Piñata meets origami

Parker had his 3rd birthday this past weekend. We had a little party for him and he had a blast! This year, he wanted frogs again, so I decided to do something a little different. My mom made piñatas for our birthday when we were kids so, I'm hoping to make this a tradition in our family.

Piñatas are really easy, they just take some time. I didn't take pictures of each step, but basically, you blow up a balloon and hang it up on a string somewhere. Rip newspaper into little strips (about 2" x 5" or so). I used the grocery store ads we get in the mail. Put a layer of newspaper dipped in water over the entire surface of your balloon. Immediately put another layer of newspaper dipped in flour paste (see below) over the wet newspaper and let it dry. I did that step in the evening and let it dry overnight. Because my piñata was going to be for toddlers, I wrapped wire (12 to 14 gauge) around my balloon twice and made a loop at the top. I popped the balloon and added another newspaper and paste layer. After that dried, I added green tissue paper (about 4" wide, folded in half and cut the folded side every 1/2 inch or so to make fringe). Each strip was about 6 inches long. I used school glue to add the fringe paper and cover the entire piñata.

Now, for the origami part. I was planning on doing the arms and legs the "traditional" way with toilet paper rolls I'd been saving for a while. However, I thought it would be easier to make the arms and legs using origami. So, my hubby and I took a square of tissue paper and folded it down to make a smaller, thicker square and then folded them to look like arms. I also made two "water bombs" our of white iridescent paper and glued those on for the eyes. A little untraditional, but it worked. Here's the birthday boy holding up his frog. I'm not a big fan of giving toddlers large amounts of candy so I filled it with little toys and stickers for the kids instead. Usually, you're supposed to put 4 layers of newspaper and paste, but since it was toddlers (and I was out of time), I only did two. The kids had fun hitting it, but all they did was take off extremities. After all the kids took a turn, I broke it open. It took me three tries to break it, so it held up pretty good.



Flour paste:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 quart water

Mix flour and water in sauce pan. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until it begins to thicken. Cool. It will keep a day or two in the fridge.