How To Make A Letter "E" Pinata

It's birthday time at our house, again. Which means, it's time for another pinata (please pretend the n has the little squiggle over it). Our theme, this time, is Fans-E, our nod to Fancy Nancy, but personalized for E.

To make a letter "E" pinata, fancy or otherwise, you need:

• One Pop Tarts box. You could use any thin cardboard, but a Pop Tarts box works especially well.
• A few sheets of newspaper.
• A few sheets of white, scrap paper.
• A few sheets of tissue paper, in colors to match your party.
• Watered down glue (about 2 to 1, glue to water).
• A ribbon, or string for hanging.
• Tape.
• Candy to fill the pinata.

If you are using a Pop Tarts box, start by flattening it, and cutting it in half, as pictured.

Slit one side open, on each piece, and fold the lid pieces out, and tape in place, to make "L" shapes.

Fold, and trim the long sides of the "L's", to make the middle of the "E". This might sound confusing, but look ahead at the pictures, and hopefully it will make sense.

Trim a small piece out of the top, and bottom of what will be the middle of the "E", so the candy can get through. Use one of the scraps of cardboard, you just cut out, to tape the two box pieces together, to make the complete "E".

Flip the boxes over.

The cardboard is now making up two, of the four sides, of your "E". Dip strips of newspaper into the watered down glue, and drape it over the cardboard, to cover the two sides, and make a third. Gravity, will help the third, newspaper side, hang straight, until the glue dries, and stiffens.

Allow to dry completely - usually overnight. Then, flip it over.

Cut an opening in the top, big enough to fit your candy through. And, poke holes on each side, near the top, to string the ribbon through, for hanging.

Cover the final side, by draping glue covered, strips of newspaper across the opening.


After the newspaper dries completely, cover first one side, and then the other (after the first side dries), in a layer of white paper strips, dipped in the glue.

While the glue is still wet on each side, stick on the tissue paper layer. We went with stripes.

Follow up with any additional finishing touches. In our case it was tissue paper flowers...


...and a fancy, fringe along the bottom.

Fill the pinata with candy, and glue tissue paper across the hole.


Hang your pinata, where it can serve as a party decoration until it's time to bash it open. And, don't forget, no matter how pretty you make it, it will be bashed open. So, all of you, type "A" personalities, try to remember, that this is one time perfection is not really called for - just don't forget the candy.

It's great to be a homeschooler.