Balloon Pinata

I found the original pin on a Halloween board and thought it was a cute idea.  I decided my daughter's super hero themed birthday party would be the best time to try it out!

Picture from original pin
courtesy of Martha Stewart

How this pin works: Instead of buying (or if you're really creative, making) a big piñata, blind folding kids and letting them loose with a bat; put that candy and those trinkets inside balloons!  You blow the balloons up, attach them to a board (or wall you don't mind getting stuck with darts), and have the kids try to pop the balloons.  You can put the balloons in any design you would like, to fit whatever themed party you are having.

Captain America's shield

My suggestions: Fill the balloons BEFORE you blow them up.  We found it was easiest to fold the top (where you tie it off) all the way down.  Then, stretch the top open and put in a few pieces of small candy (Jolly Ranchers, mini Tootsie Rolls, Starbursts, etc.).  If you find small enough toys you can put those in as well.  We found some mini maracas that worked well.  We also put some confetti inside most of the balloons.  Just make sure you put something in every balloon (some kids will only pop one and if it happens to have nothing in it, they will be disappointed).

Secondly, I would highly suggest putting double-sided tape all across the board or area you are going to attach the balloons.  My husband tried conserving tape and put just a small piece on each balloon...he ended up using more tape because he had to re-attach EVERY single balloon!

Finally, we let each kid throw 3 darts and when they were finished they were able to keep everything that fell from their popped balloons.  It worked out great!



Winner/Loser?  This pin was definitely a winner in my house!  The kids thought it was a lot of fun and none had ever seen a balloon piñata before.  Most kids wanted to have a least one more turn throwing the darts and some were able to go three rounds before all the balloons were popped!