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It's OK to Let the Air Out



This morning I was watching "The Today Show" when a commercial came on advertising Sesame Street Live!  OH!!!!  I remembered taking our little cherubs to those shows -- how fun it was -- and how expensive it was too!  But I thought more about how fun it was -- and how cute they were (my cherubs, that is) -- and then again, how expensive it was! 

But then I remembered what we used to do!  That's what I want to share with you!  I prefer not to think of myself cheap -- 'cause I don't really think I am.  What I do know is that we only have so much money, and I can cut corners here in order to have "full corners" someplace else.  Life is about a little give and take, don't you think! 

Back to what I used to do.  Both of my cherubs L.O.V.E.D balloons.  Not just any balloon  --- yes, the plain ones were fun, but the shiny Mylar character ones were GREAT!  One time my son got a a mylar Elmo balloon from his Mimi.  Once the balloon lost it's zip from the helium, I got a great idea!  I stuck a straw into the little hangy-downy thing of the balloon, which opened up the little air passage, and I gently pushed all remaining trapped air right out of the Mylar balloon!  I folded that sucker up and stashed it in the closet!  I did this with several balloons that were cute or fun for the kids! 

Then guess what I did!  Whenever we were going to Sesame Street Live or some other gimmicky kind of place, or even if it was a Balloon-Kind-of-Day, I'd go dig through my neatly folded up, and used but perfectly good, Mylar balloons and find one that MOST looked like it fit the occasion and I'd run right to the grocery store and have that thing filled with helium and a new curly ribbon!  Often times, the story didn't even charge me for the helium.  The most I ever paid was a buck!  A buck! 


We ended up with a collection of about a dozen balloons.  One day, after several years of re-use, we decided to donate them to a children's wing of a hospital so that they could brighten up a kids day!  Hopefully my tip will brighten your day too!

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