Crochet Reusable Water Balloons – Summer Fun with No Mess!

Earlier this year, I saw the coolest thing on Pinterest. I wanted so badly to try it out. I was so curious and I knew my kids would love it. Because who in the world wouldn’t want to try their hand at DIY crochet reusable water balloons?!

Only thing was, it was the very beginning of January, and was probably the coldest day of the year. We were doing everything possible to stay warm.

Flash forward six or seven months to the summer. One of the absolute worst Italy has seen in a long time. Months straight of heat and humidity with virtually no rain. So, we were doing the exact opposite, doing everything possible to stay cool.

At this point, crochet water balloons were sounding even more amazing.

Because everyone loves a good water balloon fight, right? But nobody likes having to go around picking up all the bits of rubber from the broken balloons. And think of all that non-recyclable waste! It drives me nuts!

That’s the genius in this crochet water balloon design by Left in Knots! They avoid all that! You don’t actually fill them up as you would with a classic balloon. You just put them all in a bucket of water and the yarn fibers soak up the water. Throw them at your opponents, then pop them back in the water when they need another soak, and throw them again!

You use the same balloons over and over again, so no waste and no broken pieces of latex to clean up!

When you’re done, just give the balloons a rinse off and air dry them. You can also machine wash and dry them! They flatten out nicely so they don’t take up too much storage space, either.

Let me tell you a little more about my experience making these crochet reusable water balloons.

Making reusable water balloons

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These crochet water balloons are made with a super bulky weight polyester yarn. Normally I avoid using synthetic fibers, but in this case it was important for making balloons that could soak up but not retain the water in the fibers, all the while staying relatively lightweight.

I stuck with the designer’s suggestions and used Bernat Blanket Brights yarn and the Clover Amour 9 mm hook*. I used the following yarn colors:

• Bernat Blanket Brights Racecar Red*
• Bernat Blanket Brights Carrot Orange*
• Bernat Blanket Brights Royal Blue*
• Bernat Blanket Stripes in Fruit Punch* (this last one I wound up into balls of the four different colors as Megan suggested doing here)

This way I was able to get each main color of the rainbow, plus pink. Each 5.3 oz. (150 g) single color skein made 6-7 balloons and each color of the Blanket Stripes roll made 3-4 balloons. I ended up with a LOT of balloons, but I gave a way a bunch as gifts and will be using them as party favors for my daughter’s birthday pool party tomorrow, too.

They are really fast to work up, too (about 15-20 minutes per balloon), so I mass produced them while watching movies with my kids.

Crochet water balloon instructions

(update 14/05/2023) As I already mentioned, the idea for this project was NOT my own, but of a lovely lady named Megan who runs the crochet pattern site Left in Knots. Despite the great success of this idea, she still offers the crochet pattern for these balloons for free, which is how I initially got it.

However, first I’d like to tell you something I recently found out about Megan. She’s a stay-at-home mother of two young children and her husband has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor for the third time. She has been telling her story this month on Instagram, and it’s just heart-wrenching. I am floored by her family’s strength and optimism.

Megan is running a fundraising sale to help pay for the very expensive medical costs, not to mention travel costs for her husband to get his treatments. So I invite you to resist the temptation to just grab up the free instructions and instead spend a few dollars for the printable version, helping this very sweet family that could use all the support they can get. Get the official printable crochet water balloon pattern here*. (And while you’re at it, check out her many other adorable crochet patterns. There’s even a super easy fingerknit version of this pattern* for those of you who don’t know how to crochet! Or get a big bundle of 10 patterns for a great price here.) (By the way, I’ve also purchased the pattern, even though I’ve already made it dozens of times with the free version.)

Anyway, once you’ve procured the crochet pattern, you start at the very top of the balloon and work your way down to the bottom.

At the bottom is the flared part that looks like the opening in a real balloon. At first it doesn’t look that similar to a balloon (on the left above), but after you tie off and make a knot around it (on the right above) it looks a LOT like a balloon!

Pretty realistic, right?

I loved making a whole rainbow of balloons!

Plus some striped balloons with the leftover yarn. My kids loved those!

Using the crochet reusable water balloons

Fill up a bucket or other container with water and drop the balloons into it. I suggest having one bucket per water balloon fight participant. The balloons soak up the water, at which point you just grab one out and throw it!

Or when you’re in the water, for example at the beach or in a pool, just let the balloon drop into the water, grab it up and throw it. This way you can have really long water balloon fights without ever having to stop to fill up new balloons!

(As Megan said in her tutorials, you should take the same precautions that you would in a normal water balloon fight, and not throw them in people’s faces.)

Even if you aren’t filling the inside of the balloon, the fibers soak up a lot of water, making for a very satisfying splash!

Even just dropping them on the ground makes the most satisfying plop sound and splash!

Aren’t those awesome?! Seriously, I love these things and everyone who has seen them has been totally amazed and anxious to try them out! They are such a great gift that is quick and easy to work up, but I promise that you’ll want a bunch of them for yourself, too!

So go check out the tutorial at Left in Knots, and Pin this to remember it for later! You can also find my version of these crochet reusable water balloons on Ravelry.

Want more great summer ideas to keep cool? Then check out the other posts in the Cucicucicoo Guide to Beating the Summer Heat!

This post is part of the Pintastic! series.  Bookmark the Pintastic! home page to keep updated on all the Pinterest tutorial reviews!

Don’t forget to Pin this post so you can have fun summer water play, too!

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Please read my affiliate link disclosure for more information.

Salva