inexpensive pinata

[karemore]

My daughter had her heart set on a pinata for her 4th birthday party yesterday.

I just couldn't bring myself to spend the $15 for the EMPTY Curious George pinata, but I didn't want to disappoint her.

I found a yellow easter basket pinata on clearance for $2.50! I tore off the easter eggs and filled it with little toys I also bought on clearance 75% off. The whole thing cost me $5!

I put one of the Curious George party hats on top of the basket, printed a CG birthday certificate from the PBS site and DD was thrilled with it!

The kids were happy, and I admitted upfront to the other parents it was a clearance pinanta so they wouldn't wonder why it looked like a yellow basket, not a yellow hat.

I still have no idea why they would sell an easter pinata?....

[HydeParkB]

Originally Posted by karemore

I still have no idea why they would sell an easter pinata?....

You don't know my family!

Somehow, we have started a tradition of a pinata at almost every family celebration - including the Easter get together and the graduation (for an adult) party this weekend!

My sister-in-law is a master pinata maker. We keep telling her she should hire herself out for custom pinatas. Most are just based on a large ballon, painted to the theme of the party. Yesterday's party was Mexican food/Cinco theme. Easter pinata looked like an easter egg. Christmas was green and red. For her son's party she did something from Star Wars.

[leximom]

that's awesome about figuring out a way to do an inexpensive pinata!

My husbands family is another odd bunch that do an easter pinata. Glad to know we aren't the only ones out there!

[Drummer's Wife]

What a great idea you came up with!

and yeah, I was a little mad at myself for spending over $15 on a HSM pinata that my DD HAD to have. Plus all the candy for inside.

At least it was a pull-string one so it didn't get smashed to pieces, she kept it to hang up in her room.

[Sierra]

You can make your own too...in case you need another option, in the future. It does take lots of drying time, though, so not exactly something you want to do in a rush.

[annethcz]

We always make pinatas for my kids' birthday parties. They're not the prettiest things ever, but the kids don't care

This weekend my DS had a pokemon birthday party. We took a regular old balloon, covered it with newspaper strips that had been dipped in flour water. It took about a day for the paper mache to dry. Then I painted the balloon, DS drew on the balloon to make it look like a poke ball. We popped the balloon, put candy and goodies inside, punched holes near the top, and hung it from the deck with leftover yarn. The whole thing probably cost me less than $1 worth of materials to make, and the kids loved it.

[Amys1st]

I made the last pinata we had. After all of the kids taking shots at this, finally my brother broke it after we ripped it a bit.

I took a trader joes bag doubled up, filled it w candy stuff etc and taped the top. Then hung streamers and a rope. No one said a word about the home made pinata, they were all too busy in the grass getting all the loot.


But to the OP, sounds like a plan to me!

[Amys1st]

also should add- My dd who was 4 at the time, wanted to do a pinata just because. So we found one way marked down and brought it to my IL's 75th birthday celebration. (they both have birthdays within days of each other). We have the grandchildren as old as 25 and as little as my Maggie who is 3. So watching the teens do the pinata was fun in itself. They would go to do this dramatic swing and miss totally or fall down. They had the younger ones LOL or literally rolling on the ground LOL.
By the time this thing finally busted open, the whole party was watching the silliness.

[WC_hapamama]

I go to the local Mexican markets for my pinatas. Sure, they're still $10-$15, but they're HUGE pinatas.

[ewp11100]

I have made a halloween pinata Ballon+ paper mache+ paint= pumpkin pinata