Pinata style Easter egg
I begrudge spending money on the hollow chocolate Easter eggs with candy inside. First, it’s a pitiful amount of chocolate and candy for a lot of money. Secondly, there is so much packaging. That being said, they are fun to open and I’ll take any excuse to eat chocolate.
So I decided to craft a non-chocolate egg that could take a lot of chocolate and candy, that would still be fun to open.
Keep reading to learn how to make the pinata. Subscribe to get the instructions for the eggs and gift box emailed to you.
Time to create
I must confess I got carried away with this and ended up making 3 pinatas and 1 gift box as I refined my technique and tried different ideas. I also made a lot of mess! Make sure you protect your surfaces.
The eggs end up being quite big, so you can fit a lot in there. My husband got a miniature of alcohol in his as well as chocolate eggs. For kids, you could add a small colouring book and some crayons or a toy.
The eggs take a few days to make because you have to allow them to dry between layers but it doesn’t take long to do each layer.
Materials & Tools
- A balloon
- strips of newspaper approx 2 cm x 6cm (tearing gives a nice soft edge to the strips)
- PVA/white/school glue or flour (about 1/2 cup)
- Water
- A wide shallow container
- a container to rest the balloon on (plastic cup, can, mug)
- something to mix with – e.g. stick, skewer, chop stick
- Surface protection
- a cloth
- paints, coloured paper or other items for decoration
- candy, small toys etc. to go inside
- a pin
Method
- Cover you work surface to protect it. The process can be wet and sticky.
2. Blow up a balloon until it forms an egg shape. You want the balloon to be firm but not inflated to the maximum or it could burst. Tie a knot in the end of the balloon.
3. Rest the balloon, knot side down on a container. If you are using a light container such as a plastic cup, you will need some weight in the bottom to stop it from tipping. I used some water in mine.
4. In the shallow container, mix glue or flour and water together. You want 1 part glue/flour to 3 parts water. Mix well.
5. One strip at a time, dip the paper into the glue mixture and smooth it onto the balloon. Start by making a cross on the balloon and then work out from there. Slightly over lap each strip. Don’t leave paper in the mixture, it will start to dissolve and fall apart (trust me, I found out the hard way!). Also, the paper only needs to be wet enough to stick firmly. If it is too wet it takes longer to dry.
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It gets messy!
6. Keep adding strips of paper overlapping the previous strip by about 1/4 of the strip. Don’t be afraid to put strips on in different directions but do make sure you get even coverage. Cover the balloon all the way to the knot end. Leaving just enough space that you will have a hole big enough to get your goodies inside.
7. Let your egg dry over night. If you still have glue solution left you can cover it and use it again the next day.
8. Once your egg is dry, add a second layer of paper over the first. Put the strips on in a different direction to the first layer for extra strength. make sure to take the second layer all the way up to the edge of the first layer around the knot. Let the egg dry again.
9. Once the egg is dry, take a needle and carefully insert it into the soft part of the balloon at the neck. We want to deflate the balloon with out it popping to make sure we can get it out whole. You can keep adding holes as the balloon deflates to let the air out faster. Pull out the deflated balloon.
Hide the treats
10. Now the best bit. Put your candy and treats into the egg. No sneaky snacking!
11. To ensure the treats last until Easter, it’s time to seal up the top. Carefully work your way around the hole adding more strips of paper to close it up. once the hole is quite small you can crisscross strips over the remaining gap. Add more to ensure a good seal and then let it dry.
12. Congratulations! Your egg is now ready to decorate. Paint it, use coloured paper, stick sequins or flowers on it. The options are limited only by your imagination.
Decorating ideas
The egg on the left uses coloured paper triangles from a note pad stuck on with undiluted PVA glue.
The egg on the right was painted using acrylic paint. A base of white gesso was put down to cover the news print before adding the colour.
Egg Chest
The egg chest starts the same as the pinatas but requires some extra steps to strengthen it before cutting and making the lid fitting. This one is finished with purple tissue decoupage and gold ornaments. I plan to fill it with Turkish delight – homemade of course!
Don’t forget to subscribe to get instructions for the egg chest and pinata emailed to your inbox.
I hope you have as much fun as I did making these. Just remember that they will be getting smashed open at Easter so consider that when doing you decorations.
Stay safe, stay home and always be creative.
This looks great, Claire! Thanks for sharing…kids are exci to try it out 🙂
This looks great, Claire! Thanks for sharing…kids are excited to try it out 🙂
This looks great, Claire! Kids are excited to try this out :):)
Thank you. I hope they have fun. Please share a picture of the end results.