Step-by-step Tutorial: How to Make Your Own Pinata

Lo and behold! Please excuse this long overdued tutorial that’s been sitting in the draft folder for a year! Gosh! Where did all that time go??

Birthdays are happy and fun times for the kids! While we were planning for baby Vera’s big one (here’s 13 useful tips on how to plan a stress-free party!), several ideas came to mind. We thought about games for her party and wanted to get a pinata off-the-shelf.

When Hubs suggested making one, I was taken by surprise. Don’t get me wrong – he is definitely the more crafty one between us. He is a hands-on fella, for which I’m awfully thankful for!

So, if you’re keen to try your hands on making a pinata (plus a recycling project!), this could be something up your alley. Let the crafty daddy take you through this step-by-step tutorial on how to make your own pinata!

Things to prepare:

For pinata

Unwanted cartons or boxes – to make the number 1, we prepare 2 large boxes
Assorted crepe paper – colours and designs depending on your theme
Penknife
Cutting board OR a thick wade of newspapers to prevent damaging the surface when cutting the cardboard
Craft glue
Masking tape
Scissors

For pinata stick

Long and hard cardboard roll – we requested this from Spotlight’s fabric department as they toss out those rims when the fabrics are sold out. Alternative: Wooden stick (from dustpan)

To hang pinata

1 Bamboo pole, rod or equivalent – we used the stick of a dustpan
Raffia string

Steps to make your own pinata:

Decide how big you want the pinata to be, taking into consideration the size of cardboard needed, potential weight (since it will be stuffed with candies and toys) and the ability of the string and pole to withstand the final weight when hung.
Start with drawing the outline of your intended pinata shape and get them folded to form the full piece.
Lay cardboard and unfold them flat. This gives you more surface area to work with, and draw the outline of your pinata as an opened flat surface. Remember to include “joint areas” along the outline of the connecting part (A) by a adding an additional allowance of 5cm which would be glued to both front panels.
Don’t forget to include panel (A) which helps to join your pinata panels together!
Once all the panels have been cut out, use masking tape to attach them together to form the pinata. At the top panel, cut a hole that would be big enough to fit the candies and toys that you are planning to stuff the pinata with. On the two side panels, poke a hole each. Put the raffia strings through and create a loop. The loop will be used for hanging the pinata on the pole at the party.
Time to customise your very own pinata!
Start to decorate your pinata! Use crepe paper and craft glue to carefully line them. As our theme for #Veraonederland was rainbow and pastel, we used colourful crepe paper to decorate our pinata. Fringe it as a final step to give it some dimension and depth!

Steps to make your pinata stick:

Just one simple step – decorate it with crepe paper and voila!

Special tip: Avoid using coloured crepe paper around the part where little hands will be holding the stick as some crepe paper might colour run and stain their hands.

tutorial how to make a pinata — Wham! Bam! Here’s the matching pinata stick for the kids to whack that pinata for treats!

How to fill your pinata with treats:

Although the body is done, the pinata is not complete without those sweets and toys (or any other surprises!) for the kids.

Stuffing the pinata is easy if all the items in there are of similar shape or sizes. If you’ve got varying ones, you may need to peep through and shift them if any of the bigger ones get stuck midway, as that would affect the compactness of the stuffings, and the remaining items would not be able to make their way downwards.