Firework Water Balloons!

I was so upset when I accidentally deleted all the pictures from this off my iPhone, because it was probably the coolest thing we have ever done at camp for the Fourth of July. At our camp, Fridays are free water day, because we can't go to the lake or the pool. It is the counselors job to come up with ideas that EVERYONE can get excited about. That means new every week and awesome every week. From the brilliant mind of my friend Emily, we decided to create Firework Water Balloons by combining  water balloons with the messiest of all art supplies: glitter. 

And it was awesome.



Supplies:

• Water balloons
• Glitter (we used a 8 oz container and had plenty leftover)
• water balloon hose attachment
• funnel (or second hose attachment)
• A Bucket or bin to hold the balloons
• Hose

NOTE: Many water balloons come in packs of 400-500 with the hose attachments inside. Depending on the size of the group, the investment might be worth it since the hose attachments can be re-used!

Steps:

1.  Set up your area near a hose and make sure you are wearing clothes you don't mind getting wet. Fill the bucket about a third of the way with water before you start. This will take some pressure off the balloons. NOTE: Don't fill up the balloons more than 3 hours before you plan on using them. The longer they sit, the more will pop!
2. Fit the funnel onto and empty, dry water balloon.
3. Shake glitter into the top, only enough to fill the dry balloon without stretching it. Shake/tap glitter into the balloon so that none remains in the funnel.
4. Remove the balloon from the funnel and fit the end over the hose attachment. Fill as you would a normal water balloon.
5. Tie off and place in the bucket until you are ready to use them! NOTE: Sometimes the glitter gets caught in the part of the balloon you want to tie. To fix this hold that part of the balloon down while you tie it. The Glitter will float to the top so that you can tie with no issues!

The kids had an absolute blast with these. We did find it works best with two people, one to put the glitter in the balloon and one to fill it up. Good Luck!

Ready, set, go!