Light as a Feather

We had a balloon-themed birthday party this summer with friends.  Here’s how it showed up in a bedtime story.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Catherine.  She was very excited because she was going to celebrate her birthday with lots and lots of friends.  Her mom and dad bought lots of balloons.  Catherine’s dad handed her the balloons and all of a sudden, she floated high up into the air above the park.  


She looked around and waved to everyone on the ground.  She had always wanted to fly and this seemed very close to the real thing.  A bird named Fluffy flew right by her and stopped right in midair.  He was stunned to see a little girl up in the sky.  He said, “what are you doing here?”  

Catherine responded that she was holding the balloons when she accidentally wound up in the sky.  She explained that she really liked the view and would love to stay, but that she wanted to be at her birthday party.  “Maybe you could help me get down?”

“Do you think I could come to your party if we can get you down?”  Fluffy asked excitedly.  Catherine was a very welcoming and friendly kid and quickly said she would make sure Fluffy could have some cake.  “Let’s get to work,” Fluffy said.

He grabbed Catherine’s shoe lace with his beak and flapped his wings as hard as he could.  He started to pull her down.  It was a lot of work and as soon as he took a break, Catherine floated right back up.  “Do you think you could let go of all those balloons?”  

“No way!” Catherine said.  “I would fall really fast and it’s too far down.  I would get hurt”

“Maybe you could ride on me,” Fluffy said puffing himself up.  Catherine looked at Fluffy.  He wasn’t very big.  She was confident he couldn’t hold her and that she would squish him.  

“I know," said Catherine noticing Fluffy’s sharp beak.  “Do you think you could pop just a few balloons and do it slowly?”  Fluffy flew up and popped two balloons.  Pop, pop!  Catherine sank just a bit.  “It’s working.  Keep doing it.”  Fluffy popped three more balloons.  Pop, pop, pop!  Catherine sank further toward the ground.  After Fluffy popped 656 more balloons, Catherine reached the ground.  Her mommy and daddy were so glad to see her and all of her party guests were very glad to meet Fluffy.  It was a very special and happy birthday for Catherine.

Notes:  If you wanted to make the story longer, you could have a breeze blow your main character someplace interesting or special first.  If you wanted more birds to be a part of the story, you could do that too.  I tend to make Catherine confident and also the heroine that figures out the solution.  I cross my fingers that crosses over into the real world!