The WORST ordeal we ever had at a restaurant was at a place where they gave each child a helium balloon when they entered. The restaurant had high, vaulted ceilings, so the moment when the balloon was accidentaly released was the beginning of the end for our family night out. We stood on the chair, then the table to get that darn balloon down but the string was too short for us to reach it. The waitress even brought him ANOTHER balloon, but that didn't stop the wailing, either, because he could still SEE his balloon stuck up there on the ceiling. So much for promotional gimmicks...we made a hasty retreat from the restaurant, and he screamed all the way home.
We avoid helium balloons like the plague and we stick to just ordinary dime-store balloons - even then we don't buy them very often.
On his 8th birthday, someone gave him a red helium balloon for a birthday present. He lost it in the parking lot on his way to the car. As it drifted ever so slowly away, just beyond our reach, he asked me "Where is my balloon going?" I told him "Your balloon is going to China." And he was perfectly okay with that answer! Now when something reminds him of his balloon, he says "My balloon went to China!"
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