2003-03-24
The Piņata From Hell
On previous family birthdays we'd purchased a piņata from the local supermarket and stuffed it full of goodies, but those piņatas didn't take long to get destroyed by the boisterous crowd of youthful nuts, so we went with a slightly more ambitious design this time.
The First Try
A large balloon was blown up and a 1.2 mm steel wire skeleton assembled around it, taped to the balloon in many places.
Over this we started to paste paper in a conventional manner. This went well until I got carried away and burst the balloon. The resulting explosion scattered bits of pasted paper all over the office!
After a quick run next door to Coles to get clean up materials, and a fairly lengthy ear bashing during the clean-up process we started again.
Building It
I built a new stronger all steel wire skeleton. Tying off each joint with string. Over this was placed strips of corrugated cardboard box held in place with a healthy layer of duct tape. Then a white layer of crepe paper followed by fringes of various colours for decoration.
The piņata was filled through a hole in the top with about 10 kg of mixed sweets and toys, stuffed solid with news paper then sealed up and the final red cap of crepe put in place. The completed device was heavier than one could comfortably hold for extended periods, we puzzled over how the traditional rope elevation control system could be implemented this time, the tree branch used in the past would not hold this piņata!
In Use
Some ingenuity was required, but eventually the beast was hoisted into position. The traditional weapon of choice, a long stick, was selected and the fun began.
Everyone took turns, but after two rounds it was piņata 2 guests 0. The fight escalated, with katanas, short swords, daggers and other martial arts equipment being produced. After another round of extreme violence the piņata was bloody, but not out of the fight yet.
The support cord gave out from the abuse, so a game of "lets kick the piņata around the yard" developed. Still structurally sound after all this abuse the piņata was finally taken out by the combined efforts of the entire crowd stabbing the thing over and over with pointy objects!
A huge cheer erupted when the piņata finally spilled its guts all over the BBQ area.
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