UPcycle | DIY Pinatas for Cinco de Mayo

Creative fun and eventually an explosion of candy! Who can argue with that?

This year I decided to have a fun little Cinco de Mayo celebration to add a little fiesta to our upcoming Saturday night feast.

While I can handle the cooking as our household’s head chef, I wanted to get the kids involved in the fun.

10 DIY Cinco de Mayo Decorations

My answer: piñatas. These are easy to make and you can upcycle used cardboard tissue boxes, leftover wrapping paper and ribbon in the process.

Total cost: About 3 hours and about $5. You’ll need glue – unless you already have some. If you plan on doing papier-mâché, then you’ll need some balloons.

First assemble all your supplies.

Supply list:
Empty tissue boxes
Old newspaper
Scrap wrapping paper
Tissue paper odd and ends
Construction paper
Glue (Elmer’s School glue or glue sticks, NOT Super Glue)
Scotch tape
Scissors
Ribbons
Balloons
Markers, crayons and paint (if you are adventurous)
A plastic table cloth, drop cloth or garbage bags
Music

Cardboard or tissue box piñatas:
These are great for smaller kids

1. First turn on the music. Playing music while crafting is a great way to set the mood.
2. Cover your working area with a plastic tablecloth, garbage bags or drop cloth.
3. Lay out your supplies.
4. Cover your tissue box with construction paper for a base color with glue.
5. Poke a small hole through the bottom of the box and attach a ribbon about 12 inches long, with a double knot on one end so as not to slip through. This will be your way of hanging up the piñata later.
6. Remember the hole in the tissue box? For now leave that uncovered and use that as the bottom of your piñata.
7. Cut your wrapping paper, tissue paper or scrap paper into small squares or circles approximately the same size – 2 x 2 inches approximately.
8. Start gluing your shapes around the bottom of the box in a line, overlapping each piece.
9. Repeat this step until you have reached the top edge. You can keep going, but make sure to layer the shapes.
10. To make the top look pretty, cut out a small circle or square of paper and glue over the spot where all the shapes meet.
11. Cut a square of cardboard large enough to cover the opening of the tissue box with at least a half inch of paper on each side. Decorate however you wish.
12. Punch six or seven holes in it, or however many kids you think will be “opening” it, and tie a four or five foot piece of ribbon or string through the holes.
13. Fill your piñata with goodies, like candy, small toys or confetti.
14. Attach the decorated square of cardboard.
15. Hang it up. Voila! You are ready for the Fiesta!

Give each kid a string to hold. Start a countdown and let them all enjoy the prizes together.

Papier-mâché Pinata:

What you need:
Large 10-12 inch balloons
Old newspaper
Recycled wrapping paper, tissue paper etc.
Small 1-inch paint brushes
Hair dryer
Papier-mâché recipe

 

How-to:
Papier-mâché recipe

2 cups cold water
¾ cup flour
2 tbs. sugar

1. Boil 1 cup of the water in a sauce pan. While this is beginning to come to a boil, mix the remaining water with the flour, gently stirring until well-blended.
2. When the water in the sauce pan begins to boil, slowly begin to add the flour- water mixture. Turn down to medium and stir until it begins to boil again.
3. After boiling, stir continuously until it begins to thicken – about 2 minutes. It should look translucent.
4. Turn off the heat and slowly stir in the sugar.
5. Let your mixture cool before working with it.

For the piñata:

Blow up your balloon.

Cut your newspaper into strips and dip them into the Papier-mâché mix, and then lay them across your balloon. Do this repeatedly until your balloon is covered in one nice layer. Smooth out any air bubbles.

Take the tied end of your balloon and clip it to a coat hanger, allowing it to dry for about one hour.

Use a hair dryer on medium to dry completely.

When the piñata is completely dry, pop the balloon.

Cut a small hole about 2 inches in diameter in the bottom.

Follow the decoration ideas above starting at #7.

If you would like to create a piñata to break traditionally with a stick or a bat, tape the bottom cover securely, and let everyone take a turn trying to whack it!

10 DIY Cinco de Mayo Decorations

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Twinkle VanWinkle ponders, creates and discovers cool stuff about music, movies, food, fashion and so forth. Her thoughtful writings and interactives give great advice about healthy food, cooking tips, DIY projects, fashion and more. She’ll teach you a thing or two about music as well. Along with producing dynamic entertainment content for LIN Media, she is a mother, musician and social media fanatic.