IMPORTANT- Make sure to keep balloons away from small children and pets!!!
My girls went to a Girl Scout event this weekend and they learned a really cool technique to make balloon bracelets from a local balloon entertainment company, Balloonmasterz . It is amazing how great these bracelets look and how simple they are to make. If you have left over twister balloons (the long balloons used to make balloon animals) this would be a great way to upcycle them once they are deflated. We didn’t have any twister balloons at home so I bought a package at the party supply store but you could also contact a local balloon artist and see if they would save you some of their balloon scraps. I spoke with Alyssa Diamond co-owner of Balloonmasterz in South Florida and she said, “We started this activity as a way of going green since we don’t always use the full length of a balloon when sculpting. I have tons of scraps from all of our events! It is an easy way to re-purpose and kids love making them.”
UPDATE- I totally forgot to mention that these would be great in your favorite team colors, school colors, etc.
What you’ll need:
Twister balloons
Optional- You can use elastic string to put the balloon pieces on or you can use another balloon. We didn’t have elastic string so we just used another twister balloon. Since the balloons were all the same width, I took a piece of tape and wrapped it around the tip of the balloon we were using as the base of the bracelet to make it easier to slide the balloon pieces on.
Choose the balloon colors you want for your bracelet. You will need 1 balloon for the inside of the bracelet unless you are using elastic string. Each bracelet uses 3-4 cut up balloons for the outside of the bracelet so choose accordingly. Snip the ends off of the balloons you will be using. Save the open end pieces to make a ring style balloon bracelet***.
Cut up the balloons you will be using into about 1 inch pieces. I found it easy to put the balloons on top of each other and cut the pieces about the width of my thumb.
If you are using a balloon as the center of your bracelet I found it easier for my girls work with if I taped one end of the bracelet similar to the end of a shoelace.
Tie one end of the inner balloon so the balloon pieces won’t slide off. Choose your color pattern and slide balloon pieces onto the long balloon or elastic string.
Scrunch the pieces of the balloon down as you go. My girls said that if they pulled the inner balloon a bit tight as they worked it made it skinnier and easier to slide the balloon pieces down.
When your bracelet is long enough to wrap around your wrist, tie the ends together, trim any excess balloon or elastic string, and hide the knot inside the balloon pieces.
This is such a fun and easy craft to take with you, too. We now keep a baggie with cut up balloons and long balloons with tape on the end ready to make bracelets when we have time time to kill waiting for doctor appointments, waiting at restaurants, etc. Just make sure to check your area before you leave to make sure that you don’t leave any balloon pieces behind for another child to choke on.
My girls kept busy while waiting at the pediatrician’s office yesterday.
***With all the saved balloon openings you can create a funky balloon bracelet so save those scraps!
They look cute as pony tail holders, too. Just be careful as they can and probably will pull on hair when you try to take it out similar to pulling a rubber band out of your hair.
Here’s an outfit my daughter made for herself AND her doll!
