MICKEY MOUSE PINATA

While planning my son's 3rd birthday party this year, I decided that I was going to get crafty and make most of the decorations.  A few months ago, I came across several posts online about homemade Mickey piñatas. So I figured that I would try my hand at making one (of course I had Party City on speed dial in case it turned into a disaster).



The piñata turned out really cute and I got so many compliments on it.  It was pretty easy to make but did take a little while to make. One negative thing about making a homemade piñata? Once you finish it, you find it very difficult to accept the fact that eventually a bunch of 3 year olds will be destroying all your hard work.

Here's what you need to make your own Mickey Mouse piñata:

*large cardboard box
*sharpie
*scissors
*packing tape
*black crepe paper
*Hot Glue
*Ribbon
The first thing I did was decided how big I wanted my piñata to be. To make things more simple, I decided that I would only have the "head" of the piñata open for candy and the "ears" would be closed off.  This is a good idea to prevent candy from getting stuck inside the ears and not falling out.  Once I decided on how big of a piñata I wanted, I drew a large Mickey head onto one piece of the cardboard and cut it out. This is what I ended up with:

After I had a Mickey head cut out, I traced it onto another piece of cardboard so that I would end up with two identical Mickey heads.  Next you want to cut out several strips of cardboard (about 4 inches wide).  Using packing tape, secure one of the strips along the edge of one of the Mickey heads. When you reach the bottom of the Mickey head, cut a "door" flap into the strip and continue to secure. (see below)

Continue adding and taping strips all the way around the Mickey head. Next do the same for each of the ears.  The picture below shows what it should look like once you get the sides done for just the head.







Once you have the side strips secured around the whole head and ears, it's time to add the top Mickey head cut out (or front of the piñata).  Secure all the way around so your piñata is firmly held together. This is what it should look like:

So far pretty simple, right? Now it's time to add the crepe paper.  Using a hot glue gun and starting at the inner corner of the ear, add some hot glue and attach the end of the crepe paper. (We are working on the sides first then we will do the back and front of the piñata.)  Cover the sides all the way around the piñata, Using 3 strips of crepe paper, doing each edge of the sides and then running a strip of crepe paper down the middle of the side. Once the sides are done, it's time to add crepe paper to the front of the piñata starting with the ears.  Using hot glue again, attach the crepe paper around the ear, working from the outer edge inward to the center.  Crepe paper strips should overlap a little so that you do not see the cardboard at all. Do both ears first and then use the same process for the head.  Repeat the steps to cover the back. When you are finished you should not see any cardboard or tape.

I added pull strings (very important in case the little ones can't crack open the piñata), by cutting several pieces of curly ribbon and tying them together. Poke a small hole in the "door flap" and feed the ribbon through. I secured the strings even more by adding some hot glue to the ribbon on the inside.  I also poked a hole in the top of the piñata (between the ears) and fed a stronger ribbon through and secured it from the inside. This will be where you hang it from.

And that's it!! All you have to do now is add the candy and toys!  Once the piñata is filled with goodies, close the door flap and I secured with packing tape and hot glue. Then to make it look pretty, I covered the door with more crepe paper so no one could see it.

It turned out so cute, and I was super proud of all my work! It just goes to show that even with an extremely energetic and attention needy 3 year old, you can still get some things accomplished!