A Simple Pinata Tutorial

I thought I'd share with you how I made the pinata for my 4 year old daughter's kitty party in the previous post. There are lots of different ways to make pinatas. This is a simple one. The first thing you'll do is mix flour & water--this is your paste--to pancake batter consistency. It's gonna get messy--this is a fun project to do with your kids. And why wait until a birthday or other celebration to make a pinata? Make one just because!!
Gather your paste, newspaper strips torn in about 1-2" pieces & a large balloon. I got one of those big round punch balloons because it makes a nice "cat head" shape, but you can use any shaped balloon.
Dip your newspaper strips into the paste & slide your fingers down both sides to remove the excess paste.Layer the strips on the balloon until the whole thing is covered.

Like I said, this'll get messy. And this stuff dries REALLY hard. You see that dried up paste on the concrete? It's still there. But it's so fun to get messy & make messes!
Tie a rubber band or string on the end of your balloon & hang it up to dry. You'll see the paste turn white. That means it's drying.
Before you start your second coat, make sure the first coat is completely dry. I actually had a chance to get the second coat on in the early morning before the wee ones were awake. I love the smell of flour paste in the morning!
Let the second layer dry. In this picture you can see how easy it is to tell the first layer from the second layer.

Messy is my middle name. Oh, & before I go on, I'll let you know that I only made the pinata 2 layers because a bunch of 3, 4, & 5 year olds were going to be bashing on the pinata & I wanted it to be thin enough for them to break open. Two years ago I made a giant bee pinata & it was my first attempt. I made it WAAAAAY too thick for my daughter & her 2 year old friends. Oops. I would say 3 layers would be good if you are also adding tissue paper at the end. Or 4 layers if you are just going to paint it.

OK, this is the part where you can break the rules & just do what works for you. There are lots of different ways to attach a hook to your pinata. I took a coat hanger & cut it at the shoulders. I stuck a 3"x3" piece of cardboard onto the hanger for stability.
Pop the balloon....
...& pull it out.
Now, this is where I will tell you to do as I say, not as I do. What I did was create a hole to insert the hanging mechanism into. Later on, I made another hole to insert the candy. That's a total of 2 holes. You really only need one hole. So, make just one hole big enough for all that. Just cut it with a sharp knife--by cutting three sides & leaving one un-cut so it creates a "hinge" or "flap" to open & close---& stab the hanger loop through another tiny hole in the top. Does that make sense?

Paint the pinata white. This is so the first coat of real color will go on smoothly & you'll have to do less coats.

After that white coat dries, paint your base color. My kidlet wanted a tan cat for her party, so that's what she got!

I couldn't resist showing this picture of them painting together. They look so adorable in their oversized painting smocks borrowed from daddy.

Again, let it dry. This project, as you can see, has a lot of drying steps. It'll take you a couple days to complete.

NOW I cut the opening for the candy. But, if I were to do it again, I would eliminate this step & just use the opening I made for inserting the hanger.

Cut out ears, eyes & nose from felt & attach with a hot glue gun. The mouth was colored on with a permanent marker & the whiskers were white chenille stems (a.k.a. "pipe cleaners").

Once your pinata is ALL the way dry, add the good stuff!!!!

Sadly, I didn't get a good close up of the completed cat pinata. I forgot!

The kids had a blast!
Don't get too attached to your creation. The candy is what the kids want.
Because of [lack of] time I had to paint this pinata. It turned out rather cute I thought! But, you can also cover it in tissue paper, add streamers, go crazy!!! You can even add other shapes by balling up newspaper & taping it on with painter's tape or masking tape & then adding the strips of newspaper dipped in glue. The possibilities, as they say, are ENDLESS!

Here's some other links to pinata making:

'Make Pinata' Project: How to Make Pinatas on Your Own

How To Make a Pinata

FamilyFun.com: How to Make a Pinata

Wikihow: How to Make a Pinata

Meow if you love to PAR-TAY!!!!

The kitty cat invitations were sent. A vintage image was copied & 'glitterized', & some cat-like wording was added inside to lure potential feline partiers to a meowing good time!

(Cat graphic was found HERE.)

And I found an excuse to use my old-school label maker!

Finally, the day of my 4 year old's cat party had arrived!!! We decorated the sidewalks & steps with our usual festive chalk art & birthday greetings...

& I stamped some appropriately themed images onto brown kraft paper that I measured & wrapped around the little tables that the party guests were going to be sitting at.

When the wee guests arrived they did a craft. I wanted them to make "cat collars" so I purchased metal circular tags from an office supply store. I wasn't sure about what to tie them on---string? ribbon?----UNTIL I spotted these candy necklaces at the grocery store. SCORE!!! They were purrrrrfect! (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

For a game I decorated Easter eggs to look like mice. Why is it that plastic eggs seem to multiply in my basement? Am I the only one? For the mice ears I used this really cool felt I got at the dollar store--the back side is sticky! Whiskers, eyes, a nose & mouth were drawn on with a permanent black marker.

The hind ends were embellished with leather string tails--just hot glue 'em on.

And the mice tummies were filled with coins--dimes, nickels & pennies to be exact!

I hid the mice in the front yard before the party cats even arrived. I told each child to look for the same amount of mice so it would be even & we wouldn't have any "cat fights". (Geez, I can't help it!)

One of my favorite parts of the party were the hats I made! I could've gone the "cat-ears-on-a-headband" route, but my daughter's previous birthday was a puppy party & we did the whole "ears thing" then. I glued pom-poms on the top of paper cone hats & added tiny little pointy ears to resemble a cat. Just a subtle touch, but I loved how they turned out. I couldn't find any cat paper to make the hats from, so I went with something fun & celebratory instead.

I always make sugar cookies for my girls' birthday parties--for the adult party favors. This party featured goldfish cookies.

I loved how they looked in the cellophane bags. They reminded me of the bags of fish you win at carnivals. I was lucky enough to find this adorable ribbon on clearance at Walmart.

OK, the cake is always a bit stressful. The decorating part I LOOOOVE. It's just the initial frosting layer that is the un-fun part for me. And I admit that my cat cake looks kinda like a bunny. For starters the ears are too close together. And secondly, my daughter wanted a red cat cake. I couldn't do it because I just pictured red frosting stains everywhere. So, she then requested "light red" which is really pink, right? So, it could very well translate to a spring bunny cake.

The really long striped candles came from Target. I love them! The kids ate their cake & ice cream out of real cat bowls bought at the dollar store. They thought that was super silly! They also got to take the bowls home. I even created my second pinata EVERS! The first pinata I made was 2 years ago at Pazely's "Bug Party". It was a bee & it ended up being HUUUUGE. This cat pinata was rather simple. I'm giving a tutorial tomorrow on my blog, so stay tuned!

Sadly, I barely got any pictures of the pinata bashing because I went inside to grab bags for the kids to collect their candy in, but when I came out, eager Mr. WhiMSy love had already led the troops to battle. This poor cat was destined with only one life.

The kids were so adorable in their party hats. I actually bribed them to take this photo for me. Some didn't want to wear their hats & some were falling off & some were comlaining that the string was too tight. I took about 10 photos of them & they actually held the word "Cheeeeeeeeeese!" for that long! HAHA!

The goodie bags are always my favorite part of any party. I should've taken pictures of the items BEFORE they went into the bags, but oh well. I purchased some sweet little stuffed mice from spidercamp, I made some kitty buttons with my 1" button machine using images from vintage children's books, some goldfish cheese crackers, glow-in-the-dark cats from the dollar store (like the stars you stick on your ceiling), chocolate Kit-Kat bars, tons of stickers, real-looking mouse candy & the tags are from time2cre8 (they look just like my little toothless birthday girl!). Oh! And the ribbon, with cat paw prints, is from the Dollar Store.

I attached yarn to each birthday guests goodie bag & we draped & looped the yarn over sofas, behind lamps, down the stairs, etc & hid them in all different spots when the kids weren't looking.

The kids had to wind their yarn around the cardboard tubes to find their goodies!

YAY for birthday parties! MEOW!

Oh & next year she tells me she wants a mouse party. Um, I'm gonna have to break the cycle somehow. Pretty soon we'll have the whole animal kingdom covered. Where does it end? Amoeba?

Kitty Cat Party!

I've been on the prowl (har har) for kitty themed items that would be perfect for my wee daughter's upcoming 4th birthday party. And my button making obsession has come at the right time. I've been making kitty buttons from images found in vintage books from the thrift store. These will be some of the little gifties that I'll toss in the guests goodie bags.

I'm planning on making some more things for the party, but I couldn't resist purchasing a few handmade items...

I found these ADORABLE mice---made from all sorts of random fabric, string, & ribbon bits---from spidercamp. I ordered 10 but they sent me 13. I don't know if it was a mistake. But I'm not giving them back. It was a really cool surprise. These will be a SUPER addition to the kids' goodie bags.

And then I purchased my very first ACEO from time2cr8. (ACEO stands for "Art Cards, Editions & Originals". They are 2.5" x 3.5".) I plan on framing it for the birthday girl. The reason I am so in love with this print is--not only does it have a CAT on it (purrrfect for the party!), but the little girl is wearing my daughter's favorite color AND her two front teeth are missing. My wee one had an accident a year ago & her two front teeth are now invisible. This picture just totally reminds me of her. I also asked the artist to create some small tags from this image to tie onto each of the goodie bags. Each child will leave the party with their own piece of tiny art!

The party will be an odd mix of "Cat Theme/Water Theme" since it'll be super hot by the time her b-day rolls around at the end of June & we don't want the party guests passing out or melting. The kids will be able to have some water fun in the backyard: slip-n-slide, water balloons, etc. And cats hate water so that is kinda funny.

I LOVE planning my kid's birthday parties. I like to plan as far ahead as I can. As their special days gets closer & closer I'm constantly asking my girls what kind of party they want. They're always changing their minds so eventually I have to get pretty firm & let them know the party planning fairy needs answers FAST--or else!!! I'm just glad my soon-to-be 4 year old didn't stick with her original request of an "eyeball" party. Who knows where that even came from. She says weird stuff all the time. Cats are SO much cuter than eyeballs.

Oh, but she did specifically request mini kitty cat pinwheels on her cupcakes. Yes ma'am.