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Airblown Inflatables are inflatable holiday indoor and outdoor decorations for all occasions. Their sizes range from 2 feet to about 20 feet tall/long. They are one of Gemmy's longest lasting product lines, and are also one of the most popular range of decorations that Gemmy has produced since their introduction in 2001.

After Big Mouth Billy Bass’s success, Harris said, Gemmy’s co-owner, Dan Flaherty, was looking for another hit.

“He was inspired by those giant inflated gorillas that you see outside of car dealerships,” Harris said. “His idea was, how do you turn that into something that the residential consumer can decorate with?”

Early prototypes were inflated with hair dryers, which would overheat and burn out. Eventually Gemmy patented a fan that could run for months at a time. Regular polyester wouldn’t inflate well, so the company worked with fabric mills to develop a special coating.

In 2001, Gemmy launched its first Airblown Inflatable, an 8-foot tall Santa Claus. “He was actually quite primitive,” Harris said. “He had the big triangle of white fabric between his legs to give enough support so that he could stand up.”

Airblown Motor Evolution

  • All 4 ft inflatables had the small circle fan with the transformer in the middle of the plug: 2000 -2007
  • Metal base with attachable legs: 2002
  • Metal base with fold down legs: 2002-2003
  • Plastic black/gray base with fold down legs: 2004-present day
  • 4ft round inflator with no lights: 2004-2008
  • 3ft-5ft round inflator with light: 2007-present day
  • Plastic outside base with molded non-foldable legs in big Airblowns: 2004-present day
  • Plastic gray base with fold down legs and cover on animated Airblowns: 2012

Setup Instructions

If your Airblown Inflatable has a metal/plastic base at the bottom, follow this procedure(works on airblown movie screen too, it just uses 2 inflators)

1. Unfold the legs on the base, make sure the zipper is zipped up(If the inflatable has long metal legs, they are folded downwards, while if it has shorter plastic legs, they are folded outwards. Certain inflatables have molded legs that can't be folded)

2.Plug in the cord of the Airblown Inflatable to a standard outlet and allow to inflate

3.Clip the tethers to the nylon loops/ring grommets(nylon loops, 2007 and later.) (Ring grommets, 2002 to 2006) and insert the base stakes in the hole of the legs

If it has a round inflator, follow this procedure

1. Open the small white box included with the Airblown, and take out the adapter inside

2. Place the small connectors on the inflator in the jack on the plug

3. Zip up the zipper on the airblown, then plug the adapter into a standard outlet

4.Clip the tethers to the nylon loops on the side of the Airblown, instead of putting the base stakes in a base, put them on the nylon loops at the bottom of the Airblown.

Trivia

  • Some Airblowns have different features, such as lights, animations, music, projections, and different materials for unique and realistic looks. In 2013, airblowns with lighted, animated faces that talk and sing were introduced, in 2015, airblowns with photo-realistic printings were released, and in 2019, airblowns with life-like projections were released along with ones that had cartoon projections.
  • Many airblowns are based on media sources from a wide range of different licenses, such as Disney, Warner bros, Nickelodeon, and Hasbro, as well as NCAA mascots.
  • Some Airblowns are sold in Combo Packs, with multiple Airblowns sold together.
  • Though the first Airblown was released in 2001, the idea was actually conceived in August 2000.
  • Gemmy does not sell replacement fans, you will have to go to www.yardinflatables.com to find them.
  • When Gemmy first released smaller inflatables they didn't have the usual system of the transformer on the end of the plug. Instead it sat in the middle making it so the inflatable plugged in halfway and the rest of the way to the outlet was a thick water proof cord. Because of this the transformer had it's own holes in it to be staked down. And because the cord going to the inflatable was so frail it led to the wire often breaking.
  • In the early years of production, Gemmy wanted to show costumers what an inflatable was, but feared that most stores would not have the room for an 8ft tall figure to be displayed. A store display was then released that would feature half of a air blown figure fixed to a fan which was then was protected by a cardboard box. Despite being one of the main perk of an inflatable, these displays contained no lights whatsoever and because their bases where made of cardboard. They could not be placed outdoors.

Gallery (Released)

 

Gallery (Unreleased & Early Prototypes)

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