The last day in making a pinata is the funnest day but also the hardest. It's fun because you get to decorate it and see it take shape, but it takes the longest.
For the last day you will need:
- Tissue Paper
- Masking Tape
- Scissors and/or a knife
- Strong string or yarn
- Large needle
- Elmer's Glue
- Fillings
- A pencil or two
- Paper plate
If you pinata is dry you can begin by popping the balloon. Just puncture it near the top where it sticks out. You may have to wait a bit for the balloon to deflate and then you can pull it out the hole, string and all.
Then using scissors or a knife you cut a little door out of the pinata. I like it near the bottom, since the top is already a little weaker from where the balloon came out.
Try to not make your door too big. Mine is a couple inches on each side. After cutting it, pull back slowly.
Then is a fun park, filling. You won't want to fill your pinata the whole way or it will get too heavy. We used about a pound and a half of bulk candy from winco and then a few small prizes. These are really easy and cheap to pick up after holidays. Just make sure nothing it too big or heavy. We had pencils, plastic jumping frogs, and erasers.
In her birthday pinata, which we knew would only have girls opening it, we put in chapsticks and pretend jewelry.
When full just use masking tape to tape the door back in place. Duck tape will work as well but it will actually make that area stronger than the rest of the pinata.
One of the hardest parts of the whole pinata is getting a string attached so that it won't break off. With her last pinata we used a small strong string (I don't know what kind, I just found it in my sewing room) to make a loop and then tied a shoelace to it. It held up pretty well but this time I tried yarn. I'm not sure if it will be strong enough.
I put the yarn on my needle and threaded it through the top a few times. Then I reinforced the top with masking tape. You may have to mess around with how to get the strings in to figure out what works best for you.
Now for the fun part, decorating. Cut squares of your tissue paper in the colors that you want. The larger the squares the fluffier your finished pinata will be.
It will take quite a bit of tissue paper, a least a few full sheets. I will give some fun decorating ideas at the bottom but ours is just crazy because my daughter likes to pick her colors as she goes.
Also squeeze some glue onto a paper plate.
Taking a square of tissue paper at a time, wrap it or crumple around the end of your pencil. With the pencil in the middle. You can use the top if it's unsharpened or the eraser.
Dip it into the glue, getting just a dot of glue onto the tissue paper.
Press it firmly onto the pinata. At times you may hear a little crunching while pressing it on, but that's ok. Put each one tight next to the others in order to cover all the newspaper.
This should be easy enough for your kids to help with, my four year old did it easily on her birthday pinata. With this one she was getting a little frustrated so she started using a different technique. Using a little paint brush she would paint a little glue on the pinata and then using her fingers stick the tissue paper to it. They look a little less fluffy that way but it still works if that's easier.
We actually haven't finished the decorating of the pinata. We could have had it done but I want her to do as much as she can so we have broken it up so we don't get bored. We just do a color of tissue paper at a time.
Her birthday pinata (the one in the first picture) was intended to be an Easter egg. This one has no pattern of design to it but there are some that are easy to do.
Any kind of ball is easy. Brown, with a little white for a football, black and white for a soccer ball, ext. You can even draw on the newspaper different sections so you know what to do which colors.
Animals are easier than they may seem because anything that sticks off the circle you can do with construction paper. Mickey Mouse is one I remember my mom making when I was growing up. Just big black circles of construction paper sticking off for ears and then some black strips for whiskers. Then fill in the rest of the pinata with the right color tissue paper.
If you make one I would love to hear how it turned out.
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