For my son’s third birthday (It was a Mickey Birthday Party), I wanted him to have a pinata. Smashing something up for candy is fun for all kids, after all. After realizing that a three-year-old would have a pretty tough time breaking a pinata, I opted to make a balloon pinata. I know I could have bought a pull-string pinata, but I wanted a little more excitement than that.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”The piñata is the pièce de résistance of any children’s party but most don’t want to mess with paper mache. Here’s how to make a DIY balloon pinata! #birthday #pinata” quote=”The piñata is the pièce de résistance of any children’s party but most don’t want to mess with paper mache. Here’s how to make a DIY balloon pinata!”]
What is a Balloon Pinata
A balloon pinata is basically candy-filled balloons that you have the children pop. The candy-filled balloons are attached to a board of some sort (even a cornhole board if you want).
The board can be made of wood or foam—whatever you can stick the balloons to will work.
People use darts or push pins for popping the balloons. It is a fun and easy craft for birthdays or holiday parties.
Making a Mickey Balloon Pinata
To go with the party’s theme, we decided to make the board that the balloons go on the classic mickey head silhouette. I cut a piece of plywood into that basic shape.
We read that the ratio of Mickey’s head to his ears is about 5:3, so that was the goal. Once he got the shape cut out, I painted it black.
Putting Candy Inside a Balloon
Putting candy inside a balloon is more complicated than it sounds. I had hurt eardrums and cuts on my hands from the attempts I made.
I did find a method that worked for me, though.
Method 1: Putting Candy Inside a Balloon with a Tube
The first method I tried was attaching a balloon to a tube. I found that the perfect-sized tube for this was a regular-sized foil tube (the cardboard tube foil is wrapped around).
First, I shoved candy as far down the tube as I could. Once the candy reached the end of the tube I blew into the tube, which blew up the balloon enough, so the candy fell out of the tube and into the balloon.
Then I had to blow up the balloons the rest of the way and tie them.
While the method did work, it wreaked havoc on my ears. I only could do a few of these before I decided to come up with another way to put candy inside a balloon.
Method 2: Putting Candy Inside a Balloon with a Milk Jug
This method was by far the best for me. I used a washed-out milk jug for this method since its opening was about the same size as the cardboard foil tube.
First, I cut a hole in the bottom of the milk jug that was big enough to place candy and my hands in. I did get a couple of cuts from forcing the balloon onto the milk jug opening, but I much rather deal with that than busted eardrums.
Then, I stretched a balloon onto the milk jug’s original opening. Through the hole that I cut, I put candy inside the milk jug and pushed it into the balloon.
Once I filled the balloon with candy, I carefully removed the balloon from the milk jug.
After all of the balloons were filled with candy and blown up, they were attached to the mickey head silhouette board we had cut out and previously painted.
Popping a Balloon Pinata
We connected each balloon with a thumbtack and made sure they were very secure so none would come flying out when the kids popped the balloons. We practically hammered them into the plywood, so they weren’t going anywhere.
Okay, this may sound a little dangerous, but to pop the balloons, we taped a thumbtack onto the end of a wooden pole. We helped each child pop the balloons making sure there was no swinging of the popping stick or anything.
The kids had a blast popping the balloons to get candy!