Custom Beach Balls and Inflatable Balls with Your Logo

Choosing a size

Beach balls are sold by their deflated diameter, not their inflated size, and the inflated ball is noticeably smaller than the number suggests. A ball listed at sixteen inches inflates to roughly twelve to fourteen inches in practice, depending on how firmly it is filled.

Small balls, in the six to nine inch range, are pool and bath toys and work as a giveaway for families with young children. Twelve to sixteen inches is the standard promotional size and the one that reads correctly in a photograph. Twenty-four inches and above are crowd balls, intended to be batted around a stadium or a festival audience, and they are the ones that end up in event footage.

Panel styles and where the logo goes

The classic alternating panel ball, with colored and white segments, prints the logo on the white panels so it appears repeatedly around the ball. This is the most effective layout for visibility, because the ball rotates constantly and a logo on a single panel disappears half the time.

Solid color balls give a larger uninterrupted print area for a single bold design.

Translucent and clear balls have a distinctive look and photograph well against sunlight.

Confetti-filled balls contain loose glitter or shapes between the layers and are the most eye-catching option, particularly for younger audiences and celebratory events.

Material thickness

Beach balls are made of PVC and the thickness is quoted in mil. Thicker material resists punctures and survives being kicked across a parking lot. Thin material is cheaper, packs smaller, and will not survive a boisterous crowd.

For a handout that recipients take home, thin is acceptable. For a crowd ball that will be batted around by hundreds of people for an hour, pay for the thicker material, because a crowd ball that splits in the first ten minutes was money spent on nothing.

The two things that go wrong

The first is inflation. Someone has to blow up every ball, and at any real quantity that is a substantial job that nobody plans for. Balls handed out deflated are cheap to ship and frequently never inflated at all. If the balls are meant to be visible at your event, budget the labor or an electric pump, and inflate them beforehand. Bear in mind that inflated balls take enormous space to transport and store.

The second is safety and supervision. Inflatable balls are not flotation devices and must never be presented as such, and this needs to be stated plainly wherever children and water are involved. Small parts and thin plastic also bring choking and suffocation considerations for young children, so check that the product carries the relevant compliance marking for the age group you are giving it to, and be aware that items intended for children in the United States fall under CPSIA requirements.

Printing and audiences

Beach balls are printed by screen printing onto the panels before assembly, usually in one to four spot colors. Fine detail and photographic artwork do not reproduce well on flexible PVC, so simplify the design and rely on scale and color instead.

They work for beach and pool promotions, summer festivals, theme parks, stadium and arena giveaways, schools and universities, cruise lines and resorts, and any consumer brand with a summer campaign. They are also effective for water safety and sun awareness campaigns, where the item and the message align. Browse related items in Outdoor & Sports.