Pinata Instructions

(Before you read this...put your brain in Martha Stewart voice mode! It makes it much funner!)

Hello and welcome to the second part of cheap birthday party decorations! I'm going to try to show you how to make a cheap and SUPER EASY pinata! (Wait...Martha wouldn't say "super easy"...) No paper mache mess or balloons or letting it dry for days. I made this entire pinata in about an hour! You will need:

A large bowl (If you want yours to be a circle. Mine was about 14" wide)
A smaller bowl about half the size of the large bowl
Cardboard- I just cut up an old cardboard box.
Crepe paper- It looks better with several colors. I got a roll of pink, yellow, red, and orange.
Glue gun- Have it heating up when you start.
Glue stick or a scrapbooking tape dispenser
Scissors
Candy-I just went and got some bags from Dollar Tree for cheap!
Gift ribbon- You know....the kind you wrap around gifts and make the ends all curly?
Tape
A box cutter
A ruler
2 pieces of 12 x 12 cardstock or scrapbook paper.

Okay. First step. Take your bowl and trace it to make 2 separate circles.

Then, you take your box cutter and CAREFULLY cut out the circles. Thanks to Photoshop, I was able to erase all of the blood from my accident! Just kidding, just kidding. It didn't bleed.

Cut out 4 inch wide strips to glue around the edge of the circle. Make sure they're even and straight.

Glue the strip around the edge of one of the circles with the glue gun. Make sure if there is any sort of print on the cardboard that it goes on the inside.

Then, glue the other circle to the piece you just made.

With your box cutter, CAREFULLY cut out a 3 sided opening to put the candy into. Mine was about 2 1/2 inches wide by 3 inches long.

Now comes the fun part. take your glue stick or scrapbooking glue, and run it along the side. Take your crepe paper and stick it to the glue, and trim the ends so it doesn't hang over the edge. Then, snip the edge of the crepe paper to make it nice and frilly. Do this all the way around the edge of the pinata. Ole!

You will do pretty much the same thing to the front, and back... just in a circle. Do this until you fill it about half way to the middle. Then, you'll take your 12x12 piece of paper and trace the smaller bowl. Cut out the circle.

Glue the circle you just cut out to the top of the pinata. Do the same for the back of the pinata.

Then, you can decorate it however you want! I just printed out a big number 1 and stuck it to the front with mounting foam tape to make it stand out. I also did the frill thing around the back of the 1.
At the top of the pinata, poke 2 holes about 3 inches apart. Thread a really long piece of gift ribbon through the holes until both ends come out of the trap door. Tie the ends together in a knot, that way your pinata has a handle to hold it by.

Then, fill it with candy. Make sure you eat all the good stuff before you put it in. The kids will never know. :) When you're done filling it, poke a hole in the middle of the "trap door". Sorry, I kind of forgot to take a picture of this part, but it's not hard. You will cut out about twice as many strips of gift ribbon as there will be kids. I did mine about 2 feet long. Thread them all through the hole.

Now, you have two options. This can either be a "beat the crud out of it pinata", or a pull string pinata. With a pull string pinata, there is no violence or crying because one kid hit the other kid with the stick while he was blindfolded. With a pull string pinata, instead of taping all the ribbons inside the pinata, you will only tape ONE string inside of the trap door. If you want, you can tie some knots in that ribbon, too...it will make it harder to pull it out. Then, you close the trap door. You can tape it closed with a piece of tape if you want, I didn't even bother taping mine. It just depends how heavy your candy is, I guess.


Now for the fun! We did it inside, and my Dad just held the pinata by the handle and stood on a chair. It was so fun to see the kids disappointed faces as their string pulled right out of the pinata...mwahahaha! It was even MORE fun to see the trap door open when the right string was pulled and candy spill out everywhere. The kids went crazy! LOVE LOVE LOVED IT!


And that, my friends, is how to do a cheap, easy pinata! I got the crepe paper, ribbon and candy all at the Dollar Tree. GRAND TOTAL: $7! Not bad, eh?