DIY Pinata

 

Things you will need

• punch balloons or regular balloons

• scissors

• tissue paper

• masking tape

• newspaper

• flour

• water

• a pot (to boil the water)

• candies

Instructions

Depending on the size you wish to make your piñata, the amount of water and flour you use will vary. I used 3 cups of water and 1 ½ cups of flour for my 9 inch and about 22 cm balloon. The mixture turns into a paste that will help adhere the newspaper to the balloon.

1. Boil water and flour. Make sure to stir constantly with a whisk to avoid flour lumps.

2. Blow up your balloon to the desired size.

3. Lay your newspaper on a flat surface and apply your cooled paste with a spatula to the entire surface of the newspaper.

4. Apply the newspaper to your balloon making sure there are no air bubbles.

5. After applying the amount of layers you want, let it dry over night. If you want your piñata to be strong, the more layers you apply the better. This also means it will take longer to dry and you might want to apply more layers after your first layers have dried. Make sure you allow enough time for drying. You might want to start your piñata many days before the event.

6.You will need many pieces of tissue paper. Fold your tissue paper in an accordion style and cut both sides where it folds. Then start cutting fringes on one side.

7. Wrap masking tape around your piñata from the top all the way around the bottom until you meet at the top again. Then do it again one more time but this time on the side that does not have tape. (if you are looking down at the piñata from the top, it should look like an X) With the excess tape on the top make a loop, this is where you will hang it from.

8. Apply some of the same paste you made earlier to the bottom of your piñata.

9. Starting from the bottom and moving up, apply the fringes.

10. Cut a slit at the top of your piñata (under the fringes) big enough that candy will be able to fit through. The fringes will cover the whole.

This is just an example of the basic steps to making a piñata. If you want to add more dimension like cones or putting together a cartoon character, you need to apply the extra parts to your piñata before step 8. Cones, arms, legs, etc. can me made out of poster board or even cereal box carton. Use different size balloons to make a torso and a head. Look at other piñatas to get ideas, the possibilities are endless!