A Pinata Party!

Heidi attended a birthday party last weekend for one of her very best friends, Amaya. Amaya's Mom had made a pinata out of paper mache and covered it with tissue paper. I thought this would be a good project for Heidi and I to try so I invited Makayla over and we got all messy!


Heidi had never experienced the fun of paper mache before. She was a little leery about sticking her hands in especially after she saw Makayla and me! We explained that it was basically pancake batter and whatever she got on her shirt would wash out just fine. Eventually she dug right in.


We covered balloon's in paper mache to make the classic Easter Egg look. Then they had to dry. This took a few days.


On Sunday, we invited Makayla, Willy, and Emily over for a decorating party. Heidi put on a pretty dress and got to the decorating! She covered her egg keeping the Easter theme.
Makayla took the more difficult path. That's the difference between a 13 year old and a 4 year old. Heidi just wanted to get it ready to fill with candy. Makayla, however, had the patience to make hers into something special.
Since Emily and Willy did not make the paper mache with us earlier in the week they covered balloons. Emily had specific instructions on how Jess should cover the balloon!
And Willy's went down the stairs. Since he was down there anyway, he might as well bring up the butterfly net - you never know when you are going to need a butterfly net!!
We tried everything to get Heidi's pinata to hang from the garage but it just was not strong enough. It fell after the first swing. Shawn suggested we let the kids whack it on the ground. Heidi liked this idea.
Emily did too!
And as we thought, Willy was the one to make the candy come out.
The kids each had a little gift bag to fill. Heidi and Willy grabbed candy as quickly as possible. They were happy with the invite list of this party - without the added challenge of 15 other kids stepping on each others hands they were able to fill their bags.

Emily was much more picky and was only picking up candy she really wanted. Quality over quantity I guess!

Once they each had a piece of candy it was clear that the girls needed a nap before they turned into a candy monster so the party quickly ended. Emily and Willy went home with bags of candy and Heidi put hers back in the candy drawer (yes, we have a candy drawer, it's where we keep all of the candy she gets from holidays, parades, birthday parties. Out of sight, out of mind really works with her.)

Makayla's pinata ended up being a cat or maybe a pig. It was super cute but the battery on my camera died so sadly we have no pictures. She was happy to fill it with candy and take it home whatever it is.