Magic with balloons: recommended tricks for parties and performances
Here are some magic trick ideas using balloons.
Balloons, which you can easily get even at 100-yen shops, are versatile items that add flair and liven up any occasion.
They’re perfect for school festival booths and party entertainment!
Balloons are also popular as children’s toys, so they’re sure to be a hit at daycare and kindergarten events as well.
Some tricks that seem difficult at first glance often turn out to have simple mechanisms or use science, making them easy to try!
Be sure to learn a few and show them off.
Magic tricks with balloons: Recommended acts for parties and events (1–10)
Skewer-through-balloon magic that doesn’t pop the balloon
There are two spots on a balloon where it won’t pop, even if you stick a skewer into them.
Still, even knowing that, it’s scary to actually stab a balloon with a skewer! If you can overcome that fear, people who see this magic trick will look at you with admiration.
A smartphone goes inside a balloon.
It’s a striking and entertaining magic trick where, when you press a smartphone against an inflated balloon, it appears to go inside the balloon.
You can use anyone’s smartphone, and it’s easy to practice while still delivering a strong impact.
Magic of eating a balloon!?
It’s the magic trick you often see on TV or from street performers where they appear to swallow a balloon.
This trick comes with an explanation, so please do not actually swallow it as-is! Once you see how it’s done, you’ll want to perform it for someone yourself!
Water comes out of an empty bucket.
Some of you may be looking for a magic trick you can learn quickly.
One I recommend is a trick where water comes out of an empty bucket.
For this trick, you’ll use a small bucket, a water balloon, and a pair of chopsticks with a needle attached to the tip.
First, inflate the water balloon and set it inside the bucket.
Then, while making sure the balloon doesn’t fall out, turn the bucket upside down to show it.
Next, say you’re casting a spell with the chopsticks and pop the balloon with the needle on the tip.
Finally, pour the water out of the bucket to reveal the effect, and you’re done.
A balloon that keeps spinning in the air
If you connect balloons together into a donut shape and blow a hair dryer at them, they’ll keep spinning without falling.
Adults might think, “Well, you’re just blowing air on them,” but for children it feels like a heart-thumping kind of magic, doesn’t it?
Balloons that pop and change colors one after another
Just when you think a dark blue balloon has been placed in the bowl, it pops and more and more balloons of different colors appear.
Simply watching the vibrant changes of the balloons makes your heart dance.
If you cover them with a handkerchief, it would be fun to reveal a different balloon each time you lift it.
I’ll pop the balloon with telekinesis!
It’s a magic trick where you pop a balloon with telekinesis.
The performer’s slightly surprised reaction when the balloon actually pops is pretty funny! And no wonder—it’s impossible to know exactly when it will pop! Why is that? The secret is also revealed, so be sure to check it out.
A magic trick where a plastic bottle cap goes into a balloon
It’s a mysterious magic trick where, somehow, a plastic bottle cap ends up inside an inflated balloon with the opening sealed.
First, prepare a plastic bottle cap with a magnet attached and place it inside the balloon.
Also attach a magnet to one of the fingers on one hand.
At the start of the trick, be careful so the cap inside isn’t visible, and use the magnet on your finger to hold the cap in place so it doesn’t move.
With your other hand, hold another plastic bottle cap of the same shape and color.
As you pretend to push it into the balloon, release the first hand so the cap attached to the magnet drops inside the balloon, while you secretly keep the cap outside hidden in your hand.
And just like that, you create the astonishing illusion of a cap entering the balloon!
Floating balloon
Here’s a flashy, crowd-pleasing balloon levitation trick.
First, prepare a balloon with a thin thread tied to it.
Attach a clip or something similar to the other end of the thread and set it around the back of your neck.
Then run the thread over your shoulder and hold the balloon in your hand.
When the timing is right, lift the thread slightly, and it will look as if the balloon is floating.
The key is how naturally you can lift the thread, so practice repeatedly, using YouTube videos as reference.
Pop a balloon with a cotton swab
This is a magic trick anyone can easily master: popping a balloon with a cotton swab.
Naturally, if you poke a balloon with something sharp, it will pop.
But if you poke it with something soft like a cotton swab, it normally shouldn’t.
However, with a certain method, you can pop a balloon just by touching it with a cotton swab.
The method is to soak the tip of the cotton swab in orange oil.
That’s because limonene, a component found in oranges, dissolves the balloon.
By the way, you can also reproduce this using an actual orange instead of the oil.