Balloons were invented for use in military communications, scientific experiments, and transportation. Not long after that, people began to have fun with them.

Balloons are cheap and colorful, and people like watching things fly away.

• Michael Faraday made the first rubber balloons in 1824, for use in the laboratory. He laid two sheets of rubber on top of each other, put flour in between to prevent them from joining all the way, then sealed the edge together. When Faraday filled the balloons with hydroge...

• Rubber balloons were manufactured in the United States in 1907.
• The first commercial sausage balloons were produced in 1912, and Americans began twisting balloons into animal shapes in the late 1930s.
• In the 1970s, foil balloons were introduced. Foil balloons hold thei...

• The Balloon Council says that latex balloons freeze when it reaches an altitude of about five miles, breaks into slivers that look like spaghetti, and breaks down in the soil like a leaf.
• Most rubber balloons are made of chemical-treated latex and may last for months.
• Bal...