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Original poster

Pinatas, am I missing something?

47 replies

SPBisResisting · 05/09/2013 17:42

They seem very expesnive. I don't suppose they're reusable? £10 in Sainsbury's plus you have Hmm to buy special bashing sticks which come in packs of three for about £10 each IIRC. So for a party of 30 that's over £100.
I have seen some treasure chest ones which would be perfect as DD is having a pirate party, but....really?

OP posts:
diddl · 05/09/2013 18:13

How old are they?

Here you put sweets under a bowl, a child is blindfolded, given a wooden spoon, & they crawl around the floor knocking with the spoon to find the "pot".

With the others shouting hot/cold, warmer etc.

You put sweets under for one child & they all have a go.

Would take a long time with 30, though!

Original poster
SPBisResisting · 05/09/2013 18:16

Sorry I'm not actually inviting thirty, just was imagining the ciosts if you did a class party

OP posts:
diddl · 05/09/2013 18:17
AnyoneButLulu · 05/09/2013 18:42

Unless you have the world's beefiest pre-schoolers there's no chance it would break before everyone had a go - I've never had one which hasn't ended up with well-refreshed dads beating the hell out of it with the blunt end of a pool cue, with the kids cheering them on. I love a piñata me, but I do realise that barely controlled hysterical mayhem is not top of everybody's party agenda.

OnFoot · 05/09/2013 19:04

Another one here where the dads ended up breaking it - and it took the dads a fair while. Qualified Engineer dads started doing assessments of its structural integrity to decide where to bash it. They got very intent! We started with the "official" stick and ended up taking a cricket bat to it.

I'm currently undecided about whether to get one for DD's forthcoming party - on the one hand, a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds don't stand a chance of breaking it but on the other hand, watching the dads do it and get all serious and huffy when it's difficult is quite funny and gets them chatting. I'm talking myself into it, aren't I?

diddl · 05/09/2013 19:11

OnFoot-if you haven't got too many coming-try Topfschlagen.

foslady · 05/09/2013 19:12

I just hate seeing kids being encouraged to whack a donkey - even if it is a model. Treasure chests, pumpkins, fine, but Pinatas are Spanish aren't they, and I just think back to all the various festival 'rituals' they had with animals until recently when I see children knocking hell out of them (I know - I overthink these things.......)

SofiaAmes · 05/09/2013 19:15

I am from California where pinatas have been a staple at birthday parties since I was a child (they originate from Mexico, I think). The kids love love love them. You do not need a special wacking stick. Any old stick (old broom stick) will do. The kids line up and only one at a time gets to wack the pinata. Usually the best thing to do is give a number of go's to each child. For the younger kids (3-6) 3 goes per child usually gives a good 20 min of wacking fun (the process of trying to break it is part of the fun). You must have several adults on duty, keeping the line of kids out of the wacking stick radius.

Important things to do:

  1. give each child a small plastic/paper back to put their candy in.
  2. Once pinata is broken, grab wacking stick away from child who has it
  3. Once pinata is broken, make sure that candy has exited pinata (give it a good shake) and is spread out so all the kids can get it.
  4. Have a spare bag of candy to distribute out to the kids who don't manage to get much from the scrum of picking up fallen pinata candy - this saves lots of tears
  5. If it takes too long to break the pinata, get an older child or parent to give it a good hard wack to crack it, and then let the little kids finish it off.
  6. If you are filling your own pinata (don't know how they sell them in the uk - here you can get them pre-filled, or fill your own) - make sure you don't but in candy that will get broken when wacked (ie no hard candy).
burberryqueen · 05/09/2013 19:15

pinata is a nightmare - the little kids at the front get squished as the big kids surge forward to grab the sweets....

foslady · 05/09/2013 19:22

Oops - Mexican! Well you learn something new every day.......Blush!!!!!

PedantMarina · 05/09/2013 19:33

I've made my own piñata - a big tip is to use normal weight cardboard, seal the edges well and reinforce the part from which it's suspended, but lightly score the flat parts of the cardboard a bit, to weaken it. This should help ensure that the piñata breaks, rather than just tearing off the chain and flying somewhere, landing as one perfect intact piece not speaking from bitter experience, no not at all.

BTW, it would be remiss of me (and a dishonour to my tag) to not point out that most of you probably mean "whack" with an 'h'.

CatsWearingTutus · 05/09/2013 19:47

Yes definitely make the piñata. Actually for thirty kids make several. We did it with paper mâché when I was a kid, here's a link explaining how m.wikihow.com/Make-a-Pi%C3%B1ata and definitely don't buy bashing sticks. We used baseball bats but a broom handle would do fine!

Eastpoint · 05/09/2013 19:54

I made a fish shaped piñata from papier mâché once using a balloon as the middle. It was even harder to break than a normal one.

I've discovered that you can attack them before the party with a sharp knife & weaken them substantially before putting the sweets in them. They are really hard to break.

Belugagrad · 05/09/2013 20:59

Haven't read whole thread- a mate made his and used a rolling pin as a stick. Worked a treat.

Belugagrad · 05/09/2013 21:07

Haven't read whole thread- a mate made his and used a rolling pin as a stick. Worked a treat.

Silverfoxballs · 05/09/2013 22:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MimiSam · 06/09/2013 13:30

Last time I saw one of these at a party, none of the kids or the parents could break it open, despite sustained heavy whacking. In the end, we had to take a bread knife to it and stab it open !!

dontyouknow · 06/09/2013 14:13

We had a couple at our wedding - lovely photos of me in my wedding dress, blindfolded with a stick in hand bashing it! Interestingly the one that the girls were hitting broke much faster than the boys one....

My 6 year old DD is now obsessed with them. For mothers day this year she insisted on getting one and filling it with treats for me!

Parmarella · 06/09/2013 14:21

Sofiaames said it well :)

I lived in Mexico for years, in fact DS 1 was born there.

It is fun, in a mad way, as long aa it is well organised ( in Mexico everyone sings a little song with every go, and you can bash it for as long as the song lasts ( dale dale daaale, no pierdas el tino, porque si lo pierdes, pierdes el camiiiino, ya le diste uno, ya le diste dos, dale uno mas y la cuenta se acabo! Not sure if I remember correctly!!!)

3 go's each, start with the smaller kids, great fun and excitement!

Parmarella · 06/09/2013 14:25

The really good kids parties in Mexico had mariachi bands too, and loads of tequila and food for the adults. And then the Mariachi would drink all the tequila and refuse to stop singing. Kids refuse to sleep! Chaos at midnight!

Parties in the UK are so lame tame by comparison!

Pixel · 06/09/2013 15:54

I've never seen the attraction myself. I don't think I'd like to see a group of children being encouraged to get violent with a stick and then scrabble around fighting each other for sweets. It just feels wrong.

Eastpoint · 08/09/2013 08:07

I want to go to a party in Mexico with a mariachi band & tequila Envy

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