New Year Eve Fun Party Ideas – Confetti Poppers
Instead of having the usual Snowman themed party for my daughter’s class we decided to hold a New Year Eve Party. It sounded great at the time but when I looked for ideas online I had a hard time finding activities that conveyed a New Year Eve theme. I knew I wanted to end the party with the traditional count down, party hats, noise makers and confetti.
I found a kid-friendly 10 second countdown video (with fireworks and the music from Auld Lang Syne) and purchased a party kit that included party hats and noise makers. The Party Kit items did double duty as prizes for the games we played. Now all I needed was some way to launch the confetti.
Although they do sell Confetti Launchers they were more powerful then what I wanted to use in a classroom full of second graders so I decided to make my own. Surprisingly I could not find directions on how to make one so my husband and I started to experiment with different ways to make one. Here is what we came up with.
Required Materials
- Cardboard tubes – Any cardboard tubes that are between 1 and 2 inches in diameter and are sturdy should work. We used cardboard tubes from aluminum foil and plastic wrap. You can purchase craft tubes in the correct size online if you don’t have tubes to recycle or if you want to skip the step of cutting them to size.
- 12” Latex Balloons
- Clear (Scotch) Tape
- Wrapping Paper (for decorating confetti launchers as well as making confetti)
- Sharp Scissors
- Small Craft hacksaw – only required if you need to cut cardboard tubes to length
Note: Paper towel and toilet paper tubes do not work as Confetti Poppers. They are too soft and bend easily under the pressure of the balloons.
Instructions
- Using the hacksaw carefully cut the tubes into three sections, making sure to make a perpendicular cut. Each cut tube should be approximately 3” or 4” inches long
- Using a sharp scissor, trim off any rough edges
- The cut end of the tube may start to unravel. Secure the loose edges with a small piece of tape
- Cut off the neck of the balloon right before the balloon starts to widen. The opening to the balloon should be wide enough to fit on the end of the tube but small enough so that it has to be stretched to get it over the end of the tube
- Stretch the balloon to fit over the end of the tube. The balloon should overlap the end of the tube by at least 1/2 inch
- Secure the balloon to the tube by wrapping tape around the edge of the balloon where the tube meets the balloon
- Cut the wrapping paper to the length of the tube. Making sure it is wide enough to wrap all the way around the tube
- Wrap the wrapping paper around the tube and secure the seam with tape
- Wrap tape around the seam where the paper meets the balloon
- Trim any excess wrapping paper that goes over the edge of tube
- Cut up excess wrapping paper into small pieces to use as confetti or you can purchase bags of confetti. Reserve some wrapping paper to use as a lid for your confetti popper once they are filled
- Fill the tubes with confetti until they are about 1/3 to ½ full
- Cut circles about 1 inch larger than the diameter of your confetti poppers
- Loosely secure the circles on top of the poppers using tape. You want to be able to easily take the lids off when you are ready to use them
Final Words
When you are ready to use these confetti poppers, simply remove the lids, pull down the bottom of the balloon while securely holding the tube, then watch the confetti shoot out into the air! Just make sure to aim it towards the sky/ceiling.
These Confetti Poppers can also be used for Birthday Parties, Fourth of July Celebrations and Weddings Celebrations and best of all, unlike store bought Confetti Launchers, these handy DIY Confetti Poppers can be used over and over again.
