How to get helium balloons down from a high ceiling

Kerry's hack SUCKS (bwah! ha ha! ha...ahem.):

I had two balloons stuck in my two-story entryway, while two little boys sobbed for them to come down NOW. Although they had ribbons tied to them, I still couldn't reach the ends, even with my six-foot ladder. I really didn't want to bring in my taller ladder, so I took a moment to think. I wound up taking my canister vacuum cleaner up the ladder with me, and sucked up the ends of the ribbon. Those balloons were down in seconds!

Re: the vacuum cleaner pun, it's just what you'll need to put up with if you wanna hang around with me. Sorry, folks. Low-hanging fruit.

Related: Tie helium balloons to kids' bracelets rather than their wrists

Comments

[Craig]

If you have another helium balloon, you can give it a long string and wrap some double sided (or doubled over) tape to it and bump it against the lost balloon. It will attach itself enough that you can reel the lost balloon in.

Actually, that could make for a fun balloon-fishing game for the kids, too.

[Asha Dornfest]

An equally brilliant hack. Thanks, Craig!

[Alli]

A friend who used to work in a restaurant with lots of balloons everyday said that they used to spray them with a squirt bottle full of water. The water drops stick to the balloon, and the water is far more heavy than the helium, so it pulls the balloon down!
Never tried it myself, but the theory is pretty sound, I think.
I dig the "balloon fishing" game idea!

[kelly]

We did a similar balloon fishing thing but instead of tape, just have an extra long string on the second balloon. Get the second balloon right next to the 'lost' one and then start spinning the string around, kind of like a lasso and catch the 'lost' balloons string in it. When you have enough fot he 'lost' string wrapped up you can pull down both balloons at once.