How to Make a Pumpkin Pinata

***This is an old post moved here from my old blog.*** 

    We have always incorporated a bit of Halloween in our October birthdays. This year, our youngest turned 1. I thought a pumpkin pinata would be perfect! It would be a great activity/decoration for a Halloween party, as well. OK, technically, it is a Jack-O-Lantern, but I like the ring of Pumpkin Pinata. Say it a few times... sounds better, hu? Well, whatever you decide to call it, it's a fun and easy project. It takes a while to make, but it is well worth the time.

    A lot of people use a flour/water mixture for the paper mache paste, and some even use starch. I decided to use a mixture of white glue and water because I wanted the pinata to be non-perishable. Here's how we made ours:

Pumpkin Pinata

What you need:
old newspaper (recycle bin)
white printer paper (optional- I used this for the final layer so that we could use less paint)
glue (I bought white Elmer's School Glue when it was on sale for back to school- 40cents each at Walmart)
water
paint and brushes (I got cheap poster paint at the dollar store)
balloons (I bought a pack of 2 punching balloons from the dollar store)
colored tissue paper or streamers (dollar store)
disposable bowls or pan (dollar store)
paper towel tube
a pencil
small wrapped candy and/or little toys

Instructions:

1. Spread a few sheets of newspaper over your work surface.
2. Tear some of your remaining newspaper into strips about 1-2" wide by 3-4" long. Have a good supply ready for you.
3. In your disposable bowl or pan, mix equal amounts of glue and water. (Make sure you have some glue left over for applying the tissue or streamer later).
4. Blow up your balloon and tie it off tightly.
5. Dip newspaper strips into the glue mixture and lay over the entire surface of the balloon except the very top of the balloon. Leave a hole about the size of the paper towel tube uncovered on the top.
6. Repeat step 5 until you have 3 or 4 layers of newspaper.
7. Now do one more layer using the plain white paper.





8. Let it dry completely. (overnight)

Once the paper mache is dry, you can pop the balloon and remove it. Then continue on to the next phase:

1. Paint the paper mache pumpkin orange, and paint a Jack-O-Lantern face on it. 
2. Cut the paper towel tube to use as a stem and paint it green. Let it dry.
3. Use a hole punch or a nail, or something sharp (I used a small screwdriver from an eyeglass repair kit) to punch 2 holes near the top of the pumpkin. You can attach string here to hang it up.
4. Cut 1 inch square pieces of tissue paper or streamers. Put the eraser end of the pencil in the center of the square. Twist the paper around the pencil and either dip the paper into the glue, or spread some glue onto the pumpkin and apply it. Do this for the entire pumpkin. We used orange streamers for the pumpkin and black for around the eyes, nose, & mouth. Then, we used yellow tissue paper for the insides of the eyes, nose, & mouth. ***





5. Attach the paper towel tube stem to the top of the pumpkin, leaving the top open so that you can fill it later. Cut some green tissue paper into squares and cut a fringe on one side. Glue these to the paper towel tube and around the area where you attached it.***

6. Fill the pinata with the filling of your choice.
7. Squish the top of the stem together and glue it closed. Let it dry. Your pumpkin pinata is now finished!

Our Pumpkin Pinata wearing my 1 year old's Birthday Tiara

*** You can cover the entire pinata with the "fringe" style tissue paper if you don't want to use the "pencil" method. I have to be honest, while I think that the "pencil" method looks better, it takes a LONG time to do. The "fringe" method is much quicker and it still looks good, so if time is an issue for you, this would be the better option.