When police in River Edge, N.J. saw two shadowy figures rustling on the grounds of a local elementary school well after midnight, they cautiously approached the pair they believed to be intruding. On closer inspection they were middle-aged women standing on ladders, trying to secure something to the building's entrance.

"Hey lady, it's 2 a.m.! What are you doing?'' shouted one of the officers.

The startled women quickly explained they were constructing a huge arch of brightly colored balloons to welcome the children returning to classes later that day.

"All the schools begin on the same day and they need their balloons by 7:30 a.m. when the first buses roll in,'' explained Debby Levi, owner of Inflated Creations, who was providing similar felicitations for children from Teaneck to Livingston. "We have to start at this hour so they will look fresh!''