Foam Parties: Worth The Risk?

Waves crash onto a tropical beach.

Above, the moon peers out from behind her blanket of clouds, gazing serenely down on the spectacle unfolding beneath her. Flashing lights alternate between blue, green, and purple as loud party music blasts through the night. A black machine blasts foam high into the air, and the lights illuminate it, turning it all the colors of a rainbow. Soapy bodies jump up and down beneath the palm trees, dancing the night away. The revelers scream and laugh as the foam envelops their arms, legs, even their heads. A man picks up his friend, dumping him in a pile of suds four feet high. The soap thrashes and heaves, until the dancer bursts out again in a flying cloud of soap. He is entirely covered, and looks rather like a great white marshmallow monster.

A blast, you may think.

And why not? After all, aren’t foam parties simply massive bubble baths, complete with flashing lights and wild party music? What could possibly go wrong?

Believe it or not, there’s quite a list of things that can end up resulting in a trip to the E.R. Attending a foam party can be very hazardous to both your health and the environment, in multiple ways. For example, can you imagine how dangerous it would be to lose consciousness for whatever reason, and fall unnoticed underneath four feet of bubbles? You would be completely invisible to those above, and the risk of drowning would be high.

Lisa Flam, at Today Health, pointed out that “As machines spray foamy bubbles onto partygoers, revelers who get a face full of soapy bubbles can suffer from stinging, burning red eyes, not to mention the falls that can happen when the floor gets slick and people can’t see where they’re going because they’re dancing through a foamy cloud.” Also, inhaling the foam can cause you to vomit intensely, which can go unnoticed beneath the foam. This just adds to the slickness of the floor, not to mention the fact that it would be utterly disgusting to slip and fall into someone else’s puke!

The foam can also cause partiers to contract pinkeye, and even if you don’t get pinkeye, getting even the slightest bit of foam in your eyes will result in hours if not days of burning. Doctors have noted that this is the most common complaint that their patients have after a night at a foam party.

Also, what about the environmental impact of foam parties? Hippie of me, I know, but the moment I saw the river of foam pouring out onto the beach, I immediately thought “That can’t be good. I wonder what that’s doing to the ecosystem!” Although many foam solution companies claim that their foam is biodegradable and non-toxic, is that really true? If it’s detrimental to humans, is it really ok to wash gallons of it onto our beaches?

Although foam parties are definitely an experience, and can be considered a blast by anyone young enough to disregard the consequences, I wouldn’t recommend a party that combines copious amounts of alcohol, slippery surfaces, and a foam that blinds any unfortunate enough to get it in their eyes.