We started researching the idea of balloon vending in April of 1981 and in July of 1981, Up 'N Away Balloons was born.  My name is Jeff Wilks and my wife, Jane and I thought that we could keep our daytime jobs and sell balloons on weekends. Also, we thought that if I dressed myself up as a clown, THAT would get me more attention and I would sell MORE balloons. At Jane's place of employment, one of her coworkers' husband was graduating from UGA's Law School and she wanted to send her hubby a "Congratulations" bouquet of balloons.  So, the first bouquet of balloons was DELIVERED for UNAB and it had to look pretty bad because we put it together inside a little '74 Toyota Celica.  We tied on a card, signed it and delivered it to the honoree and he was thrilled.  Within the next few months we added several 'singing telegram' characters to our business.  I decided to call myself MR.CLOWN and the other characters I did were STILLA GORILLA and THE CLASSIC CHICKEN.  We had those 3 characters for a while and then we added bellydancers to perform "BELLYGRAMS" and THE DANCIN' DUDES to dance for the ladies.  Our main focus during the 80's and 90's was doing all these different singing telegram deliveries. We had a store on the Atlanta Highway next to Shoney's (now home to Hilltop Grille) that sold costumes and novelty items.  We did very little decorating at this point.  We did offer seasonal characters to do deliveries like "CUPID" for Valentines' Day, THE EASTER BUNNY, Leprechans and a thing we called the "POINSANTA-GRAM". He delivered poinsettias for holiday greetings.   Other characters that had a brief stint with us were DR.DOOM, The BULLDOG BELLE and NURSE GOODBODY.  The only other NEW characters we have now are THE GRIM REAPER and SANTA CLOWN.  SANTA CLOWN replaces Mr. Clown ONLY FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER.  He twists balloons, passes out candy canes, chocolate santas and does anything that any Santa would do for holiday parties.  The Grim Reaper specifically goes to visit 40-50-60...those kinds of ages for birthdays.

Around the early 90's, it seems, the decorating-part of the business has been more productive than deliveries.  We do a lot of color coordinated decorations for different types of events. ( We build arches, walls of balloons, make centerpieces, columns, garlands, letters and numbers, dance floor canopies, etc.) We do things like for "Grand Openings" for new stores in the Northeast, GA area; for company picnics; build decorations for parades; do decor for lots of businesses at the Business Expo held at The Classic Center; do stuff for birthdays, anniversaries, class reunions and fundraisers...you name it!!!   We do lots with UGA because they are always celebrating something over there. New buildings, new parking decks, etc.  When high school prom season starts,  we do lots with local and out-of-town high schools.  When a school contacts us, they already have a theme and ideas that they want for their prom.  There are unlimited types of decorations that we can do for any event.

The most recent thing that we're doing now seems to be a natural progression for UNAB.  We now rent out "THE FLY GUYS".  You may remember these from the '96 Centennial Olympics Closing Ceremony in Atlanta.  These 30' tall air-blown 'fly guys' seem to flail about and dance with the wind!  They are great 'attention-getters' for just about any type of event.