I bought my son an amazing balloon display for his seventh birthday – I wished I’d known the hidden danger

, the mum explained how she bought the sweet display from a local party shop.

She explained: "The balloon bouquet was nicely done and we were happy with the order.

“Probably like most people, we kept the arrangement for a few days and planned to dispose of the balloons once they begin to shrivel."

Earlier this week, Tina's children were playing with the biggest balloon in the display - which contained several smaller ones within in.

She continued: "My son took it with him to the bedroom ... and suddenly we heard a LOUD explosion and the force rocked our house.

"We even saw a bit of spark/fire along with the boom. We rushed to check on him and bits of balloon were everywhere.

"Some got stuck on the ceiling and some melted on the floor tiles.

“Miraculously they missed my son’s eyes and face and the only injury he got was a bit of burn on his forearm from the melted balloon that landed on him."

Naturally, when Tina placed the order, she assumed the balloons were filled with helium.

But after messaging the seller to complain, the mum discovered that they had been blown up with hydrogen instead and staff members had forgotten to put a warning label on the outside.

The mum continued: "We discovered that if hydrogen was used to inflate the balloon, it can react with oxygen along with friction to create energy.

“The big balloon contained tiny balloons inside which was a recipe for disaster.

“Friction could have triggered the explosion plus the leaking of oxygen/hydrogen.

“No need for a spark or flame. It’s a ticking time bomb if enough friction is made.

“So the main goal of this post is to warn parents not to let their kids play with these kinds of balloons unless it is you who inflated it with your own breath or balloon pump.

“However innocent looking those balloons are, we don’t know what kind of gas they used to inflate it.”

Needless to say, other parents were grateful for the warning.

"You would never know this unless you were told or worked with the items," one replied. “Hope everyone is okay. What a fright it would have been."

"It would never have even crossed my mind a different gas could be used," another added. "Thanks for the heads up."