DYI Hot Air Balloon Photo Booth

For our Enchantment Under the Stars prom I thought it might be fun to have sky and air related decorations..so when someone showed up at my classroom with the side flaps from tri-fold boards,  wondered if maybe they could be used to make a hot air balloon.

I started but cutting a the corners at using masking tape to make a template so they'd all be at the same corners. Then I used spray paint to get a little color going.

After creasing the boards where the angles are, I began using hot glue to get  the edges to stick together. 

I did all of the bottom parts before bending them up and gluing the center section. This At this point, I completed the final two edges to make a barrel shape and then finished up the top flaps. With all the guess work of the angles, I was pleased that it resembled a balloon shape.

The basket was made by weaving strips of cardboard. We used two sdes of a large box, with enough cardboard at the bottom to stand up on it's own. I cut out the spaces n between the vertical slats to be about the same width as the slats themselves.  I stapled the ends of the horizontal strips to the vertical slats and let students weave them in and out. We used brown paper lunch stuffed with newspaper for the sandbags, and I made little pendants that matched the colors of the balloon and spelled out Prom 2026.

I glued three pieces of cardboard to the back of the balloon. The two perpendicular pieces had notches cut into them to slide on the top of the wooden set panel and give the illusion that it is floating in the sky. Painters tape covered the seams and imperfections. The night of the prom, I hot glued a banner, and ropes to the balloon once it was hanging. It's always nice when the process pays off.