how to make pinata for DD party

[Jean]

hi, preparing for DD birthday party and would like to make pinata.
gather some info from Google but not much. any tips out there?
appreciate all inputs. TIA.

[Scott Lindstrom]

Jean wrote:
> hi, preparing for DD birthday party and would like to make pinata.
> gather some info from Google but not much. any tips out there?
> appreciate all inputs. TIA.
>

When BH made a pinata, she inflated a balloon,
and covered it in paper maiche. It didn't
resemble anything, really, other than a
paper-covered balloon, but it worked.


Scott

[Elizabeth Gardner]

In article >,
(Jean) wrote:

> hi, preparing for DD birthday party and would like to make pinata.
> gather some info from Google but not much. any tips out there?
> appreciate all inputs. TIA.
>

Unless you're doing it for a fun craft project, it is sometimes possible
to buy pinatas, especially if you have any stores around catering to
Mexican population. Our local ethnic grocery has them.

If you do make one, go light on the papier mache. I once went to a
party with a homemade one, and the darn thing wouldn't break. One of
the dads finally resorted to tearing a leg off.

[Jeff]

You can get piñatas at Target and other stores.

If you want to make your own piñata, why not just get a box, fill it with
candy and such, close the box, put on a string, and paint or decorate the
box?

Jeff

"Jean" > wrote in message
m...
> hi, preparing for DD birthday party and would like to make pinata.
> gather some info from Google but not much. any tips out there?
> appreciate all inputs. TIA.
>

[Tamex]

On Thu, 11 Sep 2003 20:53:00 EDT, Elizabeth Gardner
> wrote:

>Unless you're doing it for a fun craft project, it is sometimes possible
>to buy pinatas, especially if you have any stores around catering to
>Mexican population. Our local ethnic grocery has them.

Pinatas are so mainstream in our area that party stores and Target
carry them. They have the traditional "bash 'em with a stick" kind as
well as the "pull on a ribbon and open the secret trap door" kind.

>If you do make one, go light on the papier mache. I once went to a
>party with a homemade one, and the darn thing wouldn't break. One of
>the dads finally resorted to tearing a leg off.

The store-bought ones don't break easily, either, IME. My daughter's
birthday party last year featured two dinosaur "Pinatas that Refused
to Die". These things could take a solid whack in the middle and just
keep holding together. The little loops eventually broke that were
holding them up, but even then, on the ground, hiting them with a
stick just didn't break them at all. The parents started coming to
pick their kids up, so we let them all have a go. It was very
cathartic for some of those parents :). My husband finally started
going "WWF" on the last one and broke it open over his knee!

It turns out that the things were made of corrugated cardboard. I
think you'd do better with the traditional papier mache. Be sure you
let it dry thoroughly, though. Some kids in high school made one for
Spanish class. It hadn't completely dried, so it didn't break easily,
either, and it was a mess, to boot.
--
Tamex

No matter how much Jell-o you put in the pool, you still can't walk on water.

**remove Tricky Dick to reply by e-mail**

[Kevin Karplus]

In article >,
Elizabeth Gardner wrote:
> In article >,
> (Jean) wrote:
>
>> hi, preparing for DD birthday party and would like to make pinata.
>> gather some info from Google but not much. any tips out there?
>> appreciate all inputs. TIA.
>>
>
> Unless you're doing it for a fun craft project, it is sometimes possible
> to buy pinatas, especially if you have any stores around catering to
> Mexican population. Our local ethnic grocery has them.
>
> If you do make one, go light on the papier mache. I once went to a
> party with a homemade one, and the darn thing wouldn't break. One of
> the dads finally resorted to tearing a leg off.

We made a lollipop pinata one year (by special request). We took a
strip of stiff paper and made a cylinder, then covered it with papier
mache. A mailing tube made the handle. It came out looking reasonably
good after painting, and it did break after a reasonable number of
whacks by 5 and 6 year olds. You do have to engineer in some weak
spots as papier mache can be suprisingly tough when you don't want it
to be.


--
Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels)
Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed)
Professor of Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz
Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics
Affiliations for identification only.