Medieval Theme Decorations: Dragon Pinata

Paper Mache Dragon Pinata

The Birthday Boy specifically asked for a pinata. I found the instructions for this awesome dragon pinata online, from this site, Storm the Castle. Pinatas are very inexpensive to make, however they do take time. I worked on this pinata over the course of 4 days, allowing the layers to dry in between and before painting it.

Supplies:

• a balloon
• newspaper
• flour and water paste (1 cup flour, 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon of salt)
• a bowl to prop up the balloon while you work
• cereal box
• a paper towel tube
• tape
• acrylic paints and brushes
• string
• chocolate gold coins (to fill the pinata)
  

I followed the instructions from Storm the Castle, but added a few of my own details.

I soaked some string in the flour paste and added it to the wings for a three dimensional quality.

I made the eyes from some scraps of craft foam leftover from the shield project. I drew the details with a black marker.

The fire is made from a granola bar box, any thin cardboard will do. I drew out the shape I wanted and painted it to look like fire. I made it double sided, the printed side of the cardboard did not cover well with paint so I glued the printed sides together. It's a bit tricky to glue the fire inside the mouth, I used alot of tape to get it to stay.

The kids loved the pinata! I didn't use a blind fold, they're a bit young. They used a plastic sword to "slay" the dragon. The dragon was filled with gold treasure (chocolate coins). Lots of frantic scrambling and screaming. I made sure the Birthday Boy landed the fatal blow.

Although a pinata is very cost effective, being mostly made from newspaper, there is a time commitment. Start your project early, ideally two weeks before the event.