Fall is the best
time of year at our house. The colors change, the weather cools down and
I get to bust out all my Fall and Halloween decorations. Which is fun,
nostalgic and chalk full of dance parties and games.
One of my goals
after having children was to create "decorations" that they could
enjoy and I didn't have to worry about them breaking, which meant coming up
with some creative ideas.
My first project was these fun ghost puppets. I figured I could come up with more like this
and that is how this fun
Halloween pumpkin game was born. The Great Pumpkin Pass!!
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Now if you've never played the Great Pumpkin Pass (no worries if you haven't), it is a super simple game. Each player gets a paddle. The goal is to hit the balloon and keep it in the air without touching it with anything but the paddle.
Sounds simple enough. Now add crazy screaming children and competitive adults and you've got yourself a crazy fun Halloween game that the whole family (and some of the neighbor kids) will enjoy.
The biggest challenge with this game is the paddles. I don't want to use wooden paddles, as my children enjoy hitting each other or items around the house with these paddles.
I usually opt for paper plates. Which means I've had to make a new version of this game every year for the past 5 years. Some years I printed out an image I found online.
Last year I purchased plates that already had a pumpkin face on them from the dollar store. But this year, I thought it would be fun to make some pumpkins with my Cricut Maker. Mostly because I had plane paper plates at my house and was not about to go out and buy anything just to make this crazy Halloween pumpkin game.
First I headed to Design Space to see what pumpkin images they had. Luckily they had 3 silly pumpkin faces that would work great for this balloon paddle game.
I loaded them up, changed the dimensions to 5" wide and got cutting. I put together a quick video tutorial if you want a fast run down.
You'll notice I used Iron-on vinyl for the orange pumpkin bodies. That is simply because I didn't have it in regular vinyl. Plus, it is always fun to iron-on vinyl to paper or napkins.
Great Halloween Pumpkin Game
Materials Needed
- Pumpkin Images from Design Space (or some you grabbed elsewhere)
- Paper Plates
- Craft Sticks - I literally have this box and I'm almost out....
- Tape
- Iron-on Vinyl
- Adhesive Vinyl
- Orange Balloon
- Cricut Maker
Step 1
Gather your materials. Make sure you have the colors you'd like for each of your pumpkins. For instance, I only had orange in Iron-on not adhesive vinyl, so I had to adapt.
Step 2
Load pumpkin images to your Cricut Maker (or whatever cutting machine you have. Need a machine? Check out our comparison of the Silhouette Cameo Vs. Cricut Maker). Cut out images on your cutting machine.
TIP: If you use iron-on vinyl, make sure you "mirror" the image so it cuts out the right direction
Step 3
Weed your vinyl pieces.
Step 4
Place a pumpkin on one of your paper plates and press it with the Cricut EasyPress 2 OR you can heat set it with an iron as well. Just be careful not to burn the paper or melt your vinyl because it is too hot.
Step 5
Use transfer paper to place eye pieces together. Add eyes, mouths and stems to your pumpkin face.
Step 6
Turn your paper plate over and tape your craft stick to the back of your paper plate. The stronger the tape the better since you'll be slapping that plate around a lot.
Step 7
Start tossing that balloon around for the best Halloween game EVER!! Just don't forget to make enough paddles for all those who want to play. This makes a great Halloween pumpkin game for classroom parties as well, especially if you can take the kids outside to pass the balloon. It's also a great idea to have extra balloons on hand just in case one pops. Which as we all know, will happen...inevitably.
Now let's talk about the rules. We've come up with a few because with lots of people playing, you've got to have rules. Even if they are adults and tend to disregard all the rules anyway.
Rule #1
You can't touch the balloon with your hands. Only your paddle. This helps keep players from grabbing the balloon and not sharing with others. Which makes it a pretty lame game otherwise.
Rule #2
No one gets to keep the balloon. It is shared by everyone. This helps after the game is done so no one fights over the balloon or wants to take it home.
Rule #3
You can hit the balloon as many times as you want, but you can't hit your siblings or friends. Pretty self-explanatory. Don't hit your friends with the paddle. Even if it is, as my son says, "only a paper plate".
Rule #4
Have fun! That's the ultimate goal and let me tell you it is like Christmas day every year when we pull out the new paddles for this Halloween Pumpkin Game. They can hardly wait and play it so much through the entire season. It makes my Momma heart happy.
There you have it. Pretty simple rules right?! Of course, they pretty much get broken every time we play, but it is a good reminder for everyone to play nice and not hog the balloon. Go grab yourself some paper plates and get decorating! Can't wait to see all the fun you have with your pumpkin paddles.
Love Halloween like we do? Check out a GIANT list of Halloween DIY projects, kid crafts and simple sewing patterns. You'll be glad you did.
