GIANT Balloon Birthday Cupcake YouTube Tutorial

How to Make a Balloon Cupcake Decoration for 

First Birthday Party

First, I'll share my process in making the balloon birthday cupcake decoration. You know, the giant balloon that's all over YouTube and Facebook? You'll need to pack a party load of patience to make that balloon cupcake decoration. If you're a mom who drinks wine, maybe step one should be a few sips of a nice Riesling. If you want to make a giant balloon birthday cupcake for baby's first birthday party, even with my simplified method, you're going to need a few hours and at least one faithful friend. Ready? Read on for my Balloon Birthday Cupcake Tutorial!

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If you click and make a purchase, I may get a commission.

How to Make Balloon Cupcake for Birthday Party YouTube

This was my process, it's real. If you want to cut to the chase, scroll down for detailed instructions on how to make a giant balloon cupcake.

Step One

Refuse to take money from your friend. She offered $75 and dinner. Plan in your head how they must've created the giant balloon cupcake. Draw it out on paper. Watch the videos below. Realize you got it all wrong. Decide you can't do it. Give up.

Balloon Birthday Cupcake Seen on Pinterest YouTube Tutorial

Step Two

Think about it some more. Try it your way. Realize it is going to be tedious. Give up, but remember your blog's motto is, "You can do it!" He's a professional, he must know the easiest way to do it, right?

Maybe this one is easier? (It's not,)

Step Three

Watch videos again. Decide to really pay attention. Have a glass of wine Use the easiest steps from each video. Realize this is completely ridiculous and only a professional balloon designer can make these. This is why the florist said they'd make one for you for $300.

Balloon Theme Birthday Party Activities

Step Four

Think about it some more. You're no quitter! You can do it! After all, that's what this blog is all about. Try it your way again. This time with more confidence. Start with a tiny prototype. Watch one more YouTube tutorial on how to make a giant balloon cupcake like the ones on Pinterest. Decide you deserve a nap.

Birthday Balloon Cars

Wow, she seems fun and nice. This isn't a cupcake, bur realize the concept is the same. The skill level is still difficult. It doesn't look easy when they do it. Think about that. They are trying to make it look easy! It's not...

Step Five

Share your tiny prototype with friend who hopes to have the best one year old's first birthday party ever! She's so patient. She trusts you. She has complete faith in you. You find this rattling. But, you're determined. Go back to STEP ONE. Create the balloon cupcake, the way you imagined it was constructed. Listen to friend cheering you on, "See, I knew you could do it." Think friend is nuts. This looks nothing like those giant balloon cupcakes. She's tired, she's over it, she just wants something after all of this effort. You know she's thinking, $300 would've been a lot easier.

Baby's Birthday Party Ideas

Realize it's not perfect, but it will do. Just show it's good side. Reconsider making these for a living. Realize $75 is a great price, understand why the florist wanted to charge $300. THEY ARE SMARTER THAN YOU ARE, THEY DON'T WANT TO DO IT!

Refuse to ever make another one, even though you know full well, that the next one will be better. You learned from your mistakes. You know how to make it straight. You know the ins and the outs. Baby, there isn't enough wine in the world...

What you say? Where are the tiny balloon sprinkles? Well, I ought a.... We bought tiny balloons, we taped them on with duct tape. They looked dumb. I'm sure you need the tiny, long balloons used for balloon animals. I didn't feel like another trip to the store! Sharpies, worked just fine. Pink and purple Sharpies would've been nice though.

Step Six

Take it to the giant balloon cupcake to the party. (That seems like a simple step doesn't it? Well, it's not!) Disassemble the giant balloon cupcake in as few pieces as possible. Place it in the trunk of your hatchback, crossover SUV. Ha, ha. ha. Jokes on you. Panic. You're going to be late to the party. Read text from very patient friend, "Where are you?" Panic some more, don't answer text. Notice your Dad's Trailblazer in the driveway (he left it there so you could get some giant rolls of carpet for the house.) Open the hatch, say a little prayer. It fits! Thank goodness the party is less than five minutes away.

It's three pieces!

Step Seven
Pull up at the church. Rush to get the balloon inside the door. The door, yet another obstacle. See everyone ooh and ahh as you enter. If you've ever been on stage, you know how applause feels. This feels like that. Think, maybe you could make these for a living. After all, this was the first attempt. Surely, it would get easier each time? And, you certainly know what NOT to do.

Don't worry, I had to blur baby's face, she's a beautiful baby in the process of adoption.

So, now you've seen the videos, you've read my process leading up to it, here's the UNCONVENTIONAL giant balloon birthday cupcake tutorial. May the force be with you!

Balloon Birthday Party Ideas

SERIOUSLY EASY (ISH) BALLOON CUPCAKE TUTORIAL

Supplies Needed:

7" Pink Balloons 

12" White Balloons

7" Red Balloon or a 5" to make a smaller cherry

Regular Size Round Plastic Laundry Basket from a Dollar Store

Curling Ribbon or Fishing Line

Colorful Sharpies

Scissors

Scotch Tape

Sit down with the laundry basket in your lap. Starting with the second column of holes, tie a PINK balloon to the vertical weave in the basket (between the holes.) Skip every other hole. Do this all the way around the basket. Our basket had vertical line holes, some have circular holes.

Balloons will move, don't worry about this now. Depending on the spacing of your basket's holes, you may need to skip the next row. If you see the basket  between the balloons, use every row. If not, use every other row. Got it? You will after a few rows.

Note there are only two rows of holes, I tied two balloons to each vertical strip to get a line of four balloons tall.

The balloons want to escape, the don't stay orderly. Don't worry about this until you've got them all tied down.

Once all  pink balloons are tied down, you can then gently push them to arrange them in a straight (ish) line. For the balloon's white cupcake frosting top, I used the process in the ice cream cone video from above. I connected six white balloons together to create somewhat of a circle. I made a separate grouping of four white balloons for the topper and then tied the red balloon in the center with fishing line.

Balloons are willy-nilly, but can be arranged at the final stage.

Here you can see, that the cupcake is 3 separate pieces.

So, how do you attach the balloon sections together? I was going to tie them with fishing line as demonstrated in the first Balloon Cupcake YouTube Tutorial, but that proved too complicated for me. Also, I kept popping the balloons. I tried duct tape, but you could see it. In the end, I didn't connect the pieces at all and was thankful for this when it was time to load the balloon for delivery.

Get the Cupcake lanterns and Pinata from Oriental Trading.  Baby's face is blurred to protect identity.

The cupcake's purpose was for a photo shoot for a very special baby's first birthday party. The cupcake wasn't perfect, it had a bad side, but we just turned it to the good side! Photo shoot was amazing! Baby is beautiful, but we aren't permitted to share her face here. Just know, she was tickled to death with her giant cupcake!

Green Cupcake Balloon with Sprinkles.

Get Birthday Party Balloons 

Purple Cupcake Balloon with Sprinkles.

Baby's First Birthday Decorations with a Willy Wonka Candy Bar and Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes! 

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes.


See how to make and bake cupcakes in ice cream cones with this recipe tutorial.

Get a special baking rack to bake the Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes in the oven.

Birthday Candy Bar Display Willy Wonka Style.

More Photos Baby's First WILLY WONKA Birthday Party Bash

Cupcake Lanterns.

Mylar Happy Birthday Balloons.

We we're inspired by this Willy Wonka Candy Bar for a Birthday Party!

Willy Wonka decorations like this candy bar display
from Little Altars will win over a crowd of kids.

Did I mention the cupcake theme, birthday cake? Delectable.

Pin it, so you don't forget it!

Recommended:

Eco-Friendly Birthday Party for Kids

Baby's First Birthday

Birthday Gifts for One Year Old Infant First Birthday Party

Balloon Party Ideas

Delicious and Unique Cake Recipes from Adventures of Kids Creative Chaos

Plan a Fun Party for Kids with a Balloon Car Theme for Boys or Girls

Struggling to find a unique theme for a boy's birthday party at home that is a fun party for kids? Why not have a Balloon Car theme. 

There are tons of things to do with Balloons. Here are a few for your next party planning checklist. Have the best party birthday party ever with these fun ideas for things to do with balloons.

Cute Birthday Party Balloon Clip Art.

Arvind Gupta makes toys from trash on his fabulous website offering many recycle crafts for kid, arvindguptatoys.com  He offers a great how to make a balloon car tutorial printable pdf.

Visit Arvind Gupta Toys for the tutorial.

Michael Floyd of BalloonHQ offers a balloon car tutorial for making a car out of balloons for a kid's birthday party. Not sure Id' have the patience for this one!

Balloon Car from Michael Floyd 
 looks like Barbie might like to take a ride in this one.

My favorite site for balloon art has to be The Balloon Pastor he has balloon pictures of full-size car costumes for kids including a Tow Mater. You'll have to hop over to check them all out. Here's an example of his work, Lightning McQueen balloon car.

Finally, PBS Design Squad has some great balloon science projects which are fun for a kid's party or perfect for a homeschool project. Show your magic trick skills with this unpoppable balloon trick or 2-wheel balloon car tutorial.

Unpoppable Balloon Party Trick from PBS Design Squad.

How to make a 2 Wheel Balloon Car  from PBS Design Squad.

Recommended Reading:

Phineas Costume Mask

More Balloon Clip Art

Five easy ways to throw an eco-friendly birthday party for kids

You can have an Eco-friendly, Up-cycled Birthday Party for Kids and save money too!

This guest post is from Kara Carrero at ALLterNATIVElearning. She and her family are passionate about the environment and conservation. In this post, she has ideas on how to throw an eco-friendly birthday party. Enjoy!

The modern birthday has lots of cake, plenty of decorations, and almost always disposable plates and utensils. However, our family strives to find a balance in making birthdays both special and environmentally sustainable. Birthdays don’t have to lose their luster by choosing to not waste or spend a lot of money.

My daughter’s first birthday was this past fall. Like many first time moms, I had anticipated the day it would arrive since she was about 3 months old and planned little bits here and there throughout the year. But my main goal was to throw an exciting and memorable party without trash or excess.

Eco-Friendly  Birthday Party Ideas

1. Use real dishes or compostable paper plates. If you plan it right, it doesn’t have to be a hassle to use real dishes. In fact, having some small Corelle dishes on hand easily pays for itself. They do not break as easily as regular dishes and are easily replaceable or you can add to them. We grew up with them and rarely broke anything and it’s still what my parents use. My 15 month old has thrown one and it didn’t even chip. If you just can’t do that, use real silverware with basic paper plates that break down in the compost or can be recycled. Even here in Oklahoma (not very eco-friendly) we have options for community compost and recycling.

2. Re-use old décor and don’t throw any away. Up-cycle old material for new decorations. We made bunting from old magazines and used paper, and it was really cute! I had a few things from parties from several years ago, so I reused a couple of things. I also had some SOLO cups that I re-wash and use for the kids while adults use our glass cups.

3. Make the birthday about the experience and not the decor Birthdays are about the fun and not about having perfect decorations. We threw a carnival with fun homemade games instead of investing a lot of time and money into party hats, balloons, and streamers. Even growing up, I don’t remember how my parties were decorated, but I definitely remember the fun I had or the silly things that happened. Focus on making the most of the brief time given rather than stressing over the things that won’t be remembered.

4. Make party favors about memories, experiences, and sustainability. We had two different party favors. Her birthday party was specifically a grow theme, we provided small bio-degradable pots to decorate and soil and seeds to grow a small garden. It’s a gift that keeps on giving!

We also had a a photo booth. We asked everyone who attended to make an up-cycle costume and take a picture with the frames we provided. They left us their email address so then we emailed them a picture when we sent them an e-thank you card for coming and for gifts.

5. Make the gifts count. I know this sounds a bit presumptuous, but in reality it doesn't have to be. Be clear with your attendees because I have never met someone who didn't appreciate knowing that their gift was well-received. For us, we put a line on the e-vite that read “no gifts necessary, but if compelled to bring something we needed x,y,z”.

These are five easy ways to throw and eco-friendly birthday party, not break the bank, and still have awesome memories with friends and family. For us, it’s just one more step in doing better in making conscious decisions about what we need vs. what we want which has become increasingly important with kids.

For more from Kara visit her site at ALLterNATIVElearning.com

Recommended Reading:

Your Birthday Book: A Keepsake Journal

Birthday Monsters!

 
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Throw a Birthday Party or Summer Camp with these 11 Minecraft Games and Activities

11 Minecraft Games and Activities for a Birthday Party, After School Activity, or Summer Camp Program

These Minecraft activities are fun and easy, plan a party or a theme day for summer camp or even an after-school program with these hands-on, tech-off Minecraft games for kids. You know we used marshmallows for our minecraft building.  Enjoy!

Craft a Minecraft house from Marshmallows and design your own skins too!

• We decided to get in on the Minecraft crafting fun with Marshmallows! These days marshmallows come in all different sizes and colors  We used the giant ones to build houses and walls. We painted "glued them together" with a dab of water and colored them with markers and paint. We have recipes for edible paint if you'd like to keep your minecraft characters edible for toddlers.

Does Minecraft have any Educational Value?  Well, we sure hope so. What a great way to turn our kids into zombies... if only I were an evil, super villain from Batman.

Looking for Minecraft Printables?

Minecraft Squares Sheets

Minecraft Paper Cube Printables

How about a Minecraft Birthday Party Theme?

These Minecraft Creeper Lanterns from Play Dr. Hutch are my favorite birthday party decoration! She also has a roundup of Minecraft gift ideas for boys and girls, but don't forget our Minecraft Wood Puzzle. Dr. Hutch's Minecraft construction paper masks are an easy preschool activity.

Minecraft Creeper Lanterns for a birthday party.

Parties4ever blog has some great Minecraft birthday party ideas! I love the idea of play parody songs, and her food is spectacular!

Edible Art: Minecraft Snacks and Appetizers.

Games and Activities for a Minecraft Party

Minecraft Birthday Party Target Game from Housing a Forest blog.

Minecraft Creeper Target Practice Game

Make your Own Minecraft T-shirts

How to Make Glow-in-the-dark Minecraft Creeper Shirts

Make Minecraft Creeper Bracelets


Recommended Reading:

Minecraft: The Official Construction Handbook: 4*

Make Homemade Clay and Craft Pigs

Where to Find the Best Minecraft Skins

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*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

9 New Year's Eve Sleepover Ideas

Sleepover Ideas for New Year's Eve Party

Are you planning a slumber party for your New Year's Eve celebration? The winter months are a great time to stay indoors and plan a teen sleepover. We've found 9 new ideas for a sleepover that will make you the coolest party host ever! If you're planning a slumber party for 13, 14, 15, or 16 yr. olds, you'll find fun activities and themes to keep everyone happy and having a good time. Whether your 13 or 31, these New Year's Eve Sleepover Ideas will make your sleepover party the best one ever!

This post contains affiliate links.

New Year's Sleepover Ideas

Spend the Night in a Theme Hotel

All you need is you and some cash. No prep needed. Want something super special to do to celebrate the New Year? Pack your bags and gather the gang to spend the night at an Indoor Water Park like Big Splash in French Lick, Indiana pictured above. They offer rooms for up to 9 guests. In addition to the water activities, there's also a game room with a Gyroball ride and a cafe.

Wear cool pajamas and pack your bags for a night full of fun activities!

Blindfold Makeup Challenge
No matter your age, the blindfold makeup challenge is a lot of fun. There are tons of videos out there. Join the fun and post yours to Instagram, #blindfoldmakeupchallenge. All you need are some blindfolds, a makeup kit, and willing participants. Snap a selfie of the gang after everyone's makeup is done. How fun is that?





Shaving Cream Twister
Got a basement or a big kitchen? A game of shaving cream Twister is a hoot. Roll out your official Twister Board or Make your own with a tarp. Just spray circles of shaving cream in the Twister pattern and add a drop of food coloring (mix it up to get the color) and then use the official spinner. No game, no spinner? That's okay, put all of the colors on cards and draw one on each turn to see what color to go to next.


Game of Phones
This is a cool game to play with cell phones. It can work with tablets too. Get the official version on Amazon, but you could easily make your own with some index cards and a Sharpie.

Game of Phones: Image found on Pinterest, but original post is no longer valid.

Make your own Photo Props for Selfies
While we're on the subject of mobile phones, CMCraftStudios sells these adorable photo props for selfies. You can purchase a set for $60 or you can hop over to a hobby store or Walmart and get some cardstock and make your own. Grab you phones and take fun selfies of each other to memorialize the New Year, New You!

Get your photo props for selfies at CMCraftStudios on Etsy.

Poop! Theme Sleepover Party Ideas
Make it a poop theme! Before the party, bake some chocolate cupcakes and then give everyone a baggie of poop (plastic bag with chocolate icing) so they can poop on their cupcakes. Gross, but fun! Click here to make your own icing tubes.

Get crafty and make a game of Pin the Poop as seen below.

Poop Cupcakes from Kara's Party Ideas.

Pin the Poop, uploaded to Pinterest by Heather Buller.

Glow Stick Pool Party
Live in a warm climate? Try a Glow Stick Pool Party! If not, grab an inflatable pool or use your indoor hot tub to create a glowing experience perfect to highlight the New Year. Just fill your pool with activated glow sticks!

Glow Stick Party uploaded to Pinterest by Brittney Bartlett.

Sleepover Tents
Tents are a fun addition to any party. Add some twinkle lights to make it magical. Better yet, prep the tent forms and get Butcher paper or white sheets and have your guests decorate their own tents before pitching them for the night!


Make Cheese Stick Crescent Pizzas
Pillsbury has the best ideas for sleepover snacks. Everyone can make their own crescent pizzas with mozzarella cheese sticks!

Crescent pizzas from Pillsbury.

Have you tried any of these ideas for a New Year's Sleepover? Tell us about it in the comments. Keep up with all of our ideas, join thousands of others and follow Kids Creative Chaos on Instagram.



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More Sleepover Ideas for the New Year


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