My baby boy just turned one yesterday and we have his party tomorrow. The theme is little price and it came with a crown pinata. It is kind of cool because instead of the kids hitting it, there are curly ribbon strings hanging down that they pull and eventually the candy will fall out. Has anyone had experience with these types of pinatas? How did you make it fun for the kids? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
Well it didn't work! So I ran in the house, got a broom handle and a scarf and they ended up beating the thing till it broke, so we still had lots of fun. Thanks so much for all the great suggestions! All is well, and I am done for one more year!
This might be a little late but my daughter had the same kind. We let all the kids hit on it, it never broke, and at the end we pulled the string and the kids got after it! It was fun!
We did this for my sons 2nd birthday. We had all the children in the party go grab their fave color ribbon and on the count of three pull. You may need to help the process along a bit...ours got stuck. :) We stuffed the pinata with little $1 store expandable wash rags (expand in water), soft balls, boxed raisins, baggies of goldfish/pretzels, and little granola bars, puffy stickers, etc.
Have fun!
Hey J. I love those pinatas. Way better than beating down one with a stick or a bat. So, fun!! B.
Hi J.!
How Fun!
When my Daughter turned 6 we had her party in an indoor play center and they allowed us to have a pinata as long as we didn't hit it. So, I tied many long ribbons to the bottom of the pinata. There was a hook so we could still add the rope and raise it up and down as we pleased. We lowered the pinata to the floor and had each child hold the end of one of the ribbons. Then we all counted to six as my Husband raised the pinata and when we got to six we all yelled "Happy Birthday" and all the children pulled the strings all at once and the candy came pouring out. They all screamed and just loved it.
You could do something similar. Since your son is one you could have everyone count backwards from ten, while someone raises the pinata and when you say "one" then have everyone say "Happy Birthday" and have the children pull the strings.
Have Fun!
D.
I have heard of people not knowing they had to fill the pinata. So do check it to see if it was prefilled with candy. Good luck looks like you got some cute ideas. Also if you wanted to secure some of the openings and let the kids take turns trying to see which door opens all the candy that might be fun, might open on the first pull!?!?
For a 1 year old, the string pinata would be perfect. As he gets older, he may prefer the one you hit. I have a friend who has a girl and she always gets the string one. She would still have the kids line up and take turns pulling the string. Well, last year her daughter was first (since she was b-day girl) and low-and-behold, she pull the string that unzips it first. The kids loved the candy, but we also bumed out that it was over so quickly.
I have a son who turned 6 in May. For the past two years we have bought his pinata from a panaderia here in Galveston. It's not one of the flimsy ones in the shape of the theme. It's round with the pointy cones sticking off of it. It is one tough pinata. They hold what feels like a ton of candy. For both of the past two years the children have all had about 3 turns each to swing (about 5 hits each turn) and the pinata would not bust, maybe a little tear with only a few teaser pieces of candy falling. The kids would be tired of swinging so my husband (a 43 year old kid himself) takes his turn. The kids think it's a hoot to watch him try to bust this monster open. But, when it finally did the kids did their scramble.
As for safety while the swinger is in action. I mark a line where the kids cannot pass until it is their turn. They have to stay in line or they have to sit down. Organization is the key to safety with a real pinata.
Give your son a few years. If he likes baseball, he will probably insist on a hitting pinata! Girls are another story, but boys will be boys!
We've used these pinatas many times. We usually have
the kids line up, and play some type of fun music that
either goes with the theme, or is age appropriate silly
music. The children go up and each pulls one string, then
goes to the end of the line and the next child comes up.
We usually have to remind them, or watch that they only
pull one string at a time, to hopefully give everyone a chance.
Now be prepared, we've had pinatas that the first child
who came up pulled the "right" string, and all the candy
came out. We had some upset kids that wanted their turn
too. We've also had it where the very last child pulled
the string. You just never know, but the candy falling
makes everyone enjoy it!
Good luck.
We had one of these for our son's 3rd birthday and it was so much better than the kind you have to hit with a stick. Usually the kids grow impatient waiting for everyone to get to take a turn hitting the pinata and your constantly having to have everyone back up to avoid someone being hit with the stick. With the string one, we just had each child grab a string and everyone pulled at the same time. Then it was a free for all for the candy! The kids loved it since they each got to be a part of it opening rather than just one child being responsible for the candy falling out.
Good Luck,
K.
We have also used this type of pinata for all of the children in our family. It is great. At this age, the thought that candy could fall at anytime is more than enough excitment for them. We also had the children pull the string at the same time. That is really the extent of most toddler's attention span anyway. Have fun!
