How to make pinatas and survive the rainy season

To fill our empty, rainy afternoons this week we made pinatas. It took multiple days and made a huge mess, but I thought I would post instructions so that my faithful readers could attempt this project with their own children.

Step 1: Blow up a balloon for a mold.

Step 2: Let the children hit each other with the balloons and run around the house batting their balloons while you fix a caffienated beverage for yourself. (Mine was black tea)

Step 3: Tear newspaper up into strips. Aiden really enjoyed this!

Step 4: Make a paper-mache mixture with flour and water. Mix them until it becomes a thin paste.

Step 5: Dip each strip of newspaper in the paste, then scrape off the excess with your fingers. Lay each strip on the balloon, crisscrossing and double-layering until the balloon is covered. I left the balloon tie uncovered. This is the messiest part of the whole thing, and oddly enough my boys hated it! They kept asking, "Can we go wash our hands?" I let them go, then Autumn and I finished thiers. For some reason, Autumn and I both loved to have our hands all messy like that!

Step 6: Let the balloons dry. This took 3 days because it is so damp here.

Step 7: Pop the balloon and hopefully the mold shape will be hard.

Step 8: Decorate! We painted ours and they ended up looking like big Easter eggs. (for Asher's fifth birthday I spray-painted it black and dotted lights on it to look like the Death Star) The boys, again, were not too interested in this messy step!

Step 9: Fill with candy! Then figure out some way to hang it. We used wire hangers.

Step 10: Hit it! This is obviously the fun part because the kids can smash their own, without the worry that the child in line ahead of you is going to break it before you get a whack!