Make your own pinata: DIY instructions for hobbyists

DIY
Make your own piñata: instructions for making the popular candy cracker

Whether for a birthday, for a bachelor party or the next baby shower: the Latin American custom of filling a colorful papier-mâché figure with treats is also enjoying growing popularity in this country. We’ll tell you how to make a piñata yourself.

In Mexico and Central America, it used to be the custom to wrap clay pots in crepe paper and fill them with sweets or fruit on special occasions such as birthdays or Christmas. The children were then blindfolded and given a stick to try and hit the piñata with – until it broke and revealed its contents. This Latin American tradition is still continued today, although clay pots are no longer covered, but instead cardboard figures are used. Whether llama, cloud or football: there are no limits to creativity. In the following we will show you step by step how to make a piñata yourself.

Step by step: How to make your own pinata

Following the Latin American tradition, we have chosen a piñata in the shape of a donkey. For this you need – in addition to the desired filling (such as sweets and/or toys) – the following handicraft utensils:

By the way: You can of course also make a classic piñata out of papier-mâché – but you need significantly more time, work steps and material for this. Find out more here.

Step 1: Draw the outline of the donkey on the cardboard with a pencil and then cut out the animal with scissors. Now place the finished template on the second box, trace the outlines again and cut out the template.

Step 2: Use the scissors to cut out a strip at least ten centimeters wide from the remaining cardboard box, the length of which covers the entire circumference of the donkey piñata.

Step 3: Take the double-sided tape and stick the two sides of the piñata together with the cardboard strip to create a hollow body. Remember to leave a small opening at the top so you can fill the piñata later.

Step 4: When the body is complete, apply double-sided tape to the entire exterior surface. Then cut the crepe paper rolls (the colors are freely selectable) into strips of the same size, each between three and six centimeters wide.

Step 5: Now cut the fringes into the cut crepe paper strips at even intervals. Keep in mind: the smaller the distance, the more fringed the end result will be. If you now roll out the strips, you have finished fringe ribbons.

Step 6: Remove the protective film from the tape and attach the colorful fringed strips – from the bottom up – to the cardboard box. And from all sides equally, so that a uniform overall picture is created.

Step 7: If you like, you can now Eyes attach to the donkey’s head. You will also need to attach a sturdy string to the piñata so that it can be hung up later. After the body has been filled with content, glue it shut at the end.

And another tip: If you don’t want to make the piñata yourself, you can also order ready-made figures for children and adults online. Are particularly popular – in addition to the classic unicorn – these models:

Filling: What goes in the piñata – and what doesn’t?

Traditionally, a piñata with sweets filled, but depending on the event you can also add other delicacies or toy hide in the figure. For a bachelor party, for example, there are small ones liquor bottles (made of plastic) or condoms, but small drugstore products (e.g. powder, nipple ointment, oil) are suitable for a baby shower – or even money. Basically, of course, also belongs confetti into a well-filled pinata. On the other hand, you should avoid dangerous, heavy and pointed objects, glass and porcelain or fresh food such as fruit and vegetables.

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