Carnival Party: Pinata Tutorial

Today I am going to show you how to make your own Big Top pinata without any newspaper/glue mess!

I came across this Pinata at Hobby Lobby and thought it would be perfect for the party. Only problem is that it was $12.99, and not very big. That doesn’t even include the cost of the filling.
Inspiration photo:

All of a sudden I got the idea to use a paper mache hat box. Hobby Lobby has a large selection of paper mache boxes in all different shapes and sizes. The secret to making a box work is to have the lid of the box as the bottom of the pinata.

The one I chose was about 10″ in diameter and about 8″ tall with the lid on. It was $4.99 and then I of course used my trusty 40% off coupon.

Here’s the complete supply list:

Paper Mache box
Crepe paper – 2 rolls for $1 at Dollar Tree
Poster Board – on hand or $.50 at Dollar Tree
Glue Gun and Glue
Sewing Machine and supplies
Rope to hang the pinata
candy/prizes for filling

I did not take step by step photos, but I will try to throw a diagram in whenever it seems necessary.

Insert your rope for hanging: Using a ruler, find the center of the bottom of the box. Make a hole just wide enough to get your rope through. Tie several knots on the inside of the box and insert the long end through your hole.
Fill your box with your candy and prizes. You won’t be able to get back into the box, so now is the time!
Using packing tape, tape the lid of the box on. I used four pieces of tape at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions. You want the lid to stay on, but you also want the kids to be able to break into it. So not too much tape!
Put your first layer of crepe paper on. Cut strips an inch or two longer than the height of your box and using a line of glue attach them to the box. Alternate Red-White-Red-White. I did this just to make sure you wouldn’t see brown peeking through the ruffled crepe paper. You could also paint the box one color and skip this step. (The diagram doesn’t show it correctly, the paper covers the lid too!)
Next, ruffle your crepe paper! This is very easy, it just takes some time. Cut strips 3-4 times the length you want your ruffle. I did strips about 30″ long for my box that was 8″ tall. There are lots of ways to make ruffles, but this is how I like to do it.

Set your sewing machine on the longest straight stitch possible
Sew a straight line down the center of your crepe paper
Take the bobbin thread(bottom thread) and start pulling gently to ruffle your paper.
Paper is more fragile than fabric, so be gentle as you go.
I used less than one roll of crepe paper in each of the different colors.

Alternate your colors and glue the ruffles around the box. Try to do one strip of glue down the center of the ruffle. That way you can pull the ends of the paper up for a flufflier look if you like.
Time to make the top of your tent. Cut a circle out of poster board that is about 2″ larger than the diameter of your circle. I used 13″ since the box was about 10.5″. Cut a line from the outside of the circle to the center of your circle. This will allow you to make a cone shape for your tent.
Play with your cone shape until you you like how it looks. Once you get it set, glue where your poster board overlaps. Make sure you leave room for your rope to come through at the top of your cone. You may have to do some trimming.
Glue your cone onto your box. I went small sections at a time and put some glue on the box itself and then pressed down on the cone.
Ruffle crepe paper for your tent roof. I used a contrasting color for the bottom most layer. Then went all the way up using my yellow crepe paper. The diagram shows how it looked from the top.
Last one! Cut a circle out of poster board that is the same diameter as your box. Glue it to the bottom to cover up the bottom of your pinata. I used red for the bottom of mine.

I intended to add a door like the inspiration picture had, but I never got around to it. The kids didn’t seem to mind. 😉

We don’t have any trees that would have withstood the weight of the pinata so we had to get creative. I expected the weak point to be where the lid was taped on, however it ended up breaking where the bottom of the box was attached to the sides. Interesting!