Hey guys, thinking of turning a room in to a ball pit, I've seen prices for various balls, any cheap alternatives?

Yes this is inspired by a combination of three things, that infamous XKCD comic strip, THE LIST and a few conversations with friends. 

It's the cloakroom of my house, which is small but not too small for say six people and a few thousand balls... 

Important points, using the online calculator it would take around 800-900 balls at a diameter of 3.155 inches.  The floor area is about 50 sq. feet and I'm attempting to get the height at around two and half feet deep. 

So suggestions, obviously if this insane project comes together on a budget of zero there will be a full instructable involved, which would make for awesome photos, think victorian features and stain glass backdrop to a ball pit...

Comments

[orksecurity]

Find an importer and see if they'll let you buy by the case.

(Closest retail approximation to that which I can think of offhand would be Oriental Trading Post.)

I know folks who bought a few thousand superballs in bulk, [mumble] years ago. "If it happens, it must be possible."

[wolpert101]

You could try ping pong balls

[slithien]

You could try finding a company that makes the balls and ask them if they would give you a discount for a bulk order.

[lemonie]

That's a totally-great idea.
You might have a party and get people making balls from paper?
A gallon of PVA & a stack of newspaper? ~It's going to take a long time isn't it...?

L

[killerjackalope]

Hmm it'd take forever, I wonder could I find cheap felt balls, they'd work... 

[Jayefuu]

Collect thousands of widgets from Guiness cans. 1 inch in diameter. I'll let you do the maths :D

[killerjackalope]

I drink enough of it, though that'd be one stinky room, I've been trying to think of a good use for the widgets though... 

[cerberustugowar]

don't know how long they would last, but what about packing peanuts.    I'm sure there are people trying to get rid of that stuff.

[killerjackalope]

Well packing peanuts did occur to me, they'd work fine and be easy to get but really mess and destroyed pretty fast I imagine, though they'd be easy to renew I suspect. 

[RavingMadStudios]

Could be dangerous. I have a friend who accidentally inhaled a piece of a styro peanut and would up requiring surgery to remove it. The doctor said she was lucky to escape permanent lung damage and/or death.

[Jack A Lopez]

I dunno.  You're going to need a lot of balls to pull off a stunt like this!
;-)
Sorry.  I just couldn't resit the pun.

As for the answer, erm... how about used tennis balls?
http://shop.ebay.com/?_nkw=used+tennis+balls&_sacat=See-All-Categories

[killerjackalope]

I thought about tennis balls but they'd be very uncomfy and also kind of difficult to get in big quantities...  

[Jack A Lopez]

No. No wait.  I don't know about the tennis balls.  I mean unless you can cut a really good deal  with some large tennis playing franchise.  BTW, I at first had no idea what you were talking about regarding the "infamous XKCD" strip, but it's starting to come into focus. Here:

http://turingcompletewasteoftime.blogspot.com/2007/11/im-grown-up-now.html

http://xkcd.com/150/

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=pit+balls+1000

[Kryptonite]

There's at least three ball pit comics on xkcd.