What I did this week (okay, for the last two days)...

So we are having a "Mexican Fiesta" at church tonight and one of the activities is a piñata contest.  Last week when I found out about it I did some internet searching to find info on making a piñata in the shape of a car (because, after all, with two little boys in our house Cars is next to God) and I found this information.  It wasn't a lot to go on, but I decided to go for it anyway.

So this is how it started...

You can see the bowl of paper maché gunk in the background of these pics.  You want a 2 parts flour to 3 parts water mix.  I did 4 cups flour, 6 cups water and 2 tablespoons of salt.  Then you start dipping newspaper strips into the gunk and layering them onto the balloons.  You want the newspaper to be wet, but not sloppy.

 

 

We covered the top (Bobby helped cause he's the best husband ever), then I had to wait till morning for it to dry before I could tackle the bottom.  I made sure there were at least two layers all over, if you are making a piñata for an older child's/adult's party you will want it stronger than that so you will need to add additional layers (this is for the contest and possibly Punkin's birthday party in August).

Once all your layers are on and it is dry you are ready to start decorating.

I started with the wheels.  I used approximately 4" strips of black crepe paper and (many) gluesticks to glue the paper to the wheels.

Then I covered the bottom of the piñata with silver tissue paper.  You can still see the newsprint through the tissue paper in some places, but I.DON'T.CARE.

Next I glued red crepe paper into the crevices that were going to be hard to get into so that those places would be covered and I ran one strip of red crepe paper around the bottom part of the top of the car (like just above the bumper so that part of the newspaper would be covered.  Then I glued on the eyes which I drew on a piece of white paper and cut to size for a "windshield".  Bobby then helped glue the crepe paper strips all over the car, again, we used 4" crepe paper strips.  When that was done I added tin foil "hubcaps" and "fenders" attaching them with a glue gun.  I also added the smile (which I just drew on a piece of white paper and glued to the front of the car.

As you can see, he still needs a back window and side windows.  I will probably add them before I take him to the contest (and I'll add a picture when I do), but when I finished him last night I was so tired of looking at him I just couldn't do any more.

ETA: Pics with windows (cut out of black paper and glued on with good old Elmer's.

Tips for making a piñata:

1.  Seriously consider why you are making it.  It takes a long time and can be wicked frustrating, so, if it isn't for a contest or self satisfaction you really need...think about just buying one.

2.  Have A.LOT of gluesticks handy (it took us eight).

3.  Have a plan and be willing to change it.

4.  Give yourself a week to do it.  I only gave myself two days and it was not really enough time.

5.  Keep your sense of humor about you so when it looks silly (as mine does) you can still say you enjoyed yourself.

6.  Blog about your experience, because it can be hard to find information on making piñatas and I didn't do a great job of taking pictures of the process so someone I know should do a better tutorial for the world!