Papier mache confetti ball favors for your New Year’s and holiday season wedding!

Celebrating the holidays and New Year's Eve is super fun. People feel hopeful for the possibilities of the new year, or maybe relieved that the last one has finished. In the US, where I live, we celebrate with silly hats, fizzy drinks, and one of my favorite things ever: confetti.

Weddings are a celebration of something new as well. Why not inject your event with some holiday and/or New Year's excitement with these papier mache confetti balls!

Materials:

• dropcloth (or newspaper, or pages from old magazines you have lying around… just protect your work surface, I don't care how!)
• crepe paper
• bowl
• flour
• water
• whisk
• 5″ round balloons
• scissors
• trinkets (beaded necklaces, fun-sized candy, noisemakers, confetti, etc.)
• narrow-mouthed glasses, like juice or champagne glass
• disposable plastic gloves (optional, but keeps your hands clean!)
• glitter

Step 1:
Tear crepe paper into strips about 1″x4″ strips. Keep in mind that the narrower you tear these strips, the tougher they'll be to work with.

Step 2:
Mix your papier mache paste to your liking. I used about 1 cup of flour per 2 cups of water. You can make large batches of the paste and it will keep for a day or two if you cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap when you're not using it.

Step 3:
Blow up your balloons…and then deflate them. AND THEN RE-INFLATE THEM. This may seem absurd, but the 5″ balloons got bigger and rounder upon second inflation. Tie the end in a knot.

Step 4:
Saturate a strip of crepe paper with the paste. It shouldn't be dry, but it shouldn't be dripping all over the place either. Smooth it onto the balloon. Repeat until the balloon is totally covered, avoiding the knot and surrounding area.

Step 5:
Allow to dry overnight. You CAN apply more layers before leaving to dry, but I made these late at night and I was tired, so I left the one layer. I applied a second layer the next morning, then came home and moved on to the next steps.

Step 6:
When you think your papier mache is strong enough to stand up to the stress of transportation but light enough to tear open, snip the balloon close to the knot and release the air. The balloon will naturally separate from the papier mache shell; pluck it from the inside of the shell and discard.

Step 7:
Stuff the trinkets, candy and confetti into the shell. I used sealed fun-size candies so they wouldn't be affected by further gluing, random glue flakes inside the shell, or go bad if made months ahead of time.

Step 8:
Cut 1″ slits into the shell from the opening, and use more papier mache strips to form a flat bottom. Dry overnight with flat bottom facing up.

Step 9:
Add metallic crepe paper bits, glitter or whatever else to the outside to snazz it up using more paste. Let it dry fully (overnight is preferable) before handling.

Then… give 'em to your guests! It's a blast to tear into these guys!