Easy Pinata -- NO paper mache

YES!  Finally!  Sarah B. has agreed to share her awesomeness with all of you!  Today she will show you how she made this easy, fabulous pinata for Hagan's birthday.  Take it away, Sarah B!
This is just too easy -- I promise.   These pinatas are sturdy enough to bash and have a pull string trap door too.  Unfilled pinatas at Walmart are $20... seriously?!  First, decide on a design and try to pick an easy shape.  My daughter had a Strawberry Shortcake birthday party so I made a strawberry.

So here is a tutorial for Mickey Mouse.  My supplies included a pizza box, thin cardboard (cereal or Coke boxes), electrical tape, spray paint, hole punch, and sturdy string.  I googled "Mickey Mouse face" and copied and pasted the image onto Word.  I then enlarged it to the size I wanted and printed it.  Since it was larger than just one page, I taped together the pages to form the whole face.  Next I cut it out and used it as a stencil to trace and cut out 2 of the shapes from the pizza box.

Now take your thin cardboard and cut two 4" wide strips for your pinata sides.

Once all 4 pieces are cut, spray paint one side.
 


Once the paint is dry, punch two holes on each face piece in between the ears.  Thread a string thru the two holes of one face piece and tie it off.  Repeat with other face piece.  Line-up the edge of one piece of the thin cardboard with the edge of the pizza box at the bottom of the face.  Start taping every 3" or so on the inside, but leave an 5" opening at the top for filling.

Continue with the other thin cardboard on the other side, overlapping the egdes at the top and bottom.  Next, put the other face on top and tape every 3" on the outside.   Now take your face stencil and cut out the face, eyes, nose, and mouth to use as stencils to cut the shapes out of colored paper. 

Glue the shapes on the pinata and finish lines with a sharpie on both sides.

Almost done!  Finally, attach some curling ribbon to a slit in the trap door at the bottom with some tape like this:

The trap door should tuck up inside the secured side and the top filling flap should tuck under the other secured top side.

Now it's ready to be filled and have the crap beat out of it.  Both this one and the strawberry were tough enough for 4 kids to have 2 whacks each before the trap door strings were pulled.

Thanks Sarah B!  And I was able to keep both faces and they didn't have any damage!  Hope you all enjoyed the tute and if you have any questions, just ask!  Happy Friday!

Linking to these parties:
Funky Junk Interiors
Young and Crafty

Libby :)