[1000th Happy Haunt]

A good number of companies have jumped on this aquatic bandwagon in the last year. Unfortunately, as you pointed out, quality could be quite hit/miss.

So I checked out Amazon's site for them to see their buyer reviews (because you'll get a lot more input from customers there than from other sites. And Amazon doesn't edit out the bad ones.) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X9ZL8Z1?th=1
Most buyers were happy, the main problem being motor failure (not stability, ease of use, or quality of fabric).

As my dad used to say, you have the luxury of time. You can wait to see if additional sources / products become available or improvements are made to the current stock.

Related to the other topic, I bought a product from a company based on its glowing reviews. (repro WWI helmet.) It was total junk. After a line of BS from the merchant that low quality is a good thing, I was told I could send it back at my cost. I posted my negative review on their site. Like a Halloween ghost - poof - it was gone a week later. I checked out the rest of their site and its filled with only 5 star reviews for all their products. Invidiously deceptive. Buyer beware.

Greetings of the solstice. ⛄

 

[sbbbugsy0473]

Also, you only get one tentacle, not four as shown in the photo.

 

[Cwilliams2017]

Also, you only get one tentacle, not four as shown in the photo.

Yeah - I’ve been doing the math and I’m pretty sure I can make my own non-inflatable for less than that….even factoring in some trial and error.

 

[wackychimp]

Only getting a single tentacle for 400 seems steep to me. All four? I'd probably jump on it as I love this idea so much.

Think about how cool they would be if they were like a car dealership "flapping man" and they moved around constantly. That would be dope.

 

[MomeWraith]

Trisha Yearwood made tentacles out of plastic tablecloths inflated using box fans in one of her Halloween specials.

Here's a video...

Tentacle Video

revised link, should work better now.

 

[PirateDex]

Here is a Make magazine article on making them from thin plastic. Yeah they are not as colorful, cool or durable as the $400 one. But for $400 you could make dozens. I ran a trial with some dollar store green table clothes and it worked, but box fans are cheap in the summer and virtually disappear around fall, well at least cheap ones, so I never made them. But thanks for bringing back the memory, maybe for 2023.

Learn Plastic Welding with Giant Inflatable Tentacles | Make:

This project will explain how to weld plastic to make these giant inflatable tentacles.

makezine.com