One time, I sent my wife a dozen helium-filled balloons for Valentine's Day (instead of flowers.) I thought that it would be different and possibly cool because the delivery gal also sang a quick song, etc. The wife was not amused. Won't make that mistake again. When my kids were little, we would get helium-filled balloons for their birthdays and the mylar ones last for many days after the event. I got in the habit of tying a piece of cardboard at the end of the string of one of them and then snipping off small pieces of the cardboard until the balloon stayed at a child's eye level in the room. The kids loved it because as they walked around the room, they would create air currents that caused the balloon to move around and sometimes, even follow them. Sometimes, you would be doing something and the balloon would work its way over to you to join in. As the balloon slowly lost helium, I would just cut a little more cardboard off the string so that it would go back to floating around at eye-level. Cheap fun for kids after the event.
Quite inventive, jrbiz. I like their prettiness and perfect shape, but the part I really love is banging them.