(Here's a pic of the end game.)
For supplies you will need 17 pink (or blue, or whatever color you want to use) regular balloons, one flesh-colored regular balloon (not pictured when deflated, sorry), one long pink balloon for the bow, one long white balloon for the binky, a balloon hand pump, a black sharpie (not pictured), and some string to tie it all together (also not pictured...sorry). All of these supplies were available at a local party store. Also, at the party store you can get individual balloons so you don't have to buy an entire bag if you don't want to. I bought big bags of the regular pink because I wasn't sure at first how many I would need, and also a big bag of the long balloons used by balloonists to make animals and such because I've never worked with them before and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.
Blow the balloon up all the way. Since you won't be doing too many twists, you don't need extra balloon at the end that isn't inflated. After I blew it up, I did let out a little bit of air to tie it, but not enough to make it obvious.
Next, at the tied end, fold the balloon over for one of the ends of the bow.
Twist it together a few times. I tucked the tied end through the loop, but you probably don't have to.
Next, measure the other end of the balloon next to the one loop. You'll want the loops to be close to the same size, but leave extra balloon on the end for the center of the bow.
Twist it together, like so, leaving a bit for the center of the bow.
Twist the two loops together.
Twist and adjust so that the bow is in the position you want it to be.
Next I stretched the headband part of the bow out by pulling on the sides of the balloon where I'm pointing in the picture above.
If it can fit around your head, you're in good shape!
Blow up the head balloon and squeeze the bow around it. It is actually a good thing if it's a little snug so it won't come off so easy. The head might end up looking a little alien-ish (see pictures below), but you won't notice from the front.
Next, blow up the long white balloon for the outside of the binky. Twist it in a loop.
If you twist it enough and then tie it together in a not, you should be able to cut off the rest of the balloon that you don't need.
It might look a little big in comparison to the head, but it will look great all put together.
Blow up one of the regular pink balloons for the center of the binky, but keep it small enough to squees into the white part of the binky. You can see in the picture that it is a large knot high up on the balloon for this one. It took me a few tries to get it right. Also, in the picture you can see the relational size between the balloons that are the same size deflated.
Make sure it fits pretty snug inside the white, so that it won't pop out easily.
For the body of the balloon, you won't need to blow the balloons up all the way, so try to make the knot as close to the end as possible, as pictured above--trust me, it will make your life much easier.
For each level of balloons I used 4 that I pumped up to be the same size (using the balloon pump was helpful for this--I counted how many pumps I used in each balloon). The bottom level should be the biggest, decreasing in size up to the top level. This will not only give it a nice shape, but help balance it as well.
These next pictures are all balloons that are on the same level. Tie two of the balloons together. I tied them on the balloon side of the knot to make sure it was more secure. This is why I suggested earlier to tie the knot towards the end of the balloon. Tie two more balloons together, so you have 2 sets of 2 balloons.
Lay the balloons across each other.
Twist them around each other so they will stay together.
After they are twisted you will be able to lay them flat on the floor. Repeat this process 3 more times, with the balloons decreasing in size with each layer.
You will be able to stack all the layers of balloons easily at this point.
Using the string or ribbon, tie the bottom layer of balloons to one end of the string.
On the other layers, all you'll need to do is wrap the string or ribbon around where the balloons are tied together, it's not necessary to tie these middle layers with knots.
Another layer. Sorry if the ribbon I used is a little difficult to see, I wanted it to match so it wouldn't be so obvious if you caught a glimpse through the balloons.
Tie the head balloon on to the other end of the string. Make sure this is pretty snug, newborns don't hold their head up very well on their own, but you don't want a wobbly head on this!
Instead of cutting the extra string/ribbon off and having a visible end, I tucked it back in to the lower balloons and you really couldn't even tell.
Tape the binky on the face. Since the headband isn't fastened down, you can adjust it how you want after taping the binky on.
Grab your sharpie and draw on some sleepy eyes! Voila! You now have an awesome balloon baby that is pretty sturdy. I made this the night before the shower and didn't let my kids touch it until afterwards, but now they have been playing pretty rough with it for about 4 days and it is still all in tact. Granted, they tore the headband off to wear themselves, but that wasn't fastened down in the first place, and is easily put back on. Enjoy!
