No helium for balloons in Belleville hospital says Belleville florist.

It usually starts with a problem, and this was no exception.

This wasn't for flowers in Belleville, but rather an order for a balloon bouquet to the Belleville General Hospital.

The sender already knew of the restrictions on latex balloons, as some patients may have allergies to latex., so she wanted an arrangement of all mylar balloons instead.

NO latex balloons allowed!

So instead she wanted an arrangement of all mylar balloons to be sent from a Belleville florist.

The next day we get the call.

"Why are the balloons on a stick and not a ribbon?" Gee, I don't know. Good question!

So we talked to the floral designer at the Belleville flower shop. This all comes down to the shortage of helium.

I actually blogged about this problem with balloons almost 2 years ago to the day, and here was a perfect example. This shop couldn't find a supply of helium, but nitrogen is readily available to inflate balloons.

The only problem with nitrogen is that while it does keep the balloon inflated, it doesn't float like helium does. So rather than tie with ribbon, they insert a stick into each balloon instead.

And here you thought all we worked with were flowers.

Your Canadian balloon "experts" at Simon Says Roses...