Who got the idea to take a little bag of colored rubber and fill it with air so it floats? And then to use them to celebrate birthdays and garage sales and open houses? Balloons are sure a lot of fun. Fun seems to be the whole idea of balloons from the very beginning.

I found a great resource on balloons at Balloonhq.com while I was wondering about where they came from. I admit that I was not quite ready for the answer I found. Apparently, animal bladders and intestines were the original material for balloons. I had no idea. They haven't been around all that long, but they are mentioned in literature in the early 1800's.

That site quotes a book called "Great Balloons! The Complete Book of Balloon Sculpting" by Jean Merlin, Kaufman and Greenberg, which tells how the Aztecs used balloons made of cat bowels as offerings to their gods. I had no idea balloons were ever used in religious ceremonies. Did you?

Then some scientist named Michael Faraday made a rubber balloon for some kind of science experiments. The hot air balloon was born in the 1700's. It's a good story. Go read it on that site, Balloonhg.com It wasn't that long before we had balloons flying in parades, the Goodyear blimp and, of course, colored rubber balloons followed by intricately decorated foil balloons with words and pictures on them!

Balloons, as you know, can be sculpted into various shapes. We've all seen people make little dog shapes and hats at carnivals and fairs. But you won't believe the pictures on that web site! Balloons can really be molded into just about anything. There are pictures of some very realistic snails, rabbits and dogs. Different colors are used to add to the realism.

I can't possibly go into all the fun that you can have with balloons. You'll have to go see for yourself. See what you can find. And definitely remember to have fun!