Balloon Thunderstorm Cloud Costume Tutorial

Joining a GISHWHES team this year has gotten me so ready for Halloween, in record time!  (No last-minute, day-before mad crafting sessions for me this year!)  One of the costumes I made for the scavenger hunt was a Thunderstorm costume, complete with sound effects, lighting, and rain.

I only took video of the actual costume (how silly of me!) but here's a screen capture.

Materials for Making A Thunderstorm Costume out of Balloons:

• twisting balloons (buy here)
• grey latex balloons (buy here)
• balloon pump (buy here)
• grey tights (buy here)
• blue leotard (buy here)
• battery operated LED light pack with flashing option (buy here)
• squirt bottle (buy here)

Start by blowing up the long, twisting balloons (called 260s as well, because they're 2" x 60").  You definitely want to use a balloon pump to blow these suckers up; they are HARD to do by mouth!  Don't blow them up all the way!  Leave an inch or two of tail at the end so you can twist it lots of times without popping the balloon.

Start by making a basic oval shape for the bottom of the cloud using two of the long balloons.  Twist the two balloons together at one end, and then at the other end, to create a big oval-ish shape.  Here's a good video on the very basics of balloon twisting if you're confused about how to twist the balloons together.

Blow up two more long balloons, and attach them to the balloon base, creating an arch.    This is how I made my basic shape, but honestly, you're just making something for the outer balloons to attach to, so it doesn't have to look like this, and it doesn't have to look pretty.  Just make sure you leave room for a person in the middle!

Blow up a bunch of the regular grey latex balloons, and think about making them different sizes to create more visual interest.  Tie the balloons together in clusters of two.

Then, start twisting your two-balloon clusters onto the long balloon base.  Just keep filling in the spaces, until you have a full balloon cloud costume.

A battery operated LED string light pack set to flash on and off provided the lightning.  I just taped the battery pack to my daughter's leotard, and threaded the flashing string lights through the balloon cloud.  

The rain?  That's what the squirt bottle is for.  ;-)