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June 27, 2011

How to make a Piñata

You will need:


  • Balloon
  • Newspaper
  • Flour & Water
  • Bowl
  • Scissors
  • Cardboard (i.e. cereal box)
  • Toilet Roll Tubes
  • Crepe/Tissue Paper
  • Strong Glue
  • String
  • Marker Pen
  • Coloured Paints
  • Sweets
  • Foil Tube


Mix a small amount of flour with water to form a watery glue paste. Cut strips of newspaper ready to be applied to the balloon. Blow up a balloon, and begin by dipping a newspaper strip into the paste so that it is completely covered, and smooth over the surface of the balloon using the paper-mâché technique. Continue until the balloon is completely covered, making sure each strip is overlapped slightly. Hang the balloon up to dry overnight with a piece of string. Cover the balloon in another layer the next day, placing each strip in the opposite direction to the initial layer. Allow to dry again overnight.


* Caution! * Be careful not to spill or drip any of the flour & water paste anywhere as it dries very hard as is difficult to remove! Use newspaper to cover the surfaces you are working on.

To make the head, we used two halves of a jaffa cake box and paper-mâché’d them together, sticking on some ears too.


Cut small slits around one end of the four toilet roll tubes (legs), this makes them stay in place against the balloon easier.


I was pleased that I had a use for the cupcake apron I got for my birthday!

Once the balloon has dried fully over night, position the legs evenly underneath and mark where they are with a marker pen.


I found it a lot easier to initially glue the legs into place using a hot glue gun to hold them securely. I then added more paper-mâché around the tops to smooth it out.


Next is the fun part! Pop the balloon using a pin or scissors, cut a hole big enough to fill with sweets and remove the balloon.


Fill the empty body with sweets!!….


….and also some confetti.


Once you are happy with the amount of sweets and confetti inside, glue the head onto the body.


Paint the legs – the brighter the better!


Cut some lengths of crepe or tissue paper (we used crepe paper as it’s a lot stronger than tissue), and cut some tassels along one side. Begin to attach the strips onto the body, using cello-tape to secure. We found it a lot easier for one person to hold the strips in place while the other sticks the cello-tape.


Continue to layer up the strips of paper in different colours. When you reach the top you will come to a big bald patch – cut one large oval of the next colour with tassels around the edge, and layer up different coloured ovals on top.


Add some zig-zag lines around the legs, or any other pattern you choose to jazz them up a bit! Make a tail using some thin card to form a cone shape, cover in crepe paper and decorate. Attach some tassel strips to the top of the tail.


Cover the head and ears in random cut-out pieces of crepe paper using pritt stick.


Cut tassels along the edge of the ears, stick the tail on, and add some big googly eyes.



Voila! Meet ‘Burro’…
I added a ‘Happy Birthday’ tag in Spanish around his neck, and attached some strong raffia string around his body to hang him up on the washing line.
I made the ‘whacker’ out of an old foil tube as they are quite sturdy, and decorated it with crepe paper and tassels.







Lots of fun was had by Rosanna and her friends at her birthday party on Saturday, even the adults had lots of laughs! It was a little sad to see Burro hanging broken upside down, especially when he plopped to the ground! But we were pleased with how much fun he brought to the party.

Each of the children were blind folded and took it in turns to have 5 whacks each. It took a while to break through, but the longer the better as it would be a shame to break it open on the first few whacks.

As well as being the life and soul of the party, Burro was lots of fun to make too!
About Charlotte
4 Comments
  1. Musings Of A Gem June 27, 2011 at 2:24 pm Reply

    Love it! Thanks for the tutorial!

    Gemma x

  2. Miss Val's Creations June 27, 2011 at 4:56 pm Reply

    Great tutorial! Pinatas are always a party favorite for both adults and children! ~Val

  3. That is brilliant. Very clever, would never have thought of that. Linda

  4. Brilliant tutorial. I dont usually get them for my daughter has she always feels upset at everyone bashing them to bits and then I end up having to try and put it back together. She has legs and head bits on a shelf in her bedroom which she has kept lol

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