My son was home sick with the flu today so instead of doing something around the house and blogging about that, we did something a lot more fun…. We made shaving cream balloons with money in them to send to my nephew, Weston. I got the idea from a post from Candice on She’s Crafty where she explained how to put money in a water balloon filled with air. I wanted a twist though to hide the money in the balloons and to make it a lot more messy for my poor sister (heeheehee!). So I decided to add shaving cream to the balloons so that when my nephew pops the balloons to get the money, HELLO MESS (and fun and giggles…)! So, here’s how I did it:
Gather materials: I wanted to send $20 so I got 20 one dollar bills along with a bag of water balloons and two cans of shaving cream.
First, put on play clothes… You will get shaving cream ALL over you by the end of this, so don’t wear anything nice (hence the beaten up sweatshirt I am donning 🙂 ).
Then, S-T-R-E-T-C-H the balloon so that it is more receptive to the butt-load (that’s a technical term) of shaving cream you’re going to inject in them:
Next, roll your dollar TIGHT so that it is a narrow little tube. The tighter the better it is to slip into the balloon.
Then, if you are doing this by yourself, put the dollar in the crook of your knee to hold the roll. I know that sounds weird, but that’s how I did it because there’s no way you can roll the dollar after you’ve filled the balloon and I was sitting indian style so I just stuck the roll in my leg. If you’re working with a partner, like I was after a while, one person rolls and the other fills the balloons (it’s easier this way).
Next, fill the balloon by putting the end of the balloon into the shaving cream squirter. Hold the balloon TIGHT or your shaving cream will squirt out of the sides of the balloon opening. This took a little practice but after a couple balloons, I was rollin’.
Then, ease the roll inside the balloon. The balloon can get slippery at this stage and, I not going to lie to you, you have to pinch the snot out of the balloon before and after you get the roll in there and by the end, I had hand cramps. Like the kind where as I’m writing this post hours later, my fingers hurt and if, by the grace of god, I can move my fingers tomorrow I’m going to be very happy and surprised… Alright if I haven’t deterred you yet, on to the the next step!
Tie off the balloon by first wiping the tail end of the balloon off to get off the extra shaving cream since you CAN’T tie off a slippery balloon. Then tie it off and *ta-da* you’re done with balloon one! Then (in my case), repeat 20 times.
Ahhhh, aren’t they beautiful?!?!?!
Okay, so after doing this little project, I realized that it kind of stunk at the beginning before I got the hang of it, but after I while, I got into the groove and it went pretty fast. In the beginning I also popped a few balloons (which is why I am covered in shaving cream in some of the pictures). My son, Tuscan (my little dollar roller), was also covered:
He was pretty happy about it as you can see! He said, “Wow, I got to stay home from school and I’m having a BLAST!” I did too after about balloon number 4.
The only other thing left to do was send them off with a little note. I also included a “balloon popper” (a needle) taped to my note. My 20 balloons fit comfortably in a smallish Priority Box.
We’ll see if they make it to my nephew without any popped balloons! I told my sister what I sent today and asked her to record my nephew’s expression when he gets his birthday box. I’ll be sure to post that (along with the condition of the balloons!).
