A Bunch of Bishops: Rocket Ship Pinata (how-to)

May 27, 2012

Rocket Ship Pinata (how-to)

A basic how-to guide to making your own pinata!

I only spent $3 making it!

My son TOTALLY LOVED IT and that made all the work worth it!

(do you like all the exclamation points?)

I gathered a bunch of used cartons and boxes.

I built this basic rocket shape and taped it together...

I kept adding pieces of cardboard until I got it to the shape I wanted...

The supplies I used to decorate the pinata include:

2 rolls white crepe paper rolls

Black curling ribbon

masking tape

tacky glue

hole punch

scissors

razor blade

To hang the pinata I used 2 metal hangers...

To fill the pinata with candy, and create the hatch door, cut a 3"x3" square (but leave one side of the square uncut to create the hinge)...

I punched holes in the hatch door.

Then I used the razor blade to cut the holes that are too far in from the sides for the hole punch.

I cut out 19 strands of ribbon (each about 3ft long).

I tied one of the strings tightly around the middle hole of the hatch door.

For the other 18 ribbons I strung them in the holes and the loosely taped them to the back of the hatch door. When the child pulled the dummy strings they would just tug a bit and the string would release.

If the child pulled the string that was tied to the hatch door then all the candy would fall out.

Or so I hoped!

I used tacky glue and crepe paper to cover the pinata (this is a very rough 1st coat - it does not have to look pretty)...

A close up of the hatch door and how I loosely wrapped the crepe paper around it...

The 2nd layer of crepe paper finishes the pinata so I made sure I took my time and made it look even.

I started with the bottom of the rocket and worked my way up.

For the finishing layer I used tape to secure the crepe paper since crepe paper is so thin that the glue would show through it...

I filled the pinata with candy and then pushed the hatch door into the box.

I taped 2 pieces of cardboard onto the inside on the pinata, over lapping the hatch door. This created a ledge of sorts for the door to rest on and kept the door from just falling open.

I forgot to take a picture of this step (oops!).

To see what I am talking about, click on the following link:

Young House Love & her awesome pinata tutorial

Once that dried and everything was secured,

I finished covering the pinata in crepe paper.

Here's an up close shot of the pull strings with

the final layer of crepe paper and a NASA decal...

Almost done!

Just need to add the rocket boosters, windows and fin...

The rocket boosters were made from toilet paper rolls that I covered in crepe paper and then used orange tissue paper for the fire. The windows and fin on the rocket are made from construction paper.

The NASA decals I copied from the the NASA website.

And here is the Rocket Ship Pinata in action!

The treats are about to fall out!!!!!