I spent a lot of time trying to figure this out so I hope people take the advice. Using this you will never miss a present. In fact you will be able to predict a present most of the time.

How it works:

Presents appear on any minute 5. Meaning xx: x5 is the time they will appear. It could be at 3:25 or 6:35, but they always appear on a 5. It doesn't matter what any of the numbers are, if the last number is a 5 there is a good chance a present will float by your town somewhere. This can be any time of day or night. They appear in the snow too, not sure about rain.

How long you have:

Catching it is easy. You can run around the entire town, no matter what your layout is, in less than a minute. You can walk around your town before the present even reaches half way. The present floats at half your walking speed. Now, to further this information and make you confident in your present hunting... it takes 6.5 minutes for a present to fly from one side to the other. This means at minute xx: x8 the present will be in the exact center of town. If you don't catch the present by minute xx: x1 after it appears, you've lost it.

Scenario:

Current time is 2:15, a present has appeared on the right side of town. It will float across town very slowly. By 2:18 it has reached the middle of town. By 2:21 it has reached the left side of the town's wall and will disappear. If you have not caught it, it's gone. If you go in a building, it's gone. Now you will have to wait for another present. The next one could appear at 2:25, 2:35, or even not until 2:55. This scenario has always been consistent for me.

How many you can get:

I have found that there is at least 1 present per hour and so far up to 4. There is a possibility for up to 6 presents in an hour but I have only seen 4 at most. I used this strategy to get 9 presents and a gold slingshot in just over 2 hours. Generally they appear 20 minutes apart, but can be as little as 10 or as long as 40. I've never had a present take longer than that.

Location:

I cannot predict where they will appear or which side of town or which direction they will go. That is completely random. I have seen a present float left to right once then right to left 3 times. You never know where it will appear, but you will know when and that's what's important.

Cool!  I'll have to give it a shot (pun totally intended).

Wow.  I just followed your advice and on minute 5 a present came floating in.  Great thread and thanks for the help.

sticky this!

i demand a sticky!

I'm glad I helped you all out. I wasn't sure if this would be the same for everyone's game. This would probably help to be a sticky. I have read in a few boards that sometimes floating presents have rare items. I haven't found any myself, but this is info helps you get the gold slingshot pretty quick and you can get a bunch of presents to help bulk up your catalog or have extra stuff to sell.

I'm still looking for a slingshot.  

cool - thanks for taking the time !!!!

Great guide, I was wondering what times the presents came. Because in Wild World, they came at xx.x6. So I followed your guide and I got two presents today, in one hour. Unfortunately, no Nintendo items, but this defiantly helped. I'm really glad that instead of almost no time at all in Wild World, you actually get a few minutes in City Folk so you can finish what you were doing.

Along with all the others on this thread, I think it would be good to sticky this

this should be stickied!

Ah.  Protozoider, you RULE!  I have spent a lot of the day trying to figure out a definite time, as I thought it was 4, not 5, but this will help a lot in figuring out where the gift is when I hear the wind from now on.  

And yes, STICKY THIS!

actually, they came at X4 in WW. STICKEH!

They might "spawn" on xx: x4 but I have noticed they actually appear at xx: x5. You might be able to see them over the mountains but you can't shoot them until 5. Sticky please, a few posts have already come up about this.

This needs to be stickied, I found this very accurate. At 7:15, just after reading the first section, I searched throughout my whole town, until I heard the wind whistling. I went down one acre to see a colorful blue balloon. Inside was a comfy cabin armchair. This is great, there is a good chance it'll be stickified!

in WW they would come randomly at xx5 from 10am to 4pm.

Do u know during which hours, if any, do they float by in CF?
i have seen them very late at night, so i am assuming that its a 24hr thing.

ughh yesterday i saw the golden slingshot fly by just as it was going over the cliff on the east side of my town. I couldn't get my slingshot out fast enough and only ended up hitting one of the three balloons!!
RATS!!!

Well, to end the confusion, you can hear the wind blow at xx4, but really, you start seeing them at xx5.  They came in at xx4 in WW.  I too have spent a lot of time researching this, and it's definitely the xx4's.  I even went as far as finding out that i get a balloon at :14 of EVERY hour

-_-

In WW they came at xx.x4. That's already been posted and corrected.

Sorry, but that really bothered me.

EDIT: looks like I've been beaten...

I mentioned that people found rare items in presents. It's totally true and now I'm going to start present hunting. I found a Super Mushroom Mario Item!! I wasn't even looking for a present, it just happened to float by while I was doing something else. I was so happy. Granted I have shot down at least 20 balloons by now, but it's great to know you can find awesome stuff in those presents. I got at least 3 green cabinets and half the kiddie collection from those presents, which was a letdown.

tajikey82 said that a present appeared every :14, which might be true. I didn't really pay attention in my data sheet but a present did appear every :14. I am going to edit my first post, sometime soon, to say that they spawn at :14 but you can't shoot them till :15 so that people don't get confused if they happen to hear the whoosh at :14.

Thanks for the input everyone!

What if you are in Nooks at xx5 and you come outside? Do you have to wait until the next time a present spawns or will it already be there?

What if you go into a building when a present is flying by? Does it disappear for good or will it still be in the air when you come back out?

Yes you can get rare items in them. I've had the game only a few days and have only shot down one balloon. I got a Mario 1up mushroom

this really does work at 5 after 7 this morning I say a flying present and it was back at 7:25 thanks for this tip.


THIS SHOULD BE STICKIED!!!!

protozoider, you're the man

I got 3 presents in one hour, great advice! thank you!

bump for sticky

I believe that the rare nintendo and mario items that required codes in the GC version, like the bullet bill, flagpole, coin, ? block, etc. can appear in these balloons. Other than that I thinks it random. I have two ? blocks and a coin, my brother has a coin, a koopa shell, and a flagpole.