Measuring Promotional Beach Balls

Promotional beach balls are an extremely popular giveaway during Spring Break and the Summer season. However, the sizing can be a bit confusing for the novice beach ball buyer. A common misconception is that beach balls are measured straight across while inflated (diameter), but that is not the industry standard. Below you will find an easy explanation of how beach balls are measured in the promotional products industry so you don't receive your beach balls and find they are much smaller than expected. Two different ways are explained, which will both produce very similar measurements.

Two Ways Beach Balls Are Measured

Fully Inflated - While fully inflated, measure around the arc of the beach ball from one pole around to the opposite pole. It works best with a soft measuring tape; however, you can use a ruler or yardstick and roll it around the ball. With this method, you are measuring 1/2 of the circumference, which will be a larger measurement than measuring the diameter (straight across).

Deflated - Essentially, the same measurement obtained above while fully inflated can be obtained while deflated. To measure beach balls while deflated, simply measure from tip to tip like in the picture below.

Points to Remember When Ordering Promotional Beach Balls

• The sizes will vary slightly from beach ball to beach ball. In fact, sizes typically vary from 1/2 to 1 inch in circumference. Some of the factors include the manufacturing process or the amount of air used to inflated the beach balls. Just because you ordered a 16" beach ball from a source in the past, that doesn't mean that a new source will provide the exact same size for a 16" beach ball.
• The panel colors can vary slightly in a batch of beach balls.
• Often, beach ball manufacturers will "round up" with their measurements, so a 12" beach ball might actually be 11 1/4". If you need an exact size, you should order a sample prior to production of a large batch.