Wetless Water Blob (or is it Redneck Water Bed?) ~ SuperMom Monday

One of my favorite things to do during the summer is sit outside and watch my kiddo's swimming in the pool, jumping through the sprinkler or giggling down the slip'n slide.  But it seems by the end of summer they start getting a bit bored with these things.  Crazy.  I know.  Discovering what was described as a Redneck Water Bed on Pinterest caught my eye for a surefire way to beat the summertime "I'm bored!" blues.  We prefer to call it a Water Blob.  And it's wetless (is that a word?).  Crazy.  I know.

You really only need three things to accomplish the magical creation of the Water Blob.  I splurged on a few others since our Water Blob was making it's debut at my 5 year old's birthday party.  All her aunts and uncles, cousins and grandma and grandpa were coming to her swim party so we wanted something special.

Plastic sheeting is the star of the show.  You can find it in the paint section because it's used as a drop cloth.  Duct tape comes in a close second next to the water.  I sent my hubbie off to get the duct tape and he came back with camo print.  I guess we really aren't that far off from a Redneck Water Bed although being it's for a 5 year old girl's b-day I would've preferred a purple tape perhaps, or cute girlie printed version.  Oh well, moving on.  The bonus ingredients I picked up at The Dollar Tree were foam stickers, puff balls and glitter.  All to be put in the belly of the beast.  Oh yeah, and food coloring.

The number one most important thing to do when setting up your Water Blob...find FLAT GROUND.  I saw numerous hilarious posts regarding the Redneck Water Beds Water Blobs utter destruction if placed on a slope.  I took this stern warning to heart and found pretty much the only flat ground in the back yard.  Sorry it's only on half grass/half dirt kiddo's.  Man that Redneck name sure is starting to stick.

Once you find your FLAT spot fold your sheeting in half and start to tape the open edges together.  This is the trickiest, and most time consuming part.  It took me about an hour to tape all 3 sides.  Yes 3.  The one side is folded, remember?  (Redneck's SuperMom's can count!)  

I found the easiest way to seal the Blob closed was to stick half the duct tape on one side and fold it down onto the other side a little at a time.  I enlisted the help of my 7 year old to hold the roll of duct tape so I could do this all in one big piece if I could.  That way I could try and prevent any leaks.

Wow.  I just noticed you can see my Gutter Strawberries hanging on the side of our pump-house in this picture.  Holy smokes I am a Redneck.  Moving on.

When you finally get to the third side do not, I repeat do not completely seal it shut.  You need to leave a space to fill up the Blob with the water hose.  But before doing that add any fun stuff to float around inside the Water Blob.  

The birthday girl got to add the foam stickers, puff balls and glitter.  She loved it.

All the inside goodies just huddled together inside the Blob, all scared like!  The girls enjoyed peeking in before we stuck the water hose inside.

Before putting in the hose find something in which to prop the hose and Blob up.  That way the water won't just pour out.  We used a blue rocking horse.  That's not too Redneck is it?

I was a little worried my puff balls would not be so puffy once they hit the water.  But they stayed puffy.  Hooray!  And the fun foam animal stickers looked really cute.

Once we had a good layer of water going I figured it was a good time to add the food coloring.  I chose red...because it turns PINK people!  NOT because we really are a bunch of 'necks!  Geesh!  Maybe blue would've been a better choice.  

My sweet 11 year old boy shouted out "Cool!  It looks like blood!"  Yep.  Should've picked blue.  Here I am holding a hose and standing in front of a giant piece of plastic held together with camo duct tape with what looks like to be bloody remnants inside.  Fine.  I admit.  It is a Redneck Water Bed.  But a cute Redneck Water Bed filled with pink glittery water and colorful balls and animals.

Finally, after a good 30 minutes or so the Water Bed was done.  I pulled out the hose, taped up the final corner and patched up a few spots where the water was leaking out.  Be extra careful when duct taping the edges together not to have any folds in the plastic.  These spots were prime for leakage, but nothing too serious.  I have since seen Gorilla Tape and super-strength duct tape which would probably be worth the extra dollar or two.

The Birthday Girl got shotgun with trying out the Water Bed.  It was bouncy, and cool to the touch and she loved poking at the balls and pointing out the animals.  It wasn't long before the other kiddo's hopped on.  Her little cousin even kept his shoes on and the Redneck Water Bed stayed strong.  Yee-ha!

With that goofy look and filthy feet I think I've finally let the title of Water Blob go.  I'll embrace my Redneckness (is that a word?) and go with Redneck Water Bed.  Besides...Rednecks. Are. Awesome.  And they're good at making survival stuff out of duct tape (does this count?)  The Water Bed was the hit of the swim party.  Even the adults were mesmerized by it.  We all parked our lawn chairs around it and even cooled our feet off on top of it.  Yep.  We are a whole family of 'necks.  Except for Pop's.  He didn't try out the Water Bed.  He was too busy sleeping despite the 14 kiddo's running around.

We were all surprised at how well the Bed held up.  At one time there were 5 kids ages 5 and under jumping, rolling and running on top of it.  At one point even Walter strolled across it.  There were a few dribbling little leaks but nothing major so I just let them go.  If I wanted the Bed to last any longer then this party I would have patched them up with some more duct tape, so have some on hand to keep your Bed a'rockin!  

So for all my Pinsters out there I give you a choice.  Water Bed or Water Blob?  GO  =)