See? Isn’t it cute? To make your own fringy pinata you will need a paper lantern in the size of your choice (this one is 12″), newspaper, flour and water, hot glue, and tissue paper in your choice of colors. I think I used about 20 sheets of tissue paper on this pinata.
You will start by creating the base of the pinata using the paper lantern, newspaper, and flour and water mixture to create the paper maché. You will begin to rip strips of your newspaper and then adhere them to the lantern with the flour and water mixture. I just made sure to add enough water to the flour to create a pancake batter consistency. Then I coated the newspaper with the mixture and stuck it to the lantern.
After several layers (and when I could no longer see light through the lantern when I looked inside), it was time to place the lantern outside to dry. Once it had 24 hours to dry, it looked like this.
Now it is time to glue on your tissue paper strips. I used my rotary cutter and mat to create long triangles, but plain old scissors work just as well. You just want to make sure that you have about a 1-2″ wide strip that tappers into a point. Each of my strips was about 10″ long.
Starting at the bottom of the pinata, begin to glue a circle of tissue paper strips in a circle to create the base.
Once the base is done, flip the pinata over and work your way around the pinata gluing on more strips of tissue paper. There is no need to be exact and overlapping of the tissue is fine.
Now keep going until you reach the top (this took me about an hour). Once you reach the top you are done. Fill with your candy and treats, and go to town tearing that baby up! As you can see, I added a few fake spiders for more Halloween factor.
I love the way this pinata turned out and am now thinking about making a paper lantern in this same style to just display all year around. Now it is just time to wait until the party and watch as the kids break it open!
