Homemade Pinata

This year, for Duane's second birthday, I decided to make him a pinata. Here's what to do if you want to make your own:


First you will need some shredded up newspaper and a punch balloon blown up to a nice size. You know the kind with the rubber band on it so you can punch it over and over again? It's nicer than a regular balloon because it's more of a circle than an oval. I've even heard of people using large soda bottles and things like that.



Next you will need some water and flour and a helper. The flour and the water is for the paste. You can use something like Elmer's glue if you'd rather, but if you are making the flour paste, then you will want to mix equal parts flour and water. I mixed two cups at a time (two water and two flour) because if you make it all at once, it just sits for hours while you wait for layers to dry.





















After you've made your paste, start dipping pieces of newspaper into the paste mix and laying them carefully onto the balloon. As you can see, I used a large mixing bowl to hold my punch balloon in place.





















After you've finished covering your balloon with one layer, let it dry for a few hours until it's hard. The paste will stiffen up nicely.





















For Duane's pinata, I only did three layers. He was turning two and we didn't want to make it too hard to break. If I were making it for someone older, I probably would have done more layers. For the final layer, I used blank children's sketch paper from Duane's sketch pad. If you use blank paper for the final layer, it will be much easier to paint.

Then we invited some of Duane's friends over to paint his pinata.

Here is the finished product!