A step too far for a mother's sanity?

So when thinking about M's 3rd birthday party I was 'inspired' to not buy anything to add fuel to the ever expanding party bag fire.  I think I might now be living to regret that!

With one more evening before her birthday lunch I still have to finish off 6 papier mache hot air balloons...what was I thinking!!  Admittedly I have a lovely first evening, leisurely making glue (no animals were harmed in the making of this episode), tearing up newspaper, sticking it onto two balloons.  The second night to do the final four (when I realised how long the blasted things take to dry out) was a slightly less enjoyable time, and now I have one night left and am still hoping they dry in time, I can engineer the baskets and the hanging of the balloons, and that they're going to withstand the excitement of 3 year olds for at least 5 minutes?

The great thing is that lots has been achieved without spending a penny:

• balloons found in the bottom of a drawer
• newspaper from a friend
• glue made with flour and water (see the recipe below if you're interested)
• no paint needed buying as the outer layer is some old IKEA wrapping paper I've had for ages
• pots have been scrounged for the baskets
• and inside we're putting:
• origami animals (instructions from the internet and a library book), 
• chocolate mice (had a giant bag given by a lady this week, who we met at a glass bottle bank and asked for jam jars, so we're now saving them for her, and in turn she gives us a jar of something and brought mice for the kids)
• little notes saying why M likes having them as friends
• and we were going to put in a bulb, and a flower pot (but I don't think the balloon will take the weight...although the honest answer is I think I've timed out)

Balloons Drying

So come back soon to see photos of the final outcome, and if you are mad enough to follow suit, below are some sites that I got inspiration from.  Just be warned that they take at least 3 days to dry (unless you want to crank up the heating, but as we haven't got ours on yet, I figured that would somewhat negate all my effort if I did that), and I'm not 100% convinced that 3 layers is adequate...so start a month in advance to have time to complete :-)


How to Paper Mache - I used the COOK METHOD of glue from this site
Hot Air Balloon - a step-by-step to making a hot air balloon, which I adapted slightly
Papier Mache Balloon - more steps with photos