First of all I want to say, piñatas are awesome! Nothing makes a party like beating on some inanimate object until it spews candy. And until recently, it never occurred to me that people wouldn’t have access to a Mexican Mercado to pick one up or that they didn’t know how to make their own piñata.

This is one of the easiest family friendly projects to do and really you don’t need a “party” excuse to make your own this weekend.

All you need is: balloons, firm paper, newspaper cut in 2 inch wide strips, flour, water, a baking dish, sheets of crepe paper, glue, and any other embellishment you want to add.

Step #1 – Decide what shape you want your piñata. Don’t go crazy with this first step, to ensure piñata success, keep it simple. We chose the Death Star, because everything we do involves Star Wars.

Step #2 – Blow. Balloons work great as a frame for your piñata and you can always use multiple balloons or firm paper to get the shape you want, just glue or twist them together. Luckily the Death Star is round (keep it simple).

Step #3 – In a long baking dish, combine flour and water together to create a paste. Work with it a little bit with your hands, you do want it the consistency of paste. The amount depends on the size of your project and the good news, if you run out, just make more, it you have too much, it’s just flour, throw it out.

Step # 4 – Dip the strips of newspaper in the paste, remove the excess, drape it on the frame and smooth it out. Repeat the process until your frame is almost completely covered. Be sure to leave a hole on the top, so you can load it with candy.

Step # 5 – Let it dry. Completely! Then pop the balloon. It might just pop by itself and scare the piñata stuffing out of you!

Step # 6 – Decorate it with crepe paper. We made our Death Star smooth and glued large pieces of the paper on the surface, then smoothed it out. But, it is very common to cut the crepe paper into 1×1 inch squares and use a pencil to apply the decorative paper. Just take the pencil eraser place it in the center of the square and cinch the paper it around, then dip it in a little glue and apply it to the “naked piñata.” Make sure to cover all of the newspaper.

Step # 7 – More drying. Yaaaawn!

Step # 8 – Fill it with candy and cover the hole with a piece of crepe paper. Instant party! Hang it up, grab a bat and give it a smack. Adult supervision is suggested, watch who’s swinging the bat and where it goes once the candy is flying. You might be surprised how quickly a party ends when someone gets hit with a bat.