I recently ran a 'balloon hat challenge' for a corporate client. I had them all working on tables to make the biggest and wakiest Easter bonnets they could create. There was a real buzz in the room and everybody started chatting to each other and getting stuck in. It just goes to show that balloons can be a great 'ice-breaker' even for a bunch of very conservative suited types.

Has anyone else used balloons as an 'ice-breaker' in a conference or as part of a team building event? If so; what did you do?

I've done a range of team-building sessions with both balloons and juggling.  The juggling seems to attract them more but the balloons are much better suited to larger groups.

I start off with a single balloon, with a one inch tail, show them how to make a one twist sabre, then get them to open it up into a hat.

Then get the to pull the balloon out of the loop,  2 more loops twists and they have a 3 twist dog.  

1 balloon per staff member, 3 sculptures!

Then we move on to the fun stuff...