Make toilet roll party poppers

You’ll need

Coloured pens or pencils
Scissors
PVA glue
Glue sticks
Sticky tape
Stapler
Balloons
Toilet roll or kitchen roll cardboard tubes (enough for one per person)
Chopped up scrap paper to use as confetti

Before you begin

Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers.

Setting up the activity

You don’t have to use templates; people could draw directly onto the tube or create a design of their own if they want too.
Put all the equipment out on tables for everyone to use.

Decorating the party poppers

Explain to everyone that they are going to make a confetti popper to celebrate an upcoming event or just for fun. You could chat about the upcoming event and how people are celebrating it.
First, ask everyone to take a piece of paper and cut it to be the same width and length as their toilet roll. It can be useful to put the toilet roll on one side of the paper, then mark the length with the pencil. You can then roll the toilet roll up in the paper until it meets, making sure not to overlap the paper, and mark the width. The paper can then be unrolled and a ruler used to draw straight lines through the dots you made, as this should form a rectangle. The rectangle can then be cut out. These could be pre-cut before the session.
Ask everyone to decorate the piece of paper. You can also use our attached Union Jack template.
You can also use felt tips, paper and glue, paint, stickers, craft materials to put your design directly onto the tube.

Make your party poppers

Next, take a balloon and, while it’s still deflated, tie a knot in the end.
Then chop off the top half of the round bit of the balloon. This should leave a bit of the bottom of the balloon, the neck and the knot that was made. The knot will act as a handle for your popper.
Carefully, staple the bottom part of the balloon around one end of the cardboard tube. This will create the pull handle.
Now, if you didn't decorate directly onto the tube, stick your decorated paper around the cardboard tube with glue and leave it to dry. You could also use sticky tape.
When the paper’s securely on the tube, put a small amount of the cut-up scrap paper inside the tube. You could also cut up and use clean, dried leaves and flowers, too.
When everyone’s made their popper and is ready, find a clear space that’s easy to clean up.
Hold the popper in one hand and pull the balloon handle back and let go to release the popper. Watch the confetti fly!

Reflection

This activity gave everyone the opportunity to try something new and have fun while doing it. Making poppers isn’t something you do every day, have you made these before? Were they easy to make or were some bits harder than others?

This activity may be helping everyone take part in the celebrations for an upcoming event. What else are you doing to celebrate it? How are you going to use your new poppers in the celebrations?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Scissors: Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.
Glue and solvents: Always supervise young people appropriately when they’re using glue and solvent products. Make sure there’s plenty of ventilation. Be aware of any medical conditions that could be affected by glue or solvent use and make adjustments as needed.