Mad Craft #4: Do It Yourself My Little Pony Pinata (Part 1 – A 20% Cooler Frame)

My daughter had been asking to have a pinata since she was three years old. This is how the conversation went:

“Mom, can I have a beenyetza for my next birtfday?”
“A what?!”
“A beenyetza for my pardy.”
“A beenyetza? Honey, I don’t know what that is.”
“You know, you hang it from the ceiling and it’s pretty with colors and candy!”
“Uh…do you meant a pinata?!”
“Yes, that’s what I said! A beenyatza!”

I, shamefully, forgot about this request for her fourth birthday and she didn’t let me forget it all year long. I needed to do something to make up for my grievous error, and I had fully intended to purchase a pinata, however, I was finding that spending a lot of greenbacks for something really small was not very appealing. Click here to see the only available My Little Pony Pinata anywhere locally or digitally. Looks cute right? You would be right about cute; cutely small. I went to a local store to have a look at it being suspicious of the picture in which it looks pretty big and it barely reaches the top of your calf. So I went to another local party store and they had a big generic pony pinata that looked a little strange that I could work with, but it was $50.00! Uh. No.

I decided, “I’ll make it myself! Fifty bucks for paper and cardboard? Are they high!?”

A 20% Cooler Frame

I’ve never made one of these things before, never even worked with papier mache’ (except once and that didn’t turn out as expected in the heat of high summer). Did I start with a small round beginner pinata with one jumbo balloon? No, silly rabbit; I did not.

The frame: cut up pizza boxes and tape.

I watch a few online video and glance at some tutorial and I get started. The party isn’t for a month and a half, so there is plenty of time to get this done. I am beginning to feel pleased with myself for getting a horse shape. My husband comes by and says:

“Isn’t that a little big?”
“Well, I don’t want a tiny one.”
He looks at me and says nothing.
“If I’m going to do this thing, I’m going to do it right.”

A paper cup holder from a coffee shop suddenly look like perfect hooves to me. I cut them up and plan.

I finish the body frame feeling so proud that it looks like a horse and I take a moment to ponder the legs. I rummage through our recycling and find a cup holder that speak to me and I cut them up into four hooves. I am looking at the frame now thinking the head needs a bit more of a My Little Pony shape so I begin to adjust it. As I snap the photo I begin to think, “Hmm, maybe this is kind of big.”

A perfect pony leg.

The masking tape is giving me some trouble, but I get it to stick and hold together. I’m feeling very pleased with myself. So pleased that I decide, by golly, the four legs don’t need to be straight! That would be way too easy! One should be bent at a saucy angle to make this pony 20% cooler.

I am on day four of putting the frame together because of, as you know, kids and cats. I am determined to get the frame done today though. I make the head more of a pony shape, I shove the legs in and tape the thing within and inch of its life. It even stands up for a while, but begins to sag under it’s own weight.

Fahrvergnugen, I was supposed to START with balloons to stabilize the frame ! And, wow, it is looking kind of bigger than I was intending.

Balloon transplant.

Screw it. I am going to make a full size Princess Twilight Sparkle fashioned from a skeleton of cardboard, six balloons, and newspaper stuffing hacked together with a two rolls of masking tape then four layers of mother plucking paper mache’. It will be as big as my nearly five year old daughter, and fat enough to stuff her two and a half year old brother in it. It will be the most grandest My Little Pony pinata ever created in the Universe! Let’s do this!

News paper covering and fast running out of tape.

I adjust the balloons, add more crumpled paper where needed, use a chair to get the head in the right position, and a shoe to compensate for the leg I insisted needed to be saucy.

Self, are you stupid or something?

My daughter is very pleased, and the cat is thinking I've lost my mind.

My daughter is very pleased, “It’s the biggest pinyatza ever!” The cat is thinking I’ve lost my mind.

I realize that the next part of getting papier mache’ on it is going to be an outside project. My husband isn’t saying anything because he’s smart, but I am starting to sweat a little on the inside. What have I done!?

Addendum: What’s with the bag in the background? No, we don’t have a horse. The bag in the background are wood stall pellets that we buy at a local town hardware store for five dollars for a 50 lb bag and use it as cat litter. It’s the exact same stuff as feline pine, except it doesn’t cost $10-12 dollars for a piddly ten pounds. It also works better since feline pine changed it’s formula and the last bag we got last year doesn’t absorb diddly squat.

Next: Do It Yourself My Little Pony Pinata (Part 2 – A Papier Mache’ Cast)