Gangnam style balloons from our newest birthday ecard

What celebration is complete without the festive balloons, bouncing around, meandering in the air then popping loudly, scaring the bejezus out of everyone?

Balloons just radiate festivity. As a matter of fact, if you had no other decoration at a party, balloons could carry the entire decorative weight.

But did you know the following:

• While modern balloons are made from materials such as rubber and latex, early balloons were made from dried animal bladders. Children actually marveled while playing with inflated intestines.

• Balloons have practical applications and are often used in the fields meteorology, medicine and transportation. According to YouTube they are now used by  videographers to send their cameras into outer space and back.

• The inventor of the rubber balloon was renowned British scientist Michael Farraday in 1824, who glued two round sheets of rubber together at he edges to make a balloon to hold hydrogen with which he was then experimenting.

• Rubber or plastic balloons filled with helium typically retain their buoyancy for only a day or so. The helium atoms escape through small pores in the latex. This is why they look so hung over the next day.

• Released balloons may look pretty but are dangerous to the environment where animals may ingest them or be entangled by them. Deflated balloons have been found in the stomachs of dead sea turtles.

If you’re celebrating a loved one’s birthday today, start blowing up those animal bladders. (A great sweetheart surprise? Cover the bed with balloons before he or she wakes up.) Another simple way to say I love you? Send one of our many free birthday e-cards. (They don’t pop if you step on one.)