Twister

Break out a game of Twister and toss out the spinner for this game.1. Write “left foot” “right foot” “left hand” and “right hand” on pieces of paper and put one inside each red, blue, yellow and green balloon. 2. Inflate the balloons and attach ribbons. If playing outdoors, also attach weights. 3. The person who would be the spinner is now the popper. Pop a balloon to call out the next move. For example, if the popper busts a red balloon containing a piece of paper that says “right foot,” the move is “right hand on red.” The popper can choose the color, but not the foot/hand.

Similar to drawing straws, this is a quick game for very young children or a way to decide who goes first in a game for older children.

1. Fill balloons with helium and attach different lengths of ribbons to each balloon.

2. Gather all the balloons together and bunch the ribbons in your hand.

3. Each child picks a balloon, and the one who picks the balloon with the longest ribbon wins a prize or goes first in the next game.

Helium Reverse Volleyball

All it takes to play this game is a long ribbon, rope or a net, a helium-filled balloon and two teams of agile players.

1. Tie the ribbon between two stationary objects so that the ribbon is about waist-high to the players. 2. Divide the teams evenly on either side of the ribbon. 3. The helium-balloon must be batted under the ”net” rather than over it as in regular volleyball. 4. A point is scored when the balloon hits the ceiling on the opposing team?s side.

Attach a ribbon to the balloon in order to easily retrieve it after a point is scored.

Ready, Aim, Fire!

Balloon Time recommends reserving this game for an outdoor party.

1. Mark a horizontal line on the ground. 2. Secure the end of a 3′ ribbon tied to a helium-filled balloon to the ground about 2 – 1/2′ in front of the line. Do the same on the other side of the line. 3. Divide the children into two teams, and arm them with water guns. 4. At the signal, all the children begin firing at the balloon, and the first team to push its balloon over the line wins.

This game can be modified by using cans of silly string instead of water guns.

Whistle Race

1. Place one plastic whistle inside each color of balloon before inflating.

2. Fill an equal number of different colors of balloons with helium and attach weights with ribbon.

3. Divide the party guests into the same number of teams as the number of different colored balloons.

4. At the signal, the children look for the whistle in their team?s balloon color by sitting or stomping on them.

The team that is first to find and blow its whistle wins.

Sink the Balloon

1. Inflate balloons and attach ribbons and weights so the balloons will not float away.

2. Give each player a can of silly string.

The object of the game is to cover the balloon with silly string until it sinks to the ground. The silly string comes out fast, so it knocks the balloon around and makes a challenging game. The player or team that sinks their balloon first is the winner.

Crazy Caterpillar Catastrophe

1. Players?split up into teams of 3 to 6.

2. Each person puts hands on hips of person in front of them, and the last person has a balloon attached to the backside of their belt.

The objective of this game is to try to pop the other team’s balloon, but the only person who can use their hands is the first person in the caterpillar because the others have to keep their hands on the hips of the person in front of them.

Backwards Basketball

1. Put two hoops on opposite sides of the room.

2. Play with a helium balloon?so the players?have to dribble the balloon to keep it down on the ground.

3. If they dribble poorly and the balloon floats to the ceiling, the other team gets the balloon.

The object of the game is to push or shoot the helium balloon under the hoop so it floats through the underside of the hoop.

Attach a ribbon to the balloon in order to easily retrieve it when it floats to the ceiling.

Don’t Burst My Bubble!

1. Inflate helium balloons, attach white ribbons and evenly distribute them to the players.

2. Each player writes his/her name on all of his/her balloon(s).

3. Collect all the balloons and mix them up into one, large bunch and hold them tightly in your hand.

4. Each player gets a turn to pick a balloon by choosing the end of the ribbon that isn?t tied to the balloon.

5. The player then pops the balloon they have chosen.

The player whose balloon survives until the end is the winner!

Balloon Round-Up

1. Divide the players into even teams.
2. Assign a balloon color to each team.

3. Inflate the same number of balloons for each team and attach a ribbon to each one.

4. Tie something just heavy enough to keep the balloons from floating away to the other end of each of the ribbons. (Try paper clips!)

5. Mark off a ‘pen’ area for each team.

6. Tie the players’ hands behind their backs.

7. At the signal, the players have to round up their team?s balloons and get them into their ‘pen’ by bumping them with their head or feet or blowing on them.

The first team to round up all its balloons wins!

If you don?t have enough balloons to give each team its own color, just use whatever colors you have and mark each team?s balloons with a marker. Just make sure that each team has the same number of balloons to round up.

Balloon Minefield

1. Designate an area of the yard to be the ‘minefield’.
2. Divide the players into teams of 2.

3. Write each team’s name on 3 flags. (Tape a piece of paper to the end of a straw or stick to make a flag.)

4. Inflate helium balloons and attach ribbon and a weight.

5. Scatter the balloons and stick the flags into the ground throughout the minefield.

6. Each team then chooses a guide. The guide will stand at the far end of the balloon minefield and guide their blindfolded team member to their flags.

7. If the blindfolded team member touches a balloon along the way, he/she has to stick all the flags he/she has collected at that point back into the ground, go back to the other side of the minefield and start over.

The team whose flag-collector is first to collect all 3 of its flags and make it across the minefield to their guide is the winner!

Ring Toss

1. Attach weights to varying lengths of ribbon tied to helium-filled balloons to hold them in place.

2. Scatter the balloons throughout the playing area.

3. Determine the “tossing point” and have the party guests take turns trying to toss rings over the balloons.

Depending on how big the balloons are inflated, you can use quilting hoops, stiff play necklaces, hula hoops, or other items from around the house as rings. Use foam balls to hit the balloons if you don’t have anything to use for hoops.

To make the game more interesting, you can assign different point values to different size or color balloons.

Hot Potato

1. Have the players sit in a circle, and give one player an inflated helium balloon with a ribbon attached.

2. When you play music, the players have to pass the balloon to the player on their right.

3. When the music is stopped, the player holding the balloon is out.

Children will not be able to toss the “potato” and will have to pass it with both hands to keep it from floating away. If the balloon gets away from them, they will have to use the ribbon to quickly pull the balloon down in order to hand it to the next person.

Make it a rule that they must pass the balloon, not the ribbon. The level of difficulty can be modified for younger or older children. The more the balloon is inflated, the harder it will be to hold onto.

Duck, Duck, Goose

1. The children sit in a circle as in Duck, Duck, Goose.

2. Each child has a helium-filled balloon tied in a loose bow onto a belt loop or a strap of clothing.

3. The child who is “It” walks around the outside of the circle tapping the balloons and saying “duck.”

4. When he/she picks the “goose,” he/she smacks his/her balloon while yelling “Goose!” and takes off running around the circle.

5. The “goose” then jumps up and has to snatch the balloon from the child who tagged him/her.

If the “goose” gets the balloon, the child who was “It” is out. If the “goose” doesn?t get the balloon before the other child sits in his/her spot, then s/he is “It” in the next round.

Leap Frog Relay

1. Divide the players into teams, and give each player a helium-filled balloon with a ribbon and weight attached.

2. Start with an extra balloon in place for each team.

3. When someone yells “Go!” the first player, with balloon in hand, jumps over the first balloon, places his/her balloon on the ground, and then returns to the line and tags the next player.

4. Continue until one team has placed all its balloons in a line. The first team to do so is the winner.

Another version is to give the players balloons and have them jump over each other, as in traditional Leap Frog, but when they get to the end of the leaping line, they have to sit on and pop their balloons. A winner is declared when one team has all its players in the leaping line and its last balloon is popped.

To make for a more challenging game, make the ribbons extra long. If playing indoors, remove the weights. If the balloon gets away from a player while trying to pop it, he/she will have to reel it in by the ribbon.

Scavenger Hunt

To make the hunt a little more exciting for the party guests, you can designate the scavenger items or provide clues for finding them on pieces of paper placed inside the balloons before filling them with helium. To use helium balloons outside, tie weights to ribbons and attach them to the balloons. The children will have to pop the balloons to figure out what to look for or to find the clue.

If the scavenger hunt items are small and light, they themselves can be placed inside the balloons.

Balloon Tag

1. Tie inflated balloons to the wrist or belt loop of all but one player with ribbon.2. The player without a balloon is “It”.3. When that player tags another player, he/she gets the player’s balloon and that player becomes “It”.
2. Ultimate Balloon Ball

1. Place 5 inflated balloons with long ribbons tied to weights behind?each player.
2. The players will throw foam balls at the other players’ balloons.

3. When hit, that balloon is out, but the players can block shots?against their balloons.

Capture the Balloon

1. Separate the players into 2 even teams and assign a color to each team.

2. Give an inflated balloon of the assigned color to each player.

3. Decide how long the game will last.

4. Randomly choose a team to be “It” first.

5. At the signal, players from the ?It? team try to tag the players on the other team.

6. When a player is tagged, he/she has to give his/her balloon to player that tagged him/her and give that player a 3-second head-start to run.

7. Players without a balloon, including any players who accidentally let go of their balloon(s), then try to tag someone on the other team to get that player?s balloon(s).

When time is up, the team that has the most of the other team’s balloons wins!

Balloon Tag

A game similar to tag that’s great for outdoor parties!

1. Tie inflated balloons to the wrist or belt loop of all but one player with ribbon.

2. The player without a balloon is “It”.

3. When that player tags another player, he/she gets the player’s balloon and that player becomes “It”.

Fortune Balloons

Slip a fortune into each balloon before blowing them up with air, not helium. Toss all the balloons into air and have each guest pop a balloon for their fortune.

Guess the number of Balloons

Fill the family car of the birthday child’s room with balloons. When each guest arrives, have them write down their guess for the number of balloons in the car or room. The closest guess wins a special prize.

Valentine Balloon Games

Heart Target Game

Cut some large hearts out of red and pink construction paper and scatter them around the room. Blow up balloons without knotting, and give them to your children to “set off” into the air- seeing if they can land any on a heart target. If you have more than one child playing, the winner is the child whose balloon lands closest to the target! For older kids you could number the targets and get them to keep score.

Heart Basketball

Cut a heart shaped frame our of corrugated cardboard, paint if red or pink and iether suspend it from a doorway or prop it up diagonally between a chair and a wall- you might need to improvise! The children then try to bat their balloons through the heart to score a point.

Valentine Balloon Pop

Pour a small amount of Valentine confetti into your balloons before inflating them and tying off. Give the children a pin and ask them to keep the balloons in the air until your signal, at which point they can start trying to pop them! You could also put a small piece of paper with a heart drawn on it into one or two balloons- and whoever retrieves those wins a prize.

Balloon Shaving

A fun outdoor games is “Balloon Shaving”. Lather up balloons with shaving cream or whipped cream. Pass out plastic knives. The first person with a ‘Clean” balloon face wins. After the contest, this activity usually degenerates into a cream-throwing fight, so be prepared.

Hot Balloon Potato

Materials needed

3- 36” latex balloons, Air Filled

Set up- Players start out in a circle. The game “official” tosses the balloons in the air to signal the start of the game.

Rules of Play: Unlimited players. The goal of this game is to keep the balloons off the ground, out of the trees, and away from the house or anything else that could pop them. Any player who lets a balloon touch the ground and/or pop is out. The last person left is the winner.

Balloonyball

Materials needed

3- 11”, triple – stuffed and air filled to 8”

2- 16” latex balloons, helium filled

Ribbon and weights

Set up- attach the two helium-filled balloons to weights. Stretch ribbon between the two helium-inflated balloons to create the “net” and have participants sitting on each side (in chairs or on the ground). While any balloon can be used for the balloonyball, a double- or triple- stuffed balloon provides more weight and better playability. Mark off the game boundaries.

Rules of Play- The game “referee” starts the game by hitting the balloonyball touches the floor, walls, or ceiling, the other team receives a point. Players must remain seated at all times. If a player changes from a seated position (by standing or falling out of his or her chair), the other team receives a point. All serving is done by the referee, alternating sides every point. If a team member breaks the balloonyball, the other team receives 5 points. The first team to reach 15 points wins the game.

Optional Rules- The game can be played without an out of bounds line at the backcourt. So, if a team can hit the balloonyball past all of the players on the other team and not hit the floor, wall, ceiling, they score a point.

Fun Balloon Facts

If the sound of a balloon popping startles you, you’re not alone. A bursting balloon actually creates a small sonic boom! Once a hole is made in an inflated balloon, the quick release of the balloon’s energy, or air, causes the hole to grow at almost the speed of sound in rubber. Since this speed is much higher than the speed of sound in air, the hole in the balloon actually breaks the sound barrier, creating a sonic boom.

Balloons were invented in 1824, the same year as the electromagnet.

Pioneer manufactures nearly one billion Qualatex latex balloons per year.

Helium-filled balloons float because helium is lighter than nitrogen and oxygen, the two components of air.

For more than 80 years, Qualatex balloons have celebrated big events worldwide — from American political conventions to Korean television specials.

Inflating & Tying a Balloon

For ease in tying a balloon, hold 1 inch of the balloon at the neck while you inflate it, so there’s enough room to tie it. Inflate a 260Q balloon by mouth, or with a Qualatex Balloon Pump. To tie the balloon, hold the neck between your left thumb and middle finger, with the nozzle of the balloon pointing up. With your right thumb and index finger, stretch the neck, and wrap it around the tips of your left index and middle fingers in a clockwise direction. Spread your left fingers, and tuck the nozzle down and through the loop with your right hand. Slide your left fingers out of the loop while holding the nozzle with your right hand.