piggy pinata

When I was little, my daddio made pinatas. He made them for Adam's birthday (not mine). We would have a beach party for Adam and the mess of the exploding pinata stayed at the beach. Also it rained on my birthday - every year - no! once it snowed - and good times do not equal breaking a pinata in the rain. July is a much better month than October for pinatas - my mother liked to keep a clean, tidy house :)

I always wanted my dad to make pinatas. Always. I have no idea why I love them so much. Maybe it is the beauty of the pinata and the suprise of what is inside. Who knows. All I know is that I begged my dad to make them all of the time.

So G and I made a pinata for Caid's first birthday. It started out as a donkey and as we saw what it looked like at stage 3 (see below) we realized we had a pig not a donkey. So we went with it. I think I understand why my daddio did not want to make these all of the time (I asked at every holiday). It takes some time. Understatement of the year! Check out our process...

Stage 1 - the balloons - we had to fill each of the long balloons with water before we could blow them up. We are getting old.
















Stage 2 - the goo - we mixed flour and water until a lovely paste emerged. Dipped the Sunday New York Times in the goo and wrapped the lovely shape (remember we were making a donkey). We did this twice and let it dry for a few days...
















Stage 3 - cutting and stuffing - we cut a hole in the piggy's side with a Dremel tool and filled him with goodies: cars for the boys and candy for the adults. Do not worry, the cars were small but for 12 months and older and I checked the toy recall list. They were not on it.
















Stage 4 - many squares of paper - after he was sufficiently stuffed, we added many layers of tissue paper. The piggy started to take shape.
















Stage 5 - finishing touches - when he was all papered up, we had a fluffy blob with legs. All he needed was a trim and some accessories: eyes, snout, ears and tail. Wholla - a beautiful piggy pinata! Hopefully we did not make it too strong - Caid is only a year today! Happy Birthday Caid!!