I finally finished the jetpacks. Inspired by various sites and designs, I have to say that I am very pleased with the way these turned out. Pleather for straps was not easily available but Lisa guided me in the right direction and I got some canvas straps for a few bucks that did the job even better.

Materials:

• 2 x empty soft drink bottles (1.25l+)
• cardboard (approx 20cm x 20cm)
• gaffa tape
• spray paint (silver)
• 2 x plastic party cups
• crepe paper (red, orange, yellow)

Tools:

• craft knife
• cutting board
• scissors
• sticky tape
• double-sided sticky tape

Time: 4+ hours

Instructions:

Spray paint the bottles and cups and leave to dry. Keep the kids away from the paint and protect yourself from the fumes.

Stick the bottles together using double-sided sticky tape or strong glue. Bind the bottles with Gaffa tape. Stick the cardboard to the centre of the bottles (the bottles should be upside-down with the caps facing downwards).

Measure your child’s shoulders and cut the canvas / pleather straps to measure leaving some play to stick to the cardboard. In hindsight, I wish I had attached the straps to the rear (bottle-side) of the cardboard as I think they will eventually detach. I used plent of Gaffa tape for this running it in multiple directions. Make sure you wrap some around the other side of the cardboard.

Cut the crepe paper into two sets of streamers – these are the flames. (I ended up using the craft knife to do the job fast than scissors.) Twist them tightly together at one end. Poke a hole through the bottle caps and insert the streamers, add some sticky tape to the twisted end to prevent them from pulling out.

Cut a hole in the bottom of the plastic cup, slightly smaller than the neck of the bottle. Push the cups onto the neck of the bottle. Screw the caps back on (this is tricky with all the streamers on but it can be done with a little patience.)

My son insisted on having some blue streamers for the hottest part of the flame. I just cut these in half to add to the effect.