Stop releasing helium balloons in memory of

Do you think being given a pile of balloons would be a big wake up call? Hard to imagine.
plus there's the whole thing of them just having lost a young member of the school community in tragic circumstances.

Where do you live? There’s no firework or balloon shops where I am, balloons are sold in party shops or by people creating balloon displays but they’re for party decorations and people don’t release them. I only really see fireworks sold around fireworks night and Diwali.

I wish you had delivered them back to the school, it would have been a big wake up call for them. Well done for picking them up though.

Our wildlife is in such trouble we just can't risk these pointless deaths.

Do you live rurally? I do and see this shite in hedges, woods, ditches, fields regularly.

A friend’s horse was badly burned when one of those ridiculous lanterns was let off at a wedding and landed on the sleeping horse.

A farmer posted about dead lamb just a few weeks ago, ate some balloons.

Yea the world maybe full of plastic crap, but now we know better, we should do better. Surely?

Then the ‘majority’ of people are selfish idiots who put their own needs before the lives of other living creatures.
Releasing balloons as a way to mourn/grieve/remember a person is just performative nonsense for the photo and video opportunities.

Exactly.

Yes to anything like this- what goes up comes down indiscriminately- setting houses on fire when trapped in gutters, plastic and wire being ingested by animals. People are so thoughtless

Then the ‘majority’ of people are selfish idiots who put their own needs before the lives of other living creatures.

Releasing balloons as a way to mourn/grieve/remember a person is just performative nonsense for the photo and video opportunities.

You must live in a bubble. They make it to farms all the time.

There are laws.

Littering is a punishable offence. There are few such brazen acts of deliberate littering.

I would like to see a couple of well publicised prosecutions. Shouldn’t be hard, people are keen to post the evidence of themselves on SM.

A 16yr old was killed in my town 2 years ago. His school released balloons with his name on. For days I found them over the fields where I walk my dog. They were floating in the river (we have lots of birds who nest there), stuck high up and tangled in trees. I collected around 25 of them but couldn’t get to them all. They all had labels saying things like fly high. I really wanted to ring the school and tell them how irresponsible they’d been.

And if you leave flowers on a grave (or other memorial) please remove all plastic and tie with traditional string which is biodegradable

Also those lanterns, they cause fires.

Same goes for leaving flowers where somebody has died. At least take the cellophane off!

Mumsnet is on a different planet at times. I get the concerns around these things, I really do before someone tries being patronising and repeating what has already been said. But the vast majority of people release balloons, set off fireworks or go to firework displays. If they didn’t then there wouldn’t be balloon and firework shops on nearly every high street. Every party seems to be littered with helium balloons. You would not get a good reaction from people around here if you complained about balloons when teenagers release them in memory of friends etc, honestly you’d be community villain number 1. I do think they are here to stay unless laws prevent people from doing so.

I must admit , years ago I used to love watching those Chinese Lanterns when they were released ( they were wire framed back then , but they changed that the bamboo ) but they have disappeared now into the mists of time ...to be replaced by bloody fireworks .
I like fireworks but only at NYE and GuyFawkes Night ( they also have Diwali firewrorks so they go on a week or so) , but really they should be limited

I'm guilty of being ignorant about this, so thank you for the info! How awful. Thankfully my helium balloon days are well over.

We have one of those as well near us! It was there when my husband and I moved into the area. The first time we saw it we said “Balloon!” and now 4 years later one of us will still say “Balloon” as we walk past it. It’s become a weird tradition now. No matter if we’re walking in silence or half way through a conversation one of us will say balloon. (Yes I know we’re a bit odd at times).

I don’t get it at all. Someone dies and to celebrate that person/remember them after death balloons are released, they go up for a bit then crash back down to earth causing more death. Why would anyone think that’s a nice thing to do for someone?

I can assure you people are still doing it

Never understood the sending of a naked flame into the big blue yonder... what could possibly go wrong.

Still happens all the time . . .

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/walsall/2024/08/09/balloons-let-off-into-walsall-skies-in-tribute-to-southport-stabbing-victims/

We had the exact same scenario last summer, two teenage lads (known criminals who terrorised and bullied the whole community) died after crashing their stolen bike, hundreds of balloons were released and then unbelievably they got together a load of bikes and revved them as loud as they could.

It's also a terrible waste of helium which is needed for medical equipment. Helium balloons should be illegal, and the stockpile of helium sold back to medical establishments.

There's been a balloon stuck in a tree near me for at least 20 years. It's caught in twiggy bits at the top and it's too high to reach in any way, short of hiring a cherry picker. It has slightly faded but shows no signs of disintegrating.

A horse a few miles away died a couple of years ago after trying to eat the remains of a lantern.

We have retrieved at least four balloons stuck in undergrowth this year when we have been walking locally.

People who release them are just mindless and selfish idiots.