I’ve received several requests for a tutorial for the jet packs we made for R’s spaced themed 4th birthday party. There are loads of different jet packs on Pinterest which is why I didn’t initially post about ours, but you’ve been asking, and we did make ours slightly differently to the ones I’ve seen (read: we cut a few corners to save time!) so, you asked for it, here it is! The first jet pack I ever saw on Pinterest was this one. It is absolutely adorable but there’s a little too much gluing and waiting for it to dry. We had about two days to make twelve of these things so we changed things a bit to make them as quickly as possible.

We made twelve jet packs for R’s birthday party. That’s a lot of jet packs! Now when I say “we”, I actually mean my hubby. All credit goes to him for these.

YOU WILL NEED:

• 2 empty soda bottles for each jet pack
• duct tape
• tissue paper (we used red, orange and yellow, but just one colour would be fine)
• Grey strap fabric
• silver spray paint

STEP 1. Spray paint the soda bottles. We used spray paint because we had so many of these to make and this meant we could paint them all at once. We found that one coat was sufficient.

STEP 2. Using duct tape, bind two bottles side by side to form the jet pack.

STEP 3. Using duct tape, apply two straps. We used some fabric that was just like the straps on a back pack.

FLAMES METHOD 1: Now you are ready to make the flames. This is the fun bit! When hubby made these for the party, he used the method shown in the pic above. He cut three different colours of tissue paper to three different widths. He then cut points along one edge of each colour, and lay them on top of each other as shown above. Next, roll the three layers of paper together so that the shortest layer (in this case the red) is on the outside. Stuff one end into the opening of the bottles and secure with duct tape. I can’t believe hubby did this twenty four times! They looked amazing though and the kids loved them.

FLAMES METHOD 2: This is the method I use (ie, it’s quicker and simpler!). R didn’t end up with a jet pack for himself after his party was over. They were so popular that a few of the children took extras home for their siblings. I had to make another one for R and this is how I made the flames. Fold a length of tissue paper in half. Tear strips up to the fold, but do not tear all the way through the fold. Yes, I tore these strips, I didn’t even bother with scissors. I like the way they look not being perfectly even. I used two colours, red and orange, because that’s just what we happened to have left. You could use one colour or as many colours as you like. Roll the paper and then stuff it into the opening of the bottles, and secure with duct tape.

That’s it! I really like the shredded paper flames because they have so much movement when R is running around. They also make a great “whooshing” sound too. It all adds to the fun!

For another cute idea for making Jet Packs, check out this post from Boy Mama Teach Mama. This is a great option if you don’t want to have to paint the bottles (Stephanie uses foil instead) and I love how she uses ballons for the flames.

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