Thursday, October 7, 2010

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.

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