Piñata Party!
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.
Sometimes, six year-olds bug!
Azul and I were having our ritualistic after school conversation, “How was your day? Good. How was yours? Good.” Then I told him I had swallowed some gnats while I was biking earlier that day. There were gnats everywhere! Some people were even wearing masks to keep the little bits of protein out of their system. And to be fair, I didn’t swallow them all, I snorted two of them right up my nose. Charlie Sheen might call that “winning!”
Well, his six year-old response of course was in song, “There was an old lady who swallowed a fly!” And then he couldn’t stop laughing and singing, over and over. It was as if this was the funniest thing he had ever said in his entire life. Are you kidding me?! Ugh!
He wasn’t grossed out or even excited about eating bugs, he went straight to making fun of me! I don’t know where he gets that from.
After the initial shock of being called an old lady subsided, I was able to appreciate the joke, which was actually super funny! I do know where he gets that from.
Phone Phight!
“I think I broke my brain,” Azul said looking down, rubbing his six year-old head with his little hand.
“Oh my love, maybe you should stop playing on the phone,” is what I said. What I meant was “get off my phone.” Much like old men say, “get off my lawn,” just not as old or angry.
In a defensive move he replied, “You say the phone is bad for my brain and you’re on it all the time!”
“I’ve done enough harm to my brain, I think I’ll be okay.” You are witnessing my brilliant parenting skills at work right there in that response. Eek!
So, he asked, “Why is it bad for my brain?” Oh, the fight is on!
“I’ll tell you what, when you finish Grad School, you can play on the phone all you want,” I answered.
Azul loves to bargain and make deals, so intrigued he asked, “How many schools is that?”
Holding up my hand and raising a finger for each one, “Well, you’re in Elementary School now, then there is Middle School, High School, Undergraduate School in College and Grad School in College. That’s five.”
“Noooooo! That’s too many. I was thinking when I was eight or nine,” he said, throwing his right-hook in the negotiations.
I laughed and gave in to the winner. “Okay, we’ll talk about it when you’re eight or nine.”
Carmelina Hart 