Here is the situation that my wife and i found our selves in. March 21st is our sons Birthday. We decided to go all out and plan a Mickey Mouse themed party. Now whats a party without a Piñata?
To know me is to know that I am a penny pincher when it comes to some things. I refuse to buy a Piñata for $40 to $50. Think about it. Why would i spend that much money on something kids are going to destroy. So i decided to make one.
Equipment:
Cardboard
Tape
Scissors
White Glue
Blue and Yellow Construction paper
Strips of News Paper
Paper Mache Solution (1 Part Flour to 1 Part Water)
Red Party Streamers
Tape
Scissors
White Glue
Blue and Yellow Construction paper
Strips of News Paper
Paper Mache Solution (1 Part Flour to 1 Part Water)
Red Party Streamers
1. Cut out the shape of Toodles from the cardboard. I happened to have a project tri-fold board laying around so thats what i used. To get the shape i used a large round Cake pan for the face and a smaller cake pan for the ears. You will need to make 2 of them. one for the front and back.
 |
| Top of Piñata |
 |
| Back of Piñata |
2. Now we have to join the top to the bottom. To do this i cut a strip of cardboard about the same length of the circumference of the piñata and roughly 5 inches wide. I used masking tape to connect the sides to the top and bottom.
 |
| Join the top to the bottom with masking tape. |
3. What are those crazy slits in my piñata? Well wile doing some initial research on how to make a piñata the internet was torn between a paper mache piñata and a cardboard piñata. So what i decided to do is combine the 2. I cut the slits so that when the kids are whacking the piñata it won't be to difficult to destroy.
 |
| Cut slits to weaken the piñata. |
4. Now the messy part. I used paper mache to cover the cardboard. I took it old school with my paper mache recipe. I used 1 part water to 1 part flour. Mixed it together and let it sit for 15 mins and it was ready to go. We used old news paper dipped it in the solution and started to cover the piñata. only did 3 layers. Making sure we covered all of the slits.
 |
| Top View |
 |
| Side View |
5. Now we wait. I let the piñata dry for 2 days.
6. Now to decorate. The main color of Toodles is red. I used red party streamer paper cut in strips to cover the edge of the piñata.
 |
| Streamer paper cut in strips |
7. Before gluing the paper to the piñata cut little notches to the strips about 1/4 inch apart to give it some volume. Now you take the glue and make a thin line across the un cut part of the streamer.
To make it a little easier i cut and pre glued the strips before attaching it to the piñata.
 |
| Thin line of glue across the top. |
 |
| My pre glued strips. |
8. Now we attache the strips to the piñata. Make sure you over lap them a bit in order to get that frill look. Add the strips going all the way around the piñata.
 |
| Adding strips to the Piñata |
9. Once you finish covering the piñata you want to work on Toodles face. I used blue, red, and yellow counteraction paper to make the face and the details in the ears. It was very simple. Just look at a image of toodles and add the detail. Once your done with that your piñata will be ready to be filled with candy and toys.
 |
| Ready to be destroyed!! |
All together this project cost me about 5-8 dollars to make. It took some time but in the end i this it was well worth it. Let me know what you think and feel free to ask me any questions.
