Tie a Wish to a Balloon

At a recent glamourous wedding in Miri balloons filled the Indoor Stadium turning the venue into a special wonderland. The multi coloured helium filled balloons looked stunning when the lights played on them - diamond looking stars glowing in the darkness. It must be one of the best if not the best ever outdoor catering by the Dynasty Hotel. What a tremendous effort to give the newly wedded couple a glittering and happy night!







Can you remember when was the first time you were given a balloon?

The first balloons I ever saw were those used to decorate the Sing Ang Tong in Sungei Merah one Christmas. I remember watching the church ladies decorating the church. Two or three balloons were tied to each of the windows together with the red and green crepe paper in those air-con less and simpler days. But I cannot remember how the service went. I also liked the little Christmas tree and the cardboard pictures of Jesus in the manger. Later there was a little skit of the angels appearing to the shepherds and then the scene at the stable.

My first ever balloon? Given by my Grand Aunt or Goo Poh Yuk Ging when she organised a children's party for the kindergarten. It was not helium filled. And that was really something to remember.

Indeed for years and years I watched always with amazement what balloons can do to a person's emotions. At the Sibu Trade Fair we bought balloons as they were the only things we could afford or wanted to spend on. And I believe when the circus came to Sibu my mother gave us money to buy balloons. It was so amazing to watch the tank of helium filling up the balloons which soon started to go straight up.

Here's a bit of history from Wikipedia.....In 1643 Evangelista Toricelli, an Italian physicist, showed air was something more than nothing. The Chinese, Japanese and Native American cultures led to beginning of the balloon.

The first balloon was (called the balloon of pie) invented by Brazilian-born Portuguese priest, Bartolomeu de Gusmão, and the first public exhibition was to the Portuguese Court on August 8, 1709, in the hall of the Casa da India in Lisbon. The rubber balloon was invented by Michael Faraday in 1824; it was inflated with hydrogen and used in his experiments with that element. Rubber balloons were soon after sold for a penny a piece in parks and circuses in America. The more familiar latex balloons of today were first manufactured in London, 1847, by J.G. Ingram, but mass production did not occur until the 1930s.[citation needed]According to the Reader's Digest, children and adults send up a billion balloons each year in celebration.

What do balloons do to us?

Firstly they make us just so very happy.
Secondly we do often tie a wish to a balloon and that gives us hope.
Thirdly balloons always make an occasion grander and more joyful.
Fourthly when a man carries a balloon towards you you will think that he is the best man in the world. I would have wished that a man like Richard Gere would walk towards me with a balloon and that wonderful smile of his...that's a really good wish.
Fifthly when you want a child to take his/her medicine always have a balloon ready.
Sixthly - a balloon often has a get well message - it lifts my spirit when I see a balloon or two in the hospital. I think I would rather have balloons than Brand's Essence of Chicken.

Whenever I am sad I would wish I were a balloon and float away in the sky - and have an adventure.

Have a balloon day today.....bring one home to your loved ones.