Making something for someone, or with someone, is an excellent way to show love.

Are piñatas even legal anymore, lol? In these somewhat overly litigious and overly protective times, giving blindfolded children sticks, and asking them to bludgeon an animal effigy may sound strange on paper, but it’s actually great fun. Even better if you make the piñata yourself. Like most things, you can buy one at a big-box store for just a few dollars, but why? You can make a piñata with your child, pick out the candy that goes inside it together, and squeeze basically every morsel of fun possible from a simple activity. Who can say no to that? Time to make an appointment with your inner child, and have some fun getting your hands dirty. What you make will look unprofessional and silly, and that is perfectly OK.

The secret to papier-mâché is choosing the right form onto which to layer the adhesive-coated paper. The better the form, the better the final product. The reason you see so many papier-mâché piggy banks, for example, is that the standard round balloon is the go-to form of choice, and a pot-bellied pig is the easiest creature to make using a single balloon as a form. If you aren’t interested in making a pig piñata, use something different, like a hot dog-shaped balloon, or tape several balloons together to create a customized shape.

Newspaper is the best paper for this project, and white flour or glue mixed with water is the best adhesive. Make the adhesive mixture the consistency of a thin paste, not too watery and not too thick. Dredge a strip of newspaper in the adhesive mixture, and lay it down on the surface of the balloon. Repeat this step with more paper strips, crisscrossing and overlapping them, until the entire surface of the balloon is covered. Since the ultimate goal is to break the piñata apart, don’t lay down so many layers of newspaper that the shell becomes too thick. 

After the shell is completed and fully dried, use a pin or needle to pop the balloon, and cut a small hole in the top of the shell for adding the candy. To add eyes, ears, tails, manes, horns, and whatever other features your creature requires, cut out pieces of cardboard, attach them loosely with masking tape, and cover them with papier-mâché. Add color using paint, or by gluing on strips of fringed crepe paper, as is commonly seen on store-bought piñatas.

You’ll need to add a string by which to hang your piñata. Where exactly you put this depends on the shape of your piñata. The easiest approach is to make the string look like a harness that the animal is wearing. That way, it can be tied around the animal, versus taped to the surface. This is more durable. Have fun, and enjoy!!!

Copyright 2023 Kesel Wilson (entirely, 100% human-created)

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