logo for fun-pinata-party-ideas.com
Home
Party Themes
Movie Party Ideas
Holiday Party Ideas
Pinata Party Blog
Make a Pinata
Pinata Fillers
Adult Pinata Fillers
Play Pinata Game
Party Planning
Party Food Ideas
Kid Party Food
Cupcake Cakes
Gourmet Cupcakes
Coloring Pages
Party Games
Printable Party Games
Printable Crafts
Printable Invitations
Thank You Cards
Service Party
Cricut Cakes
Party Decorations
Kid Crafts
LEFT for fun-pinata-party-ideas.com
 

Make a Flower Basket Pinata


How to make a Paper-Mache Flower Basket Pinata

flower basket pinata

 

Set Up

  1. Clear your work area. Spread out 3 or 4 layers of newspapers to protect your table.
  2. Gather all your materials: large bowl, newspaper, scissors, flour, 1 sheet of tissue paper, masking tape, wire whisk, and water.
  3. Collect and cut newspaper into strips about 1 inch wide. Make them as long as the narrow width of the newspaper.
  4. Mix up your paste. Use 1 part flour to 1 part water and mix with a whisk.

Birthday in a Box
Pinata Filler

Birthday in a Box
Garden Party Tattoos

Birthday in a Box
Star Swirl Pops
Birthday in a Box
Daisy Bracelet
  1. Place the tissue paper around the outside of the bowl, wrapping it around the edges and taping it to the inside.

Tips

  • You can use any kind of paper if you really want, but newspaper works best. Old phone book pages are too thin and fall apart easily in the paste, regular paper and glossy newspaper ads don’t absorb water as easily and take a bit more work. I’d stick with newspaper.
  • White flour works better than whole wheat. Whole wheat globs up and you have to sand it down after it dries. No fun.

The Process for making a Flower Basket Pinata

    1.  Dip strips in paste, run through fingers to get rid of excess paste and layer on the tissue paper on the outside of the bowl. Make three or four layers of newspaper strips then allow it to dry. It takes 1-2 days to dry, depending on your local climate (humidity level) and how thick the newspaper (and paste) is.

basket paper mache

    2.  After the pinata is dry, carefully pull the newspaper bowl away from the real bowl. The tissue paper will line your new paper mache basket.

Tips

  • Two layers of newspaper are about right. The newspaper shrinks a little as it dries and if there are weak spots in the newspaper the balloon will break through them. If there are too many layers the guests will never be able to break it open.
  • Be sure to criss cross some of the newspapers. It makes the basket a little stronger having the strips of newpapers go in several directions.
  • Be sure the basket pinata is completely dry. If the pinata is still damp when the guests start hitting it, they’ll be able to beat it senseless but never break it open.

Clean Up

  1. Lay the flower basket pinata on clean newspaper to dry.
  2. Throw away the old newspaper.
  3. Rinse hands, arms and any other messy appendages with warm water and soap.

Tips

  • If you had a lot of fun and have an excessive amount of paste on your clothes, let it dry and then rub as much of the paste off as you can before washing.
  • Cover extra paste and put in fridge to save for the next layer. If it dries out, just add a bit of water and mix.

How to Decorate the Flower Basket Pinata

  1. Gather your materials: green, yellow and orange crepe paper streamers, white, bright pink, light pink and yellow tissue paper, scotch tape, masking tape, duct tape, a metal clothes hanger, several green pipe cleaners, a brad and scissors. 
  2. Then, trim off any edges of dried newspaper that curled out.
  3. Set the basket upside down and cut yellow streamers that extend several inches beyond the edges of the basket. Lay each yellow streamer across the center of the basket, fanned out like pizza slices. Put the brad in the center of the yellow streamers and through the bottom of the basket. This will hold it all in place while you weave the green and orange streamers around the basket.

paper mache basket

  1. Carefully weave strips of green and orange streamers around the basket. Tape down the green and orange streamers every time they are under a yellow streamer. Trust me on this. 
  2. Make the handle for the flower basket pinata by taking the hangar apart and shaping it into a handle. Hook either end into a side of the basket. Use duct tape to hold the loose ends of the hangers to the handle.
  3. Make a braid with very long strips of the yellow, green and orange streamers, then gently wrap the braid around the handle. Tuck the ends of the braid around the handle or into the weave of the basket. 
  4. Attach a couple of streamers to either side of the handle, with or without a bow to hide the ends of the braid.
  5. Fill the flower basket pinata with goodies and cover with a white sheet of tissue paper. Tuck the tissue paper in and tape it to the inside of the basket.
  6. Now make the flowers. Cut the bright pink, light pink and yellow tissue papers in fourths. 
  7. For each flower use two pieces each of two colors of tissue paper, stacked in alternating colors. Then fold accordian style. Wrap a pipe cleaner around the middle and twist. Fan out the edges to make into a flower.
     tissue paper flower
  8. Stick the flowers on top of the basket. Use rolled bits of masking tape to hold the flowers in place.

Tips

  • You will need enough yellow strips of streamers so that when they reach the edge of the bottom of the basket they are no longer over lapping. 
  • It may be difficult to push the brad through the many layers of streamers and the basket. Use the tip of a knife to poke a hole through all the layers.
  • If you don't have a brad handy, you can use a thumb tack. Just be sure to remove the tack before using it at the party. You don't want any guests stepping on it if it falls out.
  • It can be difficult to get the weave to look nice over the top edge of the basket. You can use bits of stape to hold the streamers in place. Or, when the flowers are placed in the basket put them in strategically to hide any edges missed by the streamers.

Pull and Yank Adjustments

  1. Before decorating, cut out the bottom of the flower basket pinata. Securely attach a ribbon to the trap door that will be able to pull it open. You may be able to poke a hole in the trap door and tie the ribbon to it or tape the ribbon with duct tape to the inside of the trap door. 
  2. Use 4-5 pieces of masking tape to reattach the trap door.
  1. Fill the pinata. Test it to be sure there’s enough tape to hold all the prizes in the pinata, but not so much tape that it won’t open.
  2. Attach several more ribbons to the inside of the pinata. Use small pieces of scotch or masking tape so the ribbons will easily pull away from the pinata.
  3. Decorate the pinata basket with weave that begins at the trap door instead of the center of the bottom of the basket.
  4. Cover the bottom of the flower basket pinata with a large round sheet of coordinating tissue paper.

Now your Flower Basket Pinata is ready for your party.

 

Click here to learn how to play the pinata game.

Return to Make a Pinata from Flower Basket Pinata