Make Something Monday

This week I am posting instructions and a picture of a craft I created for my son's birthday party this past weekend...a Spiderman Pinata.

Materials you will need:
1 regular balloon
1 big bottle of glue
newspaper, torn into 2" wide strips
party streamers, whatever color(s) you need for your finished design
water
a couple bowls
ribbon
craft foam
sewing needle
acrylic paint
tissue paper, the kind used in gift wrapping

Step 1: You will want to mix 1 part water to 3 parts glue, starting off with 1/4 cup water to 3/4 cup glue is good. Blow up the balloon and set inside a bowl. Coat your newspaper strips in the glue mix one strip at a time and layer them on your balloon. Cover the entire balloon with two layers of newspaper strips leave a 4" hole at the bottom and allow to dry a day or two.
Step 2: Create glue mixture again. Cut colored streamers into about 8" lengths. Coat the streamer strips in glue one at a time and layer them over the newspaper on the balloon. Apply at least two layers, more if desired. Allow to dry for one or two days.
Step 3: Pop balloon with needle or scissors, it will deflate and you can pull it right out. Using needle, thread some ribbon through two holes in a 3.5" circle cut from the craft foam. Thread this through the top of your pinata from the inside with the foam up against the inside top of the pinata. The foam is there to ensure the ribbon does not rip right through on first wack. Tie the ribbon so you have a loop that you can use twine to hang your pinata from.
Step 4: Using acrylic paints, decorate your pinata with your chosen design. For my Spiderman pinata I painted on the web design and the black part of the eyes and used white copy paper for the whites of the eyes.
Step 5: Fill with candy. After putting in candy, wad up some tissue paper and put that in to protect your candy from getting glue on it in the next step.
Step 6: Cover the hole at the end of your pinata using the glue mix and more pieces of streamers. Apply a couple layers to ensure it holds the weight of the candy. Allow to dry.

This project sounds like a lot of steps, and it is, but it is not difficult at all. In the end it costs about $3 to make the pinata, not counting the cost of candy, versus the $20 they charge for an empty pinata at the party supply store. Please note, humidity will affect drying time. You can also print out any picture or character you would like and glue that on instead of painting on a design. The options are endless!