Care Packages: Pinata

My Mom gave Man-Child a challenge for his Dad’s birthday. Make a Piñata! At first I was like, um how in the heck are we going to get a Piñata to Afghanistan, and then I was like ok how AWESOME would that be. I mean, these guys (soldiers) love to have a good time, and really a piñata, what could be more fun than that. So we got started on it. It takes a little lot of work and is a HUGE mess but its fun and I’m really excited to see the pics of these guys breaking open the piñata!

Here’s what you’ll need:

A Balloon             

Newspaper

Flour

Water

Paint (We just used Spray Paint)

Goodies to fill the Piñata

 

 

 

Here’s how you make it:

Paper Mache is VERY messy so make sure you protect your work surface and anything else the paste might come in contact with. Blow up your balloon as large as it will go. Grab a bowl that your balloon will fit on top of and cover it with plastic wrap. Set the balloon on top of the bowl. Tear several newspaper pages into strips. You will need a lot. You will want the strips to by about 1-inch wide and 6- to 8-inches long.

Use equal parts flour and water to make the paste. I did 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of water. Mix up the paste in a glass or metal bowl. Dip the newspaper strips into the paste you made. Remove any extra glue on the newspaper by running it through your fingers. Spread the newspaper onto the balloon. Continue this, making the strips go in all different directions, until your balloon is completely covered. Let the first layer dry. Add two or three more layers of Paper Mache to your balloon. (We did 3 layers) Allow each layer to dry completely before putting on the next layer. Once it is dry cut a small hole in the side and the balloon will pop and you can fill the balloon with the goodies that you’ve bought! Place the piece that you cut out back on and apply a new layer of Paper Mache. Let it dry again. I actually forgot this step that's why you see the cut out piece after it's painted! I just taped it back up and hoped for the best!

You can now decorate your piñata. There are several ways to do this but we decided to paint it.

To hang your piñata, poke 4 small holes evenly spaced around the top. Thread a piece of string, yarn, or even fishing line through each hole and tie them together at the top. Cover the holes and secure the string further using pieces of masking tape. Tie a longer piece of string onto these and use it to hang up the piñata.

The tricky part is getting this Piñata to Afghanistan! I found a box that it would fit in and placed paper and bubble wrap on all 4 sides and crossed my fingers and said a prayer. It hasn’t made it there yet but as soon as it does I will be posting an update on if it made it or not!

ENJOY!