First, I couldn't get a regular rubber helium balloon at our local Dollar Store, only the Mylar kind, which is heavier. When I added my note with four staples it became too heavy to take off successfully. I had to run after it and rescue it from the (tick and poison ivy infested) tall grass. I removed the staples, put the note in a lighter plastic bag, and tried 'er again. This time it took off, but landed, tangled, high in the trees above the barn. (The horses found this exceptionally interesting!) It struggled there for quite a while, trying to loose itself. As soon as I gave up staring at it and trying to will it free with a great deal of anxiety, I looked away, looked back and it was in the air again...only to land in the high limbs of another line of trees at the edge of our yard. I walked to the base of the tree it was in and determined that this time it was really stuck and left it to it's sorry end, poor thing.
I went back to the Dollar Store and bought three Mylar balloons and some smaller baggies. I used lighter bond paper for my note instead of card stock and cut the ribbons short so they wouldn't tangle in the trees (duh!). I waited for the wind to not be blowing so hard so they could rise higher than the trees before traveling cross-country. This time the three together took off immediately. I watched them soar up into the cloudy sky, until they were a tiny speck, and then they disappeared. An interesting experience to watch something that you just held in your hand travel so far away so fast. I highly recommend it.
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