How to make a Giant Piñata in just 30 minutes!
The piñata is the pièce de résistance of any children's party. If you haven't used one for a kids party then I urge you to have a go, it's the thing that my own children look forward to the most! There are in incredible range of kids party piñatas available, they arrive ready to hang and come in many different shapes and sizes, we have a large range of styles available at Pretty Little Party Shop, buying pinatas ready-made is an affordable way for busy parents to add a ton of fun and impact to your party!
If however, you are feeling a bit crafty Pinatas are fun to make and easier than you might think. It is an enjoyable and inexpensive project, what's more it will be completely unique and can be made to fit in with any party theme.
There are many different method for making a piñata, trust me we have attempted them all!
This is by far the easiest and quickest that I have come across!
We made a Giant Beach Ball Piñata but the same method would work with any piñata based around a globe shape. These are so easy to make that my children can now make their own.
You will need:
Newspaper (strips of approx 3" by 3")Flour Paste (aprox 1 part flour to 2 parts water)
PVA Glue
24" Round Balloon
Paper Fringe Garlands or can also be made with Twisty Paper Streamers using a similar method
Time:
Without counting the time taken to dry the piñata this whole project should take around 10 minutes each for papier mache layer and then another 10-20 minutes to decorate with fringing.
Method:
- Firstly inflate a large 24" Balloon to its full size
- Mix up your flour paste. The great thing about flour glue is that it is virtually free plus it dries super hard! Mix a paste of flour and water until you have the consistency of double cream.
- Use nice big thick strips of newspaper (as this takes less time than small piece)s to cover your balloon. Dip the paper into the paste then cover the balloon leaving a circle of 2" wide around the neck of the balloon (this is so that you can fill your piñata with treats). You don't need to be neat!
- Leave to dry (in the summer it will dry in the sun very quickly, in winter I dry in a warm oven (the oven should not be too hot, ideally one that has been heated and then turned off) or alternatively next to a radiator or dehumidifier.
- When dry add a second layer of newspaper and leave to dry again. if you are making for adults then add a third layer to make it extra-strong.
- When completely dry pop the balloon and remove it
- To create a handle to hang your pinata - using a skewer or other sharp implement insert two holes one either side of your stuffing hole, insert a length of string to hang.
- Now to cover the piñata. This can be done with strips of tissue/crepe paper, cut into fringes and apply, but I have found a far quicker method and that is to use fringe garlands! This method is super quick and easy.
- To apply the fringe garlands I use PVA (it is less messy that the flour glue), Use a pencil to outline your design and then get creative!! Leave some overhang from the garland to stuff inside the piñata's hole; It's not too clear in this image below but if you leave a good six inches of garland hanging over the hole then once you have filled the piñata you can stuff this over-hang inside, this will seal the hole and hide it ready to hang.
An equally easy to make pinata can be created using Twisty Paper Streamers use the same method to make the paper mache base. fold the streamers in half down the length of them. Start at the bottom of the pinata attach the streamers carefully working your way up ensuring the streamer fringe overlaps nicely to create a fringy pinata.
