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Parties/celebrations

Whether you're planning a birthday or a hen do, you'll find plenty of ideas for your celebration on our Party forum.

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Original poster

Eight 5-year-olds and a pinyata...

15 replies

AllarmBells · 23/07/2010 13:50

I don't know what we were thinking...the pinyata was flower-shaped and DP couldn't resist. We are doing it at DD's 5th birthday party on Sunday.

Anyone ever done a pinyata? I have this vision of 50's American kids beating the hell out of a toy donkey with a baseball bat but it seems a bit brutal!

Should we do it before the food and give them bags to put the sweets in, or do it after the food and let them eat the sweets?

Should we bother blindfolding them? Doesn't the one who "wins" ie breaks the pinyata have a sweet-grabbing disadvantage if they are at the front with the blindfold on? Could we do it without a sweets free-for-all, some sort of, I don't know, turn-taking exercise?!

Will they be all overexcited afterwards, should I save pass the parcel till then to calm them down?

Experiences most welcome

OP posts:

notnowbernard · 23/07/2010 13:53

Don't blindfold

It takes for-bloody-ever

You will need adults on hand to 'help' as they just haven't got the strength to whack it with enough oomph

Have a steward on duty to keep the children WELL BACK from participating child

Good laugh, though. The dads always seem to get into it for some reason...

Original poster

AllarmBells · 23/07/2010 14:15

Fantastic - thanks Bernard!

OP posts:

Meglet · 23/07/2010 14:17

I was at a party with 8yr olds and even they took ages trying to whack it to pieces.

Good fun but some little cherub will clobber someone with the stick.

Original poster

AllarmBells · 23/07/2010 14:19

Thanks Meglet.
Perhaps we'll put it very high up and get them to stand underneath, and get rained on by sweets, while someone's dad whacks it.

Thanks for reminder....need someone to monitor the stick!

OP posts:

BunnyLebowski · 23/07/2010 14:21

Ahem. Pedant Alert. piñata

MaryBS · 23/07/2010 14:22

I went to a party where they used a broom handle - it was lethal - it would have been safer to have fireworks inside!

I agree with the idea of letting the adult do it, and the children stand underneath.

Meglet · 23/07/2010 14:27

..and you need somewhere strong to hang it. They are heavy.

IIRC my friend had 2 blokes holding a broomstick up in the air and the pinata hung over it.

chocobiccie · 23/07/2010 14:32

I've been to loads of kids parties with pinatas. I actually had two of them at my own birthday last year . One for the adults and one for the kids.

The point about getting a someone to keep the others way back is a v good idea. You do need someone to help the little ones to whack it accurately though.

The kids love the scramble for the sweets when it (finally) breaks. They are tougher than you think. You can put little toys in there as well, like key rings and stuff for variation.

Think about where you're going to hang the pinata beforehand. Hang it somewhere rather than get someone to hold it up with a stick.

IMHO the kids love them!

Original poster

AllarmBells · 23/07/2010 14:34

Bunny, I know, but I don't know how to do a ñ!

Thanks Mary, we read all the safety warnings and paid extra for the special stick

Yes I haven't a clue where we're going to hang it. We have a rehearsal planned for tomorrow!

OP posts:

chocobiccie · 23/07/2010 14:34

Meglet- I went to a party where 2 blokes held up the pinata with a broomstick, one of the blokes accidentally got whacked on the knuckle by one of the kids- ouch!!

Original poster

AllarmBells · 23/07/2010 14:36

Ooh great idea biccie, I was getting worried about the sheer quantity of nasty sweets they are going to get out of it!

Thanks very much everyone, really appreciated!

OP posts:

chocobiccie · 23/07/2010 14:40

we went to the toy shop and got some party bag filler type toys for the pinata. I don't mean to be obvious but don't put bouncy balls or heavy/sharp toys in there. have fun!

TooPragmatic · 23/07/2010 14:55

they are really fun and kids love them.

as other have said, make sure you have at least one adult who absolutely doesn't let anyone near the pinata when it is being hit.
crowd control is essential!

would suggest you leave it until right at the end so that they can scurry around collecting the loot, pop it into their party bags and then go home.

MrsJohnDeere · 23/07/2010 14:55

We had one yesterday at a party for 3 and 4 year olds. It took absolutely ages. In the end one of the adults had to attack it with a broom handle. I think we'd all still be there waiting for it to break if we'd left it just to the children.

Fwiw we had a pep talk about sharing the sweets and said a max of 4 per child, and most were good at following that.

Original poster

AllarmBells · 26/07/2010 15:39

Wanted to say thanks to everyone who made suggestions. It went really well!!!

We made a big deal out of who got to go first, whacked hell out of it till the DCs were bored, then they took turns to pull the ribbons to open the hatch. I had to do some crowd management for the exciting bit. One 5yo said she'd had a pinata swing back in her face after hitting it, so we watched out for that.

A wedged packet of Haribo Starmix somewhat spoilt the dramatic moment when the hatch opened, but we fixed that by manual intervention. We ended up practically ripping the thing in half to get the all sweets out.

The DCs were ever so good, I didn't even need to reallocate sweets between bags.

Now for a post-party rest

Thanks again to all.

OP posts:

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