Water Balloon Volleyball is such a fun outdoor game to play. Easy to set up and tons of fun to play. It’s a great game for field day, or backyard fun with friends and family. A great game for kids, teens, and adults.
Water Balloon Volleyball
You’ll love how easy this fun game is to set up and play. If you are having a backyard party and need some fun and entertaining games to play, this is a great one to add to the list. You might also want to check out some of my other fun outdoor games to play like the Lei Necklace Relay Race, Wet Sponge Relay Game, or this Crab Soccer Game
What I love about this Fun Backyard Game
- It’s a great game for family reunions, field days, summer cookouts, and pool parties
- This game is easy to set up, especially if you use the easy-fill water balloons
- If you use the quick-fill balloons, then there is very little prep time
- This water balloon game is so much fun and will have kids, teens, and adults laughing the whole time
- Even though it is a fun light-hearted game, it is competitive
Table of contents
- Water Balloon Volleyball
- What I love about this Fun Backyard Game
- Supplies needed for this Water Balloon Volleyball Game
- How to Play Water Balloon Volleyball
- Establish Out of Bounds Lines
- Playing
- Scoring Volleyball with Water Balloons
- Expert Tips
- Number of Balloons
- More Water Balloon Games to Play
- My Top Amazon Picks for Water Balloon Volleyball
- Let’s Get Social!
- Printable Instructions for Water Balloon Volleyball
Supplies needed for this Water Balloon Volleyball Game
- a volleyball or badminton net – I bought the best portable net from Amazon. We have used it for years and we love how easy it is to take down and put up. The bonus is that it is sturdy! I have a link to the one we have, below
- towels – you’ll need 1 towel for every two players. It’s best if the towels are similar in size. If one pair has an extra large beach towel they might be at an unfair advantage in catching the balloon. It might work the other way when serving the water balloon
- water balloons – filled. I know I keep mentioning this but the quick-fill balloons are definitely the way to go. I ordered mine from Amazon. We filled up 2 bunches and the game lasted for about 30 minutes before they all popped. I’ll include the link to the ones I purchased at the bottom of the post.
- A large bucket or container filled with water – this will help keep the balloons from popping. I did have some deflate on me, but I think that is the price you pay for the convenience of the easy-fill balloons
How to Play Water Balloon Volleyball
Divide players into teams and have them pair off
Give each pair of players a towel to hold
Have players spread out a little bit on either side of the net. Some will want to be up close to the net, and some toward the back. If you have a large enough space and net, then you can have them spread out on either side of the net, as well
Establish Out of Bounds Lines
Rules should be established now, because believe me, they will call out on the other team every chance they get.
Decide where out is on the sides and in the back
Playing
The pairs of players should be holding the corners of the towel which will be used to propel and catch the water balloon
To start the game, the serving team should place a balloon in the middle of a towel and use the towel to hoist the water balloon up and over the net to the other side
The opposing team has to try to catch the balloon without popping it and propel it back up and over the net to the other team
Scoring Volleyball with Water Balloons
Only the team that serves can score
If the balloon pops on the other side – even if they caught it, then it is a point for the serving team
The serving team gets one point for every balloon that does not get caught and/or pops on the other side of the net without going out of bounds
If it goes out of bounds, serving changes sides
Go until you run out of balloons or a set amount of points is scored by one team
Expert Tips
I know that I am repeating this over and over, but it is so worth investing in the quick-fill water balloons
I would NOT use the reusable water balloons for this game. The old-fashioned style balloon is best for this summer game
We love our Boulder Portable net. It is a great net that sets up in seconds and transports easily. We have owned ours for a few years
Use 2 nets side by side for large yards and large groups of players for double the fun
Number of Balloons
We inflated 70 balloons. Some of those deflated, so I’m not exactly sure how many we ended up using.
Our game lasted about 30 minutes and was fun the whole time.
Use more balloons to make the game last longer
Place a water-filled balloon in the center of a towel that is held by 2 players. Those players should use the towel to launch the balloon over the net to more players. They should catch the ball in their towel and launch it back over the net. Play continues in this way until the balloon is popped or goes out of bounds. Scoring is much like normal volleyball
Only the team that is serving gets to score. The serving team loses their turn to serve if the ball goes out of bounds or drops on the ground on their side of the net. If the ball falls to the ground on the other side of the net, that is one point for the serving team. Each team only gets 3 chances to send the ball over the net. The same player can not hit the ball twice in a row. If they fail to get the ball back over the net after 3 separate hits, the ball goes to the other team and they can then serve. Play goes until a set number of points is scored on one team
Each side gets 3 chances to hit the ball back over the net. The same player can not hit the ball twice in a row. If the team fails to send it back over the net within 3 tries, it goes to the other team
More Water Balloon Games to Play
My Top Amazon Picks for Water Balloon Volleyball
(affiliate links)
Boulder Badminton Picklebal...Shop on Amazon
Kaufman Colored Classic Mul...Shop on AmazonKaufman Colored Classic Mul...Shop on Amazon
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Printable Instructions for Water Balloon Volleyball
Water Balloon Volleyball
Materials
- a volleyball or badminton net
- towels – you'll need 1 towel for every two players
- water balloons – filled we used about 70
- A large bucket or container filled with water to put filled balloons into
Instructions
Setting up
- Get the net set up
- Fill balloons and place them in the water filled container which should be located near the net
- Set out towels (similar in size) for each pair of player
Dividing Players
- Divide players into teams and have them pair off
- Give each pair of players a towel to hold
- Have players spread out a little bit on either side of the net. Some will want to be up close to the net, and some toward the back. If you have a large enough space and net, then you can have them spread out on either side of the net, as well
Establish Out of Bounds Lines
- Rules should be established now, because believe me, they will call out on the other team every chance they get
- Decide where out is on the sides and in the back
Playing
- The pairs of players should be holding the corners of the towel which will be used to propel and catch the water balloon
- To start the game, the serving team should place a balloon in the middle of a towel and use the towel to hoist the water balloon up and over the net to the other side
- The opposing team has to try to catch the balloon without popping it and propel it back up and over the net to the other team
Scoring
- Only the team that serves can score
- If the balloon pops on the other side – even if they caught it, then it is a point for the serving team
- The serving team gets one point for every balloon that does not get caught and/or pops on the other side of the net without going out of bounds
- If it goes out of bounds, serving changes sides
- Go until you run out of balloons or a set amount of points is scored by one team
