

Are they still being manufactured? It's been a year or two since I've purchased any, I used to buy them 30 at a time from a supplier on eBay but for a long time I can't find any, there's never any in our local PL store either. It's getting towards the season for them but they don't seem to be around anywhere. They are the perfect beach ball for softness, glossyness, smell and durability, I'm sure many will agree. Where are they all?

Vicci · #2 12-05-2022, 08:46 AM

There's about 200 of them in my garage

a mix of the coloured panel ones and transparent blue globe ones they had.

But yeah, I've not seen any this year - had a look in a few stores around the country. The range had some jubilee beach balls (red/white/blue panels with union jacks printed on) which were similar (PMS branded) - not quite as soft and made more of a boom when you blow to pop them, but they've mostly gone now.

BalloonFun · #3 12-05-2022, 12:23 PM

Originally Posted by Vicci

There's about 200 of them in my garage

a mix of the coloured panel ones and transparent blue globe ones they had.

But yeah, I've not seen any this year - had a look in a few stores around the country. The range had some jubilee beach balls (red/white/blue panels with union jacks printed on) which were similar (PMS branded) - not quite as soft and made more of a boom when you blow to pop them, but they've mostly gone now.

200! That's a lot of beach balls!!!!

Benjy · #4 31-05-2022, 06:38 AM

Out of production, I gather. Very annoying... it's not like those Jumbo beachballs could have been that uneconomic to sell, with looners mass-purchasing them! Seriously, despite how quickly any branch seemed to sell out of them, I think over the years I only saw about 4 being played with by regular people

As the opening post mentions, they're about perfect for size, proper beachball colour, and extremely stretchy and durable, way better than the equivalent Intex ball, and way, way better than the crap Poundland are selling instead now (the 'rich beach' range... I hate glitter-filled toys, they're pricey and way too small too).

Vicci · #5 31-05-2022, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by Benjy

I hate glitter-filled toys

Me too - I try to empty them beforehand so there's less mess for the inevitable pop, but still makes a mess. Also, I don't see the appeal as a lot of pools don't allow use of glitter filled inflatables because they clog/damage the pumps/filters when they get popped in the pool - so what are non-looners using them for.

Benjy · #6 31-05-2022, 03:02 PM

Yeah... I've thought for a while that the glitter filled toys are the least practical inflatables; the innevitable pop is just so messy. As for who's buying them, I'd guess it's targetted at the 20 year olds instagram fashion account market, just for posing purposes...

craggy2012 · #7 02-06-2022, 05:34 AM

Yup, back in the 90’s I had a clear inflatable chair that was filled with red polystyrene balls. The chair burst during a party and these bloody little foam beads went everywhere! We were still finding them under furniture 9 months later!

Vicci · #8 06-06-2022, 09:57 AM

We had some of those in our student house, a few got popped - likewise we were still finding the little balls when we moved out two years later.

Benjy · #9 08-06-2022, 03:38 PM

Urgh those foam beads... on a photoshoot once at Uni we were using a transparent "36 ball filled with those beads, and someone thought it would speed up the packing-up stage to cut a slit in the ball (we had a spare for reshoots)... so much for saving time, it took a bloody hour to gather up the beads from the studio.