Are you getting ready to throw a party? Well, I'm testing out some do-it-yourself hacks that are supposed to make the bash extra special! I'll let you know if they work!
MAKE YOUR OWN CONFETTI POPPERS:
I saw a video from 5-Minute Crafts, showing how to create your own party confetti poppers at around eight minutes and 49 seconds in. So, I gave it a whirl!
The items needed include a toilet paper roll, duct tape, scissors, a balloon, a backup balloon just in case, along with colored paper that you want to be the confetti.
The first step is to cut the balloon in half. I did this differently than instructed. I put the solid side of the balloon on one end of the toilet paper roll, but I'm sure the part of the balloon that has the opening would be great too, as they show in the video. When you place the balloon on the toilet paper roll, it sort of resembles putting on a shower cap.
Then, I used duct tape to secure the balloon on the roll. That side became the bottom, so the opening was on top.
Next, I cut up the colored paper into shapes like squares and rectangles, and put them into the roll. They fell down into the bottom of the roll, which is covered with the latex of the balloon.
Lastly, it was time for the ultimate test. I held the handmade confetti popper in my left hand, pulled the balloon part down with my right hand, and when I let go, the confetti went flying! This hack is NO BULL!
In my opinion, it's better than a normal popper because, you'll probably half left over confetti inside to launch several times in one sitting. And even if you don't, you can re-use this kind of popper over and over again! SPECIAL NOTE: If you plan to do this hack, definitely make your balloon, roll, confetti and duct tape festive with patterns or colors. They will sure be POPular among your party guests
MAKE YOUR OWN SPEAKER:
Do you want to play music at your party, but you don't have a speaker? No stress! A paper towel roll and two cups should do the trick! Before you know it, you'll be cranking up the volume to rock and ROLL... if this works!
5-Minute Crafts video shows how it's done. Click here, and scroll to about 10 minutes and two seconds in.
I placed the paper towel roll horizontally on the table. On the top side that is facing up toward the ceiling, I cut a rectangular opening big enough for the bottom half of a phone to fit into. The video shows someone using a box cutter for this one, but I'm just going to use scissors. Since the cups are Styrofoam, I made an indention from the bottom of the paper towel roll to know how big to cut out the circles. You cut one circle out the side of one cup, and another circle out of the other side of a second cup. Our cuts were not precise, but that didn't affect the outcome.
We slid the paper towel roll into the circles I just cut on the cups. The paper towel roll still needs to be horizontal, with the opening on top for the phone to be placed in, and the attached cups need to be facing forward to let the sound out and toward the party.
We played music on a phone without using the speaker. Then, once we place the same phone with the same song into the speaker, there was a big difference and better sound! We did not adjust the volume, but simply having it in that contraption made the music noticeably louder. I'm going with... NO BULL!
We want to try this hack again using different kinds of cups to see which ones are best for sound and volume.
MAKE YOUR OWN HELIUM TO BLOW UP FLOATING BALLOONS:
No helium? No problem! That is, if this next hack works!
The 5-Minute Crafts video shows baking soda and vinegar being poured into an old soda bottle with a balloon attached to the neck of the bottle. In turn, the combination filled the balloon so it could float! Click here to watch and scroll to about 38 seconds in.
We had to see if this hack was full of hot air. We tried our own recipe. We filled up our bottle with vinegar about one-third of the way, and then we put baking soda inside the balloon, filling it about half way.
We then attached it to the bottle, and held the balloon upright. There was an immediate reaction. The bottle was full of bubbles, and the balloon expanded. But, when we took it off the bottle, tied the open end and tried to let it go, the balloon didn't float. It just fell and bounced.
Though this is a quick way to fill up a balloon, it didn't make it float like we thought it would, so I have to go with BULL!
It would not make for a good alternative to helium.
OTHER HACKS:
The 5-Minute Crafts videos show all kinds of other hacks like how to make ice cubes clear, how to make a projector out of a shoe box, how to cool drinks down faster, how to make ice cream popsicles, how to make maracas, drums, a harmonica, a flute out of a carrot and so many more!
What hacks do you want me to test out in the future? Let me know, and I'll let you know the results!
Enjoy!