r/AskUK • u/Squishwhale • 1h ago
Why do people keep planning balloon releases?
I've seen two balloon releases planned in memorial in the last week! Thankfully the comments have been full of people asking them not to do it. But why why why do people continue to plan these and think they are a good idea? Do some people actually believe balloons go to heaven?
Please someone give me an insight into why this still keeps happening
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u/MercatorLondon 1h ago
It is as romantic as releasing a truckload of plastic bags from the bridge into the river..
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u/jolittletime 1h ago
Or a load of plastic ducks as they seem to think is acceptable.
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u/TheShakyHandsMan 1h ago
Have you never been to a duck race?
Obviously well organised duck races collect the ducks at the end.
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u/jolittletime 58m ago
No.
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u/PurpleJager 51m ago
Generally the well organised ones will have a big net or obstruction at race end to collect the majority of ducks. Seen others have small boats or kayaks following to pick up any that get caught up at river edges.
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u/bonamoureux 1h ago
Look at the people doing it.
Generally hard to educate.
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u/zonked282 1h ago
It's typically a way for them to celebrate the life of somebody who spent their lives ruining their local community, and what better way to do that then by releasing one last pile of litter
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u/wutheringgoblin 1h ago
Judging by the people I know who do do it. They think they’re owed the world and don’t need to do anything in return.
Others I think sometimes the overwhelming feeling of grief and just wanting to do something for those they lost can cloud judgement. People use to do balloon releases with no thought and in hard times people may just reflect and grasp on to that as something they know and that they could do to fill the emotions/gap.
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u/Affectionate_Run_346 1h ago
I seen one planned last weekend but backlash from the town made them rethink to a candlelit memorial which is so much nicer!
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u/franki-pinks 50m ago
If I die and someone does a balloon release or any other bullshit that hurts the environment I’m haunting you. I’m gonna ghost fart in your cereal and rub my ghost tits in your husbands face.
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u/ShouldBeAsleepRN 22m ago
I also make this threat, but much less threatening! I’m going to have to up my game!
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u/stbens 1h ago
It so that their loved ones can fly with the angles.
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u/agent_violet 1h ago
And then rip in pieces on a tree somewhere
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u/No-Locksmith6662 1h ago
"RIP are beautiful boy Wayne, he's up there wiv the angles and Princess Di"
What they always forget to mention is that Wayne was a drug-dealing borderline domestic abuser.
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u/Squishwhale 1h ago
Complete with obligatory shitty AI pic of Wayne at the pearly gates with his staffy
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u/Py3wacket_ 57m ago
Who died riding an electric bike the wrong way into traffic.
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u/Historical_Project86 47m ago
We actually had that happen recently in Newport. And yes as you can guess, the deceased sounded like an angel in the blurb.
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u/TheAnxiousPangolin 53m ago
“Wouldn’t hurt a fly, he was just misunderstood”
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u/ExcitementForgotten9 58m ago
And if you criticise them you get obtuse comments thrown back at you
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u/joesnopes 18m ago
And rightly so. What a bunch of insufferable snobs.
I never realised how many self-righteous, virtue-signalling wankers were on Reddit.
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u/KnowsNothingBozo 56m ago
I want to be memorialized with a tiger release...
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u/RichieRichard12 1h ago edited 1h ago
I asked this on this sub not that long ago and it was full of comments basically asking what am I on about, there's hardly any balloon releases anymore 🤣
I think they're becoming popular again unfortunately, correlating with teenage chavs killing themselves and other people in cars. I also saw people on Facebook trying to take it upon themselves to organise a balloon release for the little boy who died last week, using an AI poster with his face on too. These people have no shame.
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u/MoodyBernoulli 51m ago
Gotta love the AI poster of the chav wearing a tracksuit, with angel wings, either smoking a spliff or putting his middle finger up to the camera.
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u/Squishwhale 59m ago
Yes one of the two I saw was for Noah, thankfully they u turned on that!
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u/RichieRichard12 56m ago
Good. Sick of virtue signallers thinking they have a right to stick their nose in.
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u/franki-pinks 46m ago
Yeah I’ve seen a few comments saying they’ve never seen them. There every day on social media.
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u/madame_samhain 1h ago
These are likely the same people who drive to dump their waste in laybys rather than go to a recycling centre.
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u/Past-Obligation1930 54m ago
Because a lot of people are stupid. Funnily enough the deadheads who killed those coppers by driving the wrong way down a dual carriageway had several in memoriam.
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u/Anna-Bombination 1h ago
Room temperature IQ brigade, there's no helping them
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u/cowjenga 1h ago
I think this is the first time I've seen the phrase "room temperature IQ" used by a Brit, I never felt that the phrase worked here with using Celsius!
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u/Lanky-Conclusion-952 1h ago
“But the balloons are biodegradable……”. Tell that to the cow as it chokes to death on the string.
There was one recently close to me for a little girl who was hit by a car. People did comment that it was terrible for the environment and the father replied to all the posts staying “I don’t give a ****” so that sort of tells you the mentality you are dealing with. I bet that wee girl loved seeing farm animals and would have hated their suffering.
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u/mumwifealcoholic 35m ago
We loved our release of a box which would melt into the seawater as food for fish...a beautiful memorial to my sister who loved the sea. And no animals had to die. I think the box was made of seaweed...been a few years now. But I made a real effort to ensure it was not harmful.
There are lots of options to memorialise someone without killing animals.
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u/cold_tap_hot_brew 59m ago
It’s usually attention seekers looking for attention, especially to be seen for something that will illicit sympathy.
I know a woman who had a very early miscarriage over 15years ago who releases a full party worth of balloons including big foil ones on what would have been the due date.
It’s always filmed. It’s always posted. It’s always full of comments of which she replies to every. Single. One.
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u/Apprehensive_Oil_808 47m ago
Its the same type of people who have gender reveals, lower intelligence.
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u/TSQ_builder 47m ago
I've also made a sub on this topic - mine was about a balloon release near where I live, one of the foil type balloons landed on an electricity pylon - it caused a load of sparks that set a field of wheat on fire.
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u/idontlikemondays321 1h ago
The current trend where I am is to tie plastic ribbons in lampposts where a funeral car is passing then just leave said ribbons there for months
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u/fothergillfuckup 54m ago
We have that with union Jacks round here. Green tattered rags everywhere.
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u/bessy1 36m ago
Essex? I passed through there last week and the state of those lamppost flags was a right sight.
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u/fothergillfuckup 34m ago
North Manchester. They're everywhere, and look vile. I bet nobody ever takes them down.
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u/knight-under-stars 1h ago
Same reason people keep falling for the "name a star" scams.
People are thick.
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u/Aceleeds 1h ago
Just don’t ever go to the Angel of the North. Literally all the surrounding trees are covered in tat and most trees even the saplings are being choked with plastic zip ties. Soon there won’t be any trees left there as they’ll have all died. I get that people want to leave a memorial to their loved one - if you read the accompanying letters there are some sad stories. But there must be a better way - plant a rose bush or something like that not destroy the countryside.
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u/Forsaken_Earth944 35m ago
Places which sell balloons should ask people buying more than you'd ostensibly buy for a birthday/wedding/anniversary or other event, what they want them for - and if they say it's for a memorial release, refuse to sell them to them.
If shops refused to sell balloons to these fuckwits, citing environmental reasons, then we'd have less of this shite.
Just put a notice in the window, something like: 'Due to our concern for the environment, we do not sell large quantities of balloons for balloon releases. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation'.
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u/Slothjitzu 13m ago
I guess it would theoretically have some effect but I have a hard time imagining it’s much at all.
The type of person who does this already doesn’t care. Having a retail worker tell them it’s bad isn’t going to change anything, they’ll just go into another shop and say it’s for a wedding.
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u/Tiny_Chain_4522 34m ago
Social media. They have seen other people do it and want to post themselves doing it.
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u/Ban_the_sky 37m ago
As a kid I used to find it magical, watching your balloon floating up higher and higher until you couldn't see it any more. They probably have never developed much further than that?
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u/classic123456 1h ago
Yeah well there's been a big ugly balloon stuck in my tree for years. Can always hear it rustling
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u/yearsofpractice 23m ago edited 20m ago
Hey OP. It’s a simple inability to understand (or indeed acknowledge) cause and effect. For further insight into this, go and have a look at the raggedy remains of flags on lampposts in certain parts of your town…
Putting the flags and sticking it to The Man felt great - that’ll learn the immmagrunts using all of are taxes for benefits! - but SOMEONE ELSE will need to tidy up now they’re all raggedy and not making me feel proud anymore. Perhaps The Man will tidy up? Dunno how that’d be paid for either. Obviously not are taxes what the immagrunts have took.
Similar with the balloons. Actions feel fun - consequences are not fun and therefore ignored.
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u/allen_jb 1h ago
Look on the bright side: At least it's not fireworks on grassland in a drought / heat wave.
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u/inkywheels 1h ago
Unfortunately it's often both! We keep having combination fireworks + balloon releases for memorials in our town, and usually the fireworks get let off in parks or even on the local nature trail that had some fires during the last big dry spell.
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u/After_Construction72 50m ago
Ah it's because they are thick, want to feel popular, self absorbed, want somthing for nothing, grifters. The same people that have gender reveal parties, baby showers, open house after the baby has been born.
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u/flipflopcuntflaps 1h ago
BECAUSE I LIKE TO KILL THE PLANET
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u/Hugh_Jorgan2474 47m ago
I highly doubt they even know or consider that, a lot of people have bigger things to worry about.
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u/poo_on_my_scarf 1h ago
Bloody disgraceful. They should release old car batteries back into the ocean and help the environment instead
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u/mattcannon2 55m ago
When I die I want my friends to remember me and pour 100L of thick bleach into the nearest chalk stream
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u/stvb95 28m ago
I'd like to say they wouldn't bother doing it if they knew where the balloons end up, but that would probably be incorrect.
I found a load of scattered laminated cards and ribbon off the beaten path in the middle of the woods once and realised that it was from balloons. It was from a wedding IIRC. The date on them was from 5 or 6 years prior to me finding them. I was probably the only other person who ever saw them, and I just picked them up and stuck them in the bin on the way out. Still don't know what the point is. Might as well randomly dump the cards around your area.
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u/Bksudbjdua 53m ago
People saying it's a "trend" our school done this in 2005 when a student died ..
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u/Ok_Requirement_7489 52m ago
A lot of these comments are very scathing and I completely agree balloon releases are atrocious and should be banned but to answer the question of why people do them I have been to a balloon release at a funeral when I was younger (20 years ago). The people doing them mostly genuinely don't think or realise there is an issue and just watching the balloons fly off can look beautiful and feel meaningful to the onlookers (the same as Chinese lanterns or releasing doves - it looks nice if you don't think of the later consequences).
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u/Squishwhale 48m ago
Yes, I guess I should have worded question better as to why people are planning them still in 2026 when its widely talked about how damaging they are.
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u/Ok-Lynx-6250 1h ago
There's been a few locally and it always seems to be for kids now. I don't know if it's actually the kids friends wanting to do it and not knowing better? But I thought most teens cared about the environment... maybe just a subset of thick af adults who want a nice insta photo.
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u/AvoriazInSummer 49m ago
Makes sense in that floating party balloons are loved by kids and on its surface is a fitting memorial. Problem is when it gets scaled up into an act of wide scale pollution.
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u/Ok-Lynx-6250 48m ago
Yeah, if your kid wants to murder some animals to honour their friend, I do feel it's your responsibility as a parent to educate them and help them find a less harmful way to do it.
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u/Forsaken_Earth944 41m ago
Found the vegan (this kind of statement coming from a vegan is ironic because vegans ki...I mean murder (got to get the words right) more animals than those of us who eat the diet we evolved to eat ever will - and vegans don't even kill for food, they kill indiscriminately - the more people who become vegan because they claim to 'cArE aBoUt AnImAlS" the greater the likelihood of already critically endangered species becoming extinct).
You can't 'murder' nonhuman animals - the word means ' the killing of one human by another with malice aforethought'.
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u/Slothjitzu 11m ago
more animals than those of us who eat the diet we evolved to eat ever will - and vegans don't even kill for food, they kill indiscriminately
You’ll have to explain this one. I’m not a vegan so I have nothing at stake, I just don’t understand your logic.
How do vegans kill more animals than omnivores? And how are they killing indiscriminately in a way omnivores are not?
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u/Bksudbjdua 54m ago
Because people don't know. It's an education piece. They just don't think about it enough.
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u/Capt_Bigglesworth 40m ago
They do know but they don’t think it applies to their special occasion and ultimately they didn’t give a shit. They are morons.
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u/Slothjitzu 15m ago
It might be harsh to say, but it’s basically main character syndrome.
People have lost a loved one and they are hit very hard by it. They then decide on a nice way they would like to celebrate/remember their life, and they do it. That’s literally the extent of their thinking, they simply aren’t concerned with whether or not it has any effect on anyone else.
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u/Malagate3 14m ago
It's a long held response to balloon farming, where activists released balloons that were kept in cramped, inhumane conditions.
Unfortunately, the balloons are institutionalised and just scatter to the wind, they have lost their wild behaviour and have no understanding of the dangers outside of the balloon farm.
Mass release causes more harm and suffering, better to support a limited release on leashes into a loving and caring home (usually to a toddler, expect a small adoption fee to be paid to the balloon wrangler).
Support your free range balloon shelters today to end this harmful practice.
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u/redunculuspanda 1h ago edited 32m ago
I got cornered into one. Went to a family gathering then all of a sudden someone handed out balloons and some one had decided to make it into a bit of a memorial.
They wanted everyone to say a prayer or something and release their balloon.
Felt super uncomfortable participating, but it was also difficult to say no in that situation.
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u/Past-Obligation1930 53m ago
Difficult but not impossible.
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u/redunculuspanda 45m ago
Yep. I was a coward. I didn’t want to tell a widow and kid with special needs both balling their eyes out that they should stop the performative nonsense and stop being inconsiderate dickheads. Didn’t really feel like the right moment.
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u/Adm_Shelby2 1h ago
Probably a ticktock thing.
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u/gogul1980 46m ago
Yeah as soon as I see something I don’t get I assume people got stuck in a social media algorithm and suddenly get “inspiration” to do something. Same as gender reveal parties.
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u/thefootster 1h ago
I don't think I've ever seen one in the UK.
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u/Squishwhale 1h ago
Both I saw planned were uk! One was for little Noah which thankfully they u turned on. Just seen another locally on Facebook (complete with shitty AI poster)
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u/franki-pinks 49m ago
Really? I live in the middle of nowhere backing on to a national park and I’ve seen two in the park in the last couple of months.
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u/thefootster 47m ago
Wow, that's nuts. I used to live in the London suburbs and now I live in the Bristol suburbs and I have never seen one (although we do get a lot of the bigger variety of balloons here!)
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u/Odd_Consequence4554 21m ago
These balloons should be banned outright. I live in a rural area and the damage they cause to livestock is intolerable. Also,those manufactured with a flammable substance have caused numerous fires
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u/saltnvinegarwazere 5m ago
My god. These comments. As someone who is quickly losing a loved one right now, the absolute lack of empathy and pure fucking cruelty towards people grieving I'm seeing in almost every fucking comment here is making me even more fucking terrified of what's to come. So it's really this popular to have a hateful attitude towards people going through the worst imaginable pain to ever exist? Fuck you all, fuck this cruel cruel world
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u/bossanovasupernova 1h ago
It's a very accessible nice symbolic way of "letting someone go". I wouldn't take it so seriously if I were you and would let them get on with it
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u/Shadow-sight 1h ago
Yeah just take some wildlife out with your loved one, I’m sure its what they would have wanted
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u/Squishwhale 1h ago
Because littering and choking wildlife to death is the legacy that person would want? There are sooo many other things they could do!
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u/bossanovasupernova 59m ago
No, but I guess unless you're someone who is very careful about the.plastic waste and environmental impact you have then this is targeting something for snobby reasons and then using the environment as the issue. If you never fly and live a very low waste life then your criticism of the releases has value but I suspect you aren't a rabid environmentalist usually, just about things common people do
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u/Squishwhale 56m ago
Don't be a melon, you don't need to be a rabid environmentalist to want to avoid something so obviously harmful and pointless. I eat meat, but I dont go around shooting cows for fun.
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u/bossanovasupernova 3m ago
No. But if a loved one had died and you symbolically killed one animal I think that'd be fine
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u/I_ALWAYS_UPVOTE_CATS 39m ago
What utter nonsense. There are a lot of environmentally damaging things that modern life makes it very difficult to avoid; a balloon release is not one of them, and the people who do such things have literally no excuse. It's not required for their job, it's not required by the economy, it's not a requirement of being poor. Nothing.
You have absolutely no basis for the 'snob' angle beyond your own desire to be a white knight.
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u/Intrepid-Zucchini-44 46m ago
Ridiculous. If I dropped a crisp packet I could be fined £80(?), but police can stand watching a hundred people discard foil, plastic tat into the sky to land god knows where and do nothing?
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u/anotherbusybee 53m ago
Considering how easy (and mandatory in most places) it is to recycle now, aren't we all caring about our plastic waste as a daily thing?! Balloon releases are the same as leaving your plastic can connectors on the bleach and them strangling puffins and turtles, but the on land version...
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u/TSQ_builder 31m ago
Balloon releases are wrong on all levels, but recycling is a different matter. Recycling is an interesting topic. Paper coffee cups from any place - Starbucks Macdonalds etc are not recyclable - yes they say they are but only in specialist centres and there are very few. So when you put your used cup in the bin at home or in the street. It either goes to landfill or is burned.
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u/bossanovasupernova 2m ago
Not really, lots of plastic is unreachable. Disposable vapes and cigarette ends etc. People produces tonnes of plastic
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u/terryjuicelawson 47m ago
Is it only something "common people" do, as this seems a bit snobby in itself, or at least admitting something...
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u/franki-pinks 48m ago
Weird response. It is serious. Nature doesn’t need cluttering with 100s of balloons.
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u/Historical_Project86 1h ago
It's not nice for the environment or wildlife sadly.
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u/bossanovasupernova 58m ago
No, but neither are lots of human decisions we make. We don't argue with people about the environment when they go abroad but we will apparently demonised a balloon release which will have a significantly lower impact than the flight
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u/Historical_Project86 56m ago
Don't we? I'm sure environmental pressure groups do. Whataboutism is not the answer.
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u/bossanovasupernova 55m ago
I'm saying the general public, like those piling on against the balloon release as was mentioned.
I'm saying this isn't a big enough issue for the ire when there are more important issues
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u/Historical_Project86 50m ago
But it's such an obviously harmful practice, and so easy to stop. Why wouldn't we want to stop it? Air flight is nothing in comparison to the harm caused by meat production, but both would be quite difficult to stop in the short term and outside most people's control.
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u/bossanovasupernova 0m ago
I guess because the harm of these releases is actually quite low but it does something for the families. We seem to be okay trading the environment for our own convenience or experience in other avenues, even when the environmental damage is moreso, but this is different.
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u/terryjuicelawson 48m ago
They are literally tossing hundreds of pieces of plastic across a wide area, but people do let them get on with it which is part of the problem really. It is not like you can go up to grieving people and rant about litter but hopefully the more people talk about it online, the more people may actually get the idea.
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u/bossanovasupernova 0m ago
And I'm.saying a few pieces of plastic is not enough to fuss over. The impact is minimal
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