As promised, instructions to make your own pinata.  Overall, it was a positive experience.  The good things about making your own pinata–mine was completely FREE, and Caeden had a lot of fun helping out as well.  The not-so-great things–it makes a big mess, and is pretty time consuming, so in the scheme of things $15 might not seem like so much to pay for one.

Anyway…here we go.

Step 1:  Gather your materials.  You will need:

-A Balloon (blow it up)
-Flour
-Water
-Newspapers
-A large bowl to mix your goo in.

Step 2:  Mix the goo :)  To make the glue, mix 1 part flour to 2 parts water.  1 cup flour and 2 cups water should give you more than enough.  Also, it tends to settle, so it’s nice to give it a little stir every once in a while…this was Caeden’s favorite part.

Step 3:  Tear your newspaper into strips.  Tear your newspaper into approximately 2 inch strips.  No need to get fancy and cut it because the torn edges actually give a more uniform seam when they are all glued onto the balloon.

Step 4: Paste newspaper strips to balloon.  Using the flour/water paste you created, adhere newspaper strips to the balloon.  Remember to leave a hole at one end (I left the end with the tie) open for popping and pulling out the balloon when you’re done.  The hole will be used to fill up the pinata with candy.  You will eventually cover the balloon 3 times.  Dip newspaper strips into your paste and place them horizontally on the balloon, overlapping the edges slightly and smoothing everything down.  Let this dry for approximately 24 hours.  Apply a second coating of newspaper strips vertically in the same fashion and let them dry for a day as well.  Finally, apply a third coating of newspaper strips diagonally.

Here is what mine looked like after the first coating (it’s still wet in this picture):

Step 5: Pop Balloon, Fill with Candy, Decorate.  After the final coat is dry, you can decorate your pinata as you choose.  One idea I had was to paint it a solid color and let the boys put hand prints all over it.  However, I ended up deciding to make a baseball instead.  I did this using recycled tissue paper (Yes, I am one of those people who saves tissue paper out of gift bags/boxes).  So, I just cut my tissue paper into small squares…2-3 inches maybe, and used a liquid glue to wad them in place.  Finally, use a pin to pop your balloon and gently pull it out.  I didn’t have any trouble with this.  I just held onto the end until it slowly peeled away from the paper mache inside.  Then, put candy in your pinata and it’s ready to go :)  I covered up the hole on top with tissue paper as well.

Here is the finished pinata about to get whacked by the birthday boy.