See & Do

As far as I'm concerned, any occasion worthy of celebration is worthy of a piñata! And New Year's Eve, that's probably one of the best reasons of all for whacking open a glitzy ball of goodness. Pack it full of beads, noise makers, confetti, and, of course, plastic mini bottles of liquor. Your friends will love it.

I constructed a rather time-consuming one last year, but I am back this year with a super easy, 15-minute version that you can easily knock out between now and Monday.

Materials:

12" Paper Lantern
2 pkgs Metallic Fringe*
Hot Glue Gun and Glue
Cardboard
Tape

*The metallic fringe is the stuff they sell for parade floats and whatnot. It's sold at most party supply stores in 10' lengths.

Putting It All Together: Begin by assembling the paper lantern. Cut out a circle of sturdy cardstock or cardboard about an inch bigger than the bottom opening of the paper lantern, and tape it over the opening. Tape it up pretty good as you don't want all your piñata goodies falling out before the first swing.

Beginning at the bottom, glue the fringe onto the paper lantern, spiralling it up and around as you go. I attached mine with a dollop of hot glue every 2-3 inches.
There's no need to keep the spiraling rows right next to each other. In fact, each row can be a few inches from the previous one. The cascading fringe has surprisingly good coverage.

Keep going until you've reached the top edge. Use more than one color if you want. Now, it's ready for goodies (see my tutorial from last year for the low down on the perfect NYE piñata innards). Just hang and hit!

luri & wilma