Thrill the Children
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Friday, July 02, 2010 8:04 PM
On our recent vacation we took our kids to a playground, and there was a clown in the park making balloon animals. He was inflating and twisting at top speed while the children buzzed around him. We got a balloon animal for Camilla, of course. She (bizarrely) asked for a bug, and clutched her green-and-white ant the whole way home.
As we walked back to our hotel, Bryan and I discussed the topic of balloon animals. They seem precious and rare but really - we thought - they can’t be that hard to learn to do. We tossed around the idea of getting a book and learning how to make them. It could be fun!
Then the next day, thanks to her baby brother’s enthusiasm for it, Camilla’s balloon ant met an untimely end. She was brave, but her eyes were full of tears as she asked, “Mama, are you going to make me another one?”
I couldn’t say no to that.
The balloon-twisting book came this week, along with a balloon pump and the extra balloons I ordered. I jumped right in and was thrilled when the very first thing I twisted, a sword, turned out well. Camilla flipped through the book and found directions for a flower bracelet, asked for one, and wore the result happily for the rest of the evening.
Since then I’ve made more flower bracelets, along with fairy wands, more swords, sword belts, dogs, leashes, giraffes, elephants, various hats, and even a balloon bike. (Camilla may have been a little dismayed to learn you can’t actually ride the bike.)
My kids are very happy. My nephews are also happy.
As for me, I’m glad to have a chance to delight the children in my life, gratified at how easy it’s been to learn, and pleased to find that I’m not doing it just for them. Balloon twisting is fun for me, too!
I highly recommend it.
This is the balloon-twisting book I ordered, and these are the extra balloons that I got. (I read many reviews on Amazon, and the consensus seems to be that Qualatex balloons are the most durable.) My initial investment was a little over $20.
However, now that I’ve got a book, I would say that I don’t think you necessarily need one. It turns out that if you Google “how to make balloon animals” you will get many results. This page has step-by-step directions for ten basic animals, and there’s even an entire balloon animals blog, complete with video instructions. I’m sure more searching would turn up many more good pages, too.
If you do decide to skip the book, you’ll need to order a balloon pump separately. (My book came with a pump, and says that you should leave leave blowing up the balloons by mouth to the professionals. I tried it, and agree. It’s practically impossible.) Here are some balloons that come with a pump similar to the one that I have. If you want a slightly fancier pump, this one looks pretty good.
If you try it, let me know how it goes!
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