How to Make Pinatas
Home-made pinatas make very special birthday party decorations. Kids love the anticipation that comes from knowing that the pinata is stuffed full of candy. They love being blind-folded and given three chances to wack the pinata in the hope that they will be the one to split it open, releasing the sweets. Making a pinata is somewhat time-consuming, but with a little bit of effort, you can make a pinata that echoes the theme of the party. If you get really good at making pinatas, you can sell them online or to a consignment shop for some extra money. You can even create miniature pinatas for Christmas tree ornaments or for table favors at other holiday parties. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Scissors
- Masking tape
- Assorted balloons
- Assorted boxes
- Newspaper
- Tissue paper
- 1 cup white flour
- 2 cups water
- Large bottle white school glue
- 24-inches flexible wire
- 1-inch plastic or metal washer
- Tempera paint
- paint brush
- assorted construction paper
Instructions
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Decide what your pinata will represent. It can be any three-dimensional object: a person, animal, object, or geometric shape. Build the structure of the pinata using empty boxes and balloons that you tape together with masking tape. If you are using boxes, you can fill them with candy before covering them with paper mache. However, if you are using balloons to form the internal structure of the pinata, you need to add the hard paper mache coating before popping the balloons and filling the pinata with candy. Twist several inches of wire into a loop. Cover the wire with masking tape before taping the loop to the top of one of the balloons.
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2
Paper mache the pinata to give it a hard shell. Tear the newspaper into long 1-inch wide strips. Mix 1 cup of white flour, 1 cup of white school glue, and 2 cups of water in a large bowl. Drag one strip of newspaper through the wet mixture. Then wrap it around each section of the pinata beginning at the bottom. Continue to add strips of paper mache until the pinata looks realistic.
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3
Mold the paper mache to give the pinata realistic curves and features. Leave one area near the top of the pinata open (unless you already filled boxes with candy). It should be a rectangular area that is large enough for you to use to fill the pinata with handfuls of candy.
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Prepare a patch of paper mache that is the same size as this opening that you can glue on after filling the pinata with candy. Let the paper mache dry totally. It will take at least 12 to 24 hours.
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Cut the sheets of colored tissue paper into strips that are three inches wide. Use scissors to create a fringe on each strip of tissue paper. Each cut should be two and three-fourths inch long so that there is a quarter inch margin between the end of the fringe and the top of the strip. Make one cut every one-eighth inches along the whole length of each strip. Because tissue paper is so thin, you can cut and fringe several layers at once.
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Use white school glue to stick the fringed tissue paper to the balloon pinata. Start at the bottom of the bunch of balloons. Glue fringe all the way around the each balloon in the pinata. Glue the next fringed strip so that the 1/4-inch margin of tissue paper fits directly above the previous strip. Continue adding fringed strips--use stripes or any combination of colors that you wish, until the whole balloon pinata is covered with fringe.
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Paint features on the top of the pinata using tempera paint. You can add glued on pieces of construction paper to add eye lashes, tongues, or other decorative objects to the pinata.
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Tips & Warnings
Use the balloon pinata as a focal point for your child's party. Play the pinata game at the very end of the party so that the anticipation will grow.
