Kids Birthday Parties,Cool Birthday Party Ideas,Cool Birthday Parties,Cool Party Theme,Unique Party Ideas,Custom Party Games,Party Supplies,Video Game Theme,Party Tips,Making a Piñata,Cool Party Elements, Party Themes,Nintendo Birthday,Mario Party theme

Plan To Have a Safe and Fun Piñata at Your Party.

Having a piñata at your next celebration can turn out to be great, or a great disaster. It really depends on the host that is in charge. I understand that people can associate piñatas with dangerously blinded swinging chaos, but I disagree. A piñata is just like anything else, with the proper adult supervision and direction a piñata can be safe and tremendously fun at any celebration. As the party host, it becomes their responsibility to ensure that the piñata game is a success and no one gets hurt.

First off I always like to make sure I tell the participants that there are plenty of goodies to go around, no need to be a goodie hog. Even though kids are competitive to grab the candy, I encourage them to look to the kid next to them, and if they have a lot less, then share. This helps the kids to gauge how much on average their bag should be filled. Ultimately the participants want two things…to get a turn to swing at the piñata and get a good amount of goodies from the piñata. With that in mind you can plan for everyone to have both. Here are a couple tips to help implement piñata safety at your next celebration.

How To Create An Authentic Pinata (Post 3 of 3)

In this post I will show you the final steps to creating an authentic paper-mâché Mario piñata. This post will focus on decorating the dried paper-mâché structure made from post 1 and post 2. This is a process that has many steps, but I made sure to include many pictures so that you can follow along and achieve the same result. As I stated before I will list the piñata for sale in an auction. If anyone is interested you can click on the link in the right column, and it will take you to Cool Party Elements ebay store. Happy bidding, if you do decide to take part in the auction.

Now let’s get back to the piñata. In order to complete the Mario piñata you will need the following:

• Peach, Brown & Red Tissue Paper or crepe paper
• Scissors
• Kitchen knife
• Glue
• Water
• Paintbrush
• Black yarn
• Hot glue gun
• Reference picture of Mario (this helps with guaging where to place eyes, mouth, etc.)
• Print out face pieces (print mouth, print eyes)

Start by cutting 1”x 1” squares from all three colors. Next, mix glue and water together (roughly about 1 Tbl. Water added, to 2Tbl. Glue). Mix well using paintbrush.

How To Create An Authentic Pinata - (Post 2 of 3)

In this post I will show you the next steps to creating an authentic paper-mâché Mario piñata. This portion will focus on taking all the dried paper-mâché balloons made from post 1 of 3 and piecing them together to construct Mario’s face. This is a lengthy process, but I made sure that I included every step so that you can achieve the same result. As I stated before, once the piñata is finished I will list it for auction, if anyone is interested in it I will include more info pertaining to the auction in the final post of this three part post series.

In order to construct your own Mario piñata you will need the following:

• All 6 dried paper-mâché balloons from post one
• 1” Strips plain news print paper
• paper-mâché mixture (1 cup flour mixed to  1 1/2 cups warm water)
• Kitchen knife
• Scissors
• Mason string
• Hot glue gun

We will need to create a way to hang the piñata. To do this, we will need to harness a string around the main part of the piñata, which in this case would be the head of Mario. Use the Mason line to wrap around the large paper-mâché punch balloon. Use the belly button of the ballon as the guide. Make two passes, so that the Mason line is doubled. Then tie a knot at the base. Allow for 3-4 inches of space from the base knot and tie another knot with the remainder of the string. You can reinforce this by making several knots over. Now we have made a loop where the piñata can later be hung from.

How To Create An Authentic Pinata - (Post 1 of 3)

In this post I will show you step-by-step how to create an authentic paper-mâché piñata. As promised in the right hand column for several weeks, I will demonstrate this with a Mario piñata.Now because this is a multi step process, I will break this down into several posts. So be sure to check back to see the whole thing from start to finish. Once the piñata is finished I will list it for auction, if anyone is interested in it I will include more info pertaining to the auction in the final post of this three part post series.

In order to make your own Mario piñata you will need all of the following:

• 1” Strips of newspaper & plain newsprint paper.
• One Punch Balloon about 45” in circumference - used for the head.
• One Punch Balloon 37” in circumference - used for the hat.
• One standard balloon 22” in circumference - used for the cheeks.
• One small balloon 14” in circumference - used for the chin.
• One small balloon 12” in circumference - used for the ears.
• One small balloon 11” in circumference - used for the nose.
• Paper-mâché mixture (1 cup flour mixed to  11/2 cups warm water).
• Mason Line String (about 130”).
• Wax paper (about 12”).

Why won't that darn piñata break?

Have you ever bought a piñata from the party store, and been disappointed because come party time it just wouldn’t break open. Well the reason for this is because they are made from corrugated card board. Yep, that’s right, the same corrugated cardboard that moving boxes are made from. As if that is not a hard enough material to break through, the shape of the piñata takes on its form by spliced angles on the interior of the piñata, which act as a reinforcement to the entire piñata. Corrugated cardboard plus reinforced angles makes for strong and durable, not breakable. Now for any other product, you would pick strong and durable. This however is not what you want for your party piñata. You want it to be fun, coordinating, and most importantly breakable. In each image below, you will see two piñatas split down the center so they can be compared from the inside out. The Elmo on the left is an authentic paper mache piñata. The one on the right is a store bought piñata made from corrugated cardboard.

Although the store bought piñata is cute, I find it more useful to be a sturdy centerpiece then a party piñata. The paper mache piñata is breakable, by nature. Plus because it is only the head of Elmo, it can hold so much more goodies so there is plenty for everyone.

Ok, so now you see the difference, be sure to check back so you can see how to create a paper mache piñata. (I will be showing step-by-step how to make an authentic paper mache piñata, starting with a Mario piñata).