Balloon Games

Balloon Games

Balloons are so unpredictable. You never know when they're going to pop or what direction they're going to travel. That makes balloon games a fun addition to any party. Here are a few to get you started.

Balloon Pop and Spell

Pick a word that fits your party theme (ie. the guest of honor's name or 'rodeo' if you have a western theme, etc.). Cut out small squares of paper and write one letter on each square. Make one set of

letters per team, plus some extra letters. Roll up the squares and place one inside each balloon. Blow the balloons up and tie them.

On your signal, instruct the teams to pop balloons and collect the letters to spell the word you've chosen. First team to get all of the letters wins.

Variation: To make the game harder, don't tell your guests what the word is. Let them figure it out.

Balloon Race

Set up a start line and a finish line. Give your guests each a different colored balloon and have them line up across the starting line. (You may have to go through several heats - depending on how many guests you have and how many different colored balloons you can find.) On your signal, guests must blow up their balloons and then let them go so that the balloons fly and deflate. Next, each person runs to their balloon's landing point, re-inflates it and lets it fly again, etc., etc. First one to get their balloon over the finish line is the winner.

Since the direction of a deflating balloon is very unpredictable, it can sometimes take many tries before someone actually gets a balloon over the finish line.

Note: You may also want to create side boundaries for this game.

Balloon War

Tie a balloon to each player's ankle using a two foot length of string. Also, give each player a rolled-up newspaper. On your signal, players must attempt to break the balloons of the other players using only their rolled-up newspaper. When a player's balloon pops he/she is eliminated. The winner is the last player left with an unbroken balloon.

Balloon Pump-Off

2 or more players can compete at one time. You will need a balloon pump and a balloon for each player. On your signal players begin pumping up their balloons. First one to pop their balloon WINS!

Note: Many dollar stores carry balloon pumps now, making them quite affordable. If you don't want to buy too many pumps, let the winner of one heat compete against the winner of another and so on until you have one WINNER!

If you purchase the cheaper pumps, you should probably have a spare one just in case one malfunctions.