It's no secret that washi tape is groovy, although often expensive. Masking tape now comes in so many widths and colors that being crafty is fun and fast... but sometimes you need something stronger... and that's where multicoloured duct tape comes to the rescue!Mimi, Little Lotti and I all made the pinata for Lotti's recent pony party in the park. We did the usual thing of covering a balloon with paper mache and then more paper mache, and then some white paper mache for good measure. We then painted it with left over house paint, and glued clip-art images of ponies and horses all over it, added some sparkly stickers for fun and then some stamped flowers for even more fun. Last of all, once the pinata was filled with treats, we had to close over the top hole, and affix fishing wire in a sort of 'net' around the pinata so we could take it to the park and hang it up.
Rainbow duct tape was the perfect find - yes, it's a little "busy" in a graphic sense, but it had a festive feel perfect for a pinata and best of all, it's super strong, so once stuck down it wasn't going anywhere.
And as for the pinata on the day? All the kids got to whack it with a stick, but although it grew holes all over the place, it never 'cracked' so Mummy got to take out all her pre-party tension and whack it some more... and still it didn't break! I guess we made it a little too well! So I put the stick away and then tore it apart... ah... treats rained down onto the happy kids.
Top tips for a pinata:
* hand out paper cups to the kids so they can collect their treasure,
* place a picnic rug underneath to avoid the treasures being trodden into the ground,
* look for sweets that are individually wrapped so that you minimise dirt getting onto food,
* have a few treats set aside and look for 'sad faces' so you can top up their empty cups,
* seriously consider whether a pinata is an age appropriate addition to your party, as I've written before how they can be dangerous things... blindfolded kids wielding big sticks around a group of fearless children all pressing in as close as they can to the action... hmmmm....
Regardless, I give the pinata a thumbs up as a memorable party-feature.
Enjoy!
Linda.
