Ninja Piñata! •

Happy Monday to you!

I wanted to share how I made the Ninja Piñata for my son’s birthday party.

You might be thinking, “I’m never going to do this project!” And seriously, I hear you. But never say never! I’ve found that the techniques I used here can be applied to lots of other projects. You’ll see!!

Here’s what you’ll need:

-Newspaper or butcher paper cut into strips

-Vessel for water

-A few cups of flour

-A balloon

-A small box

-2 paper towel rolls or 4 tp rolls

-Tape

-Rope for hanging

-Paint

-Crepe Paper *Optional

And obviously, you need some inspiration! I found this during a google search – I loved the cartoonish look of it!

1. Tape your box shut and make a bunch of slits in it. You don’t want it too secure or else it will be difficult to break…use your judgement for the age group. Tape the rolls where the arms and legs would go. Blow up the balloon and secure it with tape.

You’ve got a little body!!

With some extra newspaper, wad up balls and attach them to the ends of the rolls with tape.

2. Secure the Rope to the body. I used tape to make it super easy! Just remember that eventually the balloon with deflate and you’ll have a lot of slack on the top. Also, don’t just tape it to the balloon, secure it around the body.

3. Make the paste! With a little flour and water your newspaper will dry quickly and strong. Is your mixture runny? It should be! You don’t need much flour, so don’t go for a full paste consistency… think more creamer-like. Promise!

4. The fun part!! Just start dunking your newspaper strips and laying them on the ninja body. Try to do 2 vertically, then 2 horizontally. On the limbs, do a few going from body to toes, and then wrap a few strips around, overlapping the strip on itself. This will smooth all the seams and keep the body from falling apart… before anyone whacks it, of course!

I actually did 3 different layers on this piñata. I kept my flour water mixture in the fridge, so I didn’t have to start over each time! Yay, for avoiding dishes!!

Can you see that the ninja’s nose got a little concaved? When I opened the back, I simply pushed it back out with a knife. Sometimes solutions are that easy.

Now, paint it up! For fun, I added a few loops of crepe paper around where the bandana would tie and the sash of the robe.

Cut the back open and fill it with dulce! Stay away from candies that melt in the sun! And try to add in a few light toys.

Hang and Enjoy! Or should I say, smack the heck out of it!

My friend said it was very therapeutic for her. Maybe I’ll make one for my next birthday…. or bachelorette party? That would be an interesting one to explain to the kids…why there’s a huge “talent” on the table. I think I’d rather take the birds and bees conversation over that any day!!