Zubbles: Colored Bubbles Now Available for Pre-Order

June 25, 2009


Hard to believe but I posted about Zubbles over four years ago, way back in 2005. Imagine my delight and surprise when I saw an email come in this morning – announcing that their bubbles were officially available for pre-order!

I’m happy to say that within 10 minutes of getting the email, I ordered me up some. Bubbles with color! How cool is that? Seriously!


Deep down, I’m a five year old. Totally excited, and can’t wait to get these in the mail. I’ve been waiting for this stuff since 2005, after all.

But then again the creator, Tim Kehoe, has been waiting far longer than me.

Fighting the impulse to go check the mail, to see if it’s arrived yet…

Check out zubbles.com for more info (and to order your own).

This Post Has 13 Comments

  1. Thanks for your support! I hope you enjoy your Zubbles.

    Tim Kehoe (June 25, 2009 at 5:05 pm) Reply


  2. I’m betting, after 15 years, it’s gotta feel pretty damn good to have that “Open for Business” sign officially in the window.Thanks for the comment, Tim. And best of luck to you and your marvelous invention! You’re going to be responsible for making a lot of kids (and a lot of adults) laugh and smile.

    avoision (June 25, 2009 at 8:15 pm) Reply


  3. This is pretty awesome. Being in wedding mode, I can’t imagine how many brides out there would love to have their “colors” in bubbles blown at them as they take their exit.

    Liz (June 25, 2009 at 9:37 pm) Reply


  4. I’m excited!!

    Emme (June 26, 2009 at 2:13 am) Reply


  5. Colored bubbles??? That’s AWESOME! Did you also like those toys where you could blow bubbles out of that awful smelling chemical stuff with a little straw thing and then you could toss them around? My bf loves those! Whenever I see them, I buy them for her. In this day and age of organic, and chemical free, it’s getting harder and harder to find those probably cancerous bad boys. Perhaps colored bubbles will fill the void!

    Marty J. (June 26, 2009 at 11:55 am) Reply


  6. Curious about the safety of these. The thing that colors the bubbles is leuco dye powders. According to the MSDS, these dyes pose only a slight health hazard. And probably, when diluted in a solution as they are here, the risk is even less. Still, this product is meant for kids, and they could swallow the stuff, get it in their eyes, etc.Going to contact the dude and ask. I’ll let you know what he says.

    juliet (June 27, 2009 at 12:56 am) Reply


  7. OK, so I e-mailed Mr. Kehoe about the safety of the Zubbles, and I got a message back from someone named Marc Matsoff. He said:Great questions. I am actually going to dedicate a section of the website to safety concerns. For now, let me tell you that I feel completely comfortable letting my 3 little daughters play with them. We have run many tests (eye and skin irritation among others) and everything has come out safe. Check back to the website in a while.

    juliet (June 29, 2009 at 9:20 pm) Reply


  8. Just got my Zubbles…The pink color comes out much more “colorful” than the blue. The dipper/bubble blower isn’t that great, but I’m going to try switching it out for a traditional one from a regular bubble soap. Hopefully they’ll come out with the other colors from their site. Pretty cool nonetheless and my daughter loves them.

    Anthony (July 11, 2009 at 9:56 pm) Reply


  9. I agree with Anthony: the blue color seems to fade a bit too fast, though the pink is awesome. Does anyone know if the fading mainly occurs by oxidation or by hydrolysis? If oxidation, presumably the color could be prolonged by addition of a reducing agent to the bubble solution.Droplets of solution maintain their color for a little while in air, but the color disappears almost instantly when rubbed on skin. Interestingly, when I touched the blue solution after having rubbed away some of the pink, the pink color seemed to reappear. This means that there should be something that can prolong the colors.

    Noah (July 23, 2009 at 8:59 pm) Reply


  10. Wow, Noah – that’s a bit more science than I can comment on. But here’s a random tidbit: Allison got some too, and blew a few bubbles by her desk. She cleaned the area with bleach, and the colors actually came back and re-appeared!Not sure if this was a temporary or instant thing or what. But I remember her telling me she was pretty surprised to see the colors again.

    avoision (July 23, 2009 at 10:09 pm) Reply


  11. I reread the popsci article, and it states that the dyes are actually colored in their open form, and colorless in their closed lactone form. Bleach is a base. A lactone is a type of ester, and bases can hydrolyze esters – it could break the ring open. I’ll have to go check; thanks for the tip!

    Noah (July 25, 2009 at 11:30 pm) Reply


  13. I WANT some of these, but I live in the UK and no one seems to sell them here. When will I be able to buy them? I’m a chemistry teacher, there’s so much fabulous chemistry here! Oh by the way, bleach contains chlorate ions, which are probably acting as an oxidising agent. Makes me think the colour breakdown isn’t due to oxidation, cos bleach would wipe it out completely, not cause the colour to return.

    Xenos (September 15, 2009 at 4:54 pm) Reply


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