How to Make a Pinata

How to Make a Pinata

Maddy McGee, Staff Writer

Is it your birthday? Well, we have a birthday decoration for you. We will teach you how to make your own pinata so that you can make it exactly personalized to you.

Pinatas are made in all shapes and sizes. Some of them are really simple and some are very detailed. Now you can always buy one from the store but it is even more fun to make one yourself and have it exactly how you want it to be.

The first step is getting all of your materials. You will need water, flour, a balloon, newspaper whatever you want to put inside your pinata.

Mix flour and water to create a paste to start off. This should be not too thick of a mixture and thin enough to dip the newspaper into. Then blow up your balloon to create the shape and size of the pinata, you can do this as big or as small as you want.

This is the most important step, cut the newspaper into small rectangle strips, dip them into the paste, and then apply them to the balloon forming the outside of the pinata. You will need to make this at least three layers thick.

This then can be decorated. This is how people personalize their pinatas. They can be made into characters or objects. This can get very creative. Leave a hole in the top allowing room for what is going inside the pinata.

Once you let dry for 24 hours you can pop the balloon inside of the pinata as the shape is now held up from the balloon because the newspaper has dried. Then add your filling to the pinata and it is ready to go.

Pinatas originated in Italy during the Renaissance period. It began when Italians would blindfold one another and have them swing at a pot. Then they began to fill it with random things to make the game more interesting. Over time it became a game more targeted toward children on special occasions specifically birthdays.  It has become a very popular game in our century.