Fancy Dress Pinata Tutorial

I know, I know... after the Pirate Ship Pinata 

I swore I would NEVER make another pinata again.. EVER.  But then this sweet little face looked at me

 and said, "Mommy, can we have a pinata at my party?" and I just couldn't resist!

So here is a proper tutorial on

HOW TO MAKE A PINATA!

This on just happens to be a dress.. but you could make any shape!

Ingredients

Cardboard

Razor Knife

Masking Tape

Paper Bags (from the grocery store)

Paint

Lots of Patience!

Start with your cardboard and cut it into two equal pieces.

Make your pattern on an old grocery store bag.  Then trace it on to both of your cardboard pieces.

Take your razor knife and cut around your template.

Now you should have both halves of your pinata!

Then cut strips from your leftover cardboard that are all even in width.

Grab one of your sides and start taping the strips to the outside edge (I hold the piece between my knees to give me use of both hands, one for ripping tape and one for taping it on).

Do this all the way around.   You may have to cut some of the strips to fit into the odd angles of your pinata.

Now add the other piece to the top and repeat taping all the way aournd, until you get to the top and then fill with all of your goodies! (mine is filled with swedish fish, sour patch kids and rings)

Then if you are paying attention, you would have added a hook .. but um yeah.. I forgot this step because I was in the middle of cooking and baking while I made my pinata.  Thankfully Mr. Pinkapotamus was nice enough to come to my rescue and cut a hole in the top and the back and rig a rope through it for easy hanging.. He's soo handy to have around.. think I'll keep him!

Now grab your extra grocery bags! 

And glue them all the way around your pinata, making sure to cover the seams well.

When it's done and dry, now comes the fun part.. decorating it!

I had my direct orders that I was NOT allowed to do this.. so I handed the paint brush over to my mini boss and let her create!  Here is her MASTERPIECE!

Now if it's not perfect, trust me, no one will care.. Because they are just going to BEAT the STUFFING out it anyway!

So grab some willing participants and get WHACKING!

I will say that this Pinata is made REALLY well and it won't break easily so if you have BIG kids it will stand up to their punishment and laugh!  If you are making it for little kids you might want to leave out some tape at the bottom corner while you are glueing just so that they don't lose interest.. although mine were at it for 20 minutes!

Never a dull moment at my house!

Oh and by the way, about ten seconds after this moment

we had a torrential downpour, just saved the cake and ran in the house..  and then my sillyheads decided that a RAIN party would be great!

Kids are sooo FUN, arent' they?
I am sharing with

Love,

Pinkapotamus