Angry Birds Pinata

Last week, a group of us submitted a pinata to a pinata contest at work.  We created an angry bird from the popular video game, "Angry Birds". An entry to the contest included a pinata kit containing a bag of flour, crepe paper, ribbon and a balloon. I didn't get a chance to take pictures as we made the pinata, but here are some pictures of our bird and our setup.

It took us about 4 lunch sessions to finish the bird.
 First session:  Blowing up the balloon, making the paper mache paste (2 parts flour: 3 parts water), and covering up the balloon with paste and newspaper.  We let that dry til our next session.  I'm not sure how long it actually took to dry, maybe a day?

Second session:  We got to pop the balloon (which made the best sound ever as the balloon separated from the dried up newspaper mache form.  We began cutting the crepe paper in strips (about 6 in), and cutting slits in them.  Attaching the crepe paper moved fast and easily, because we attached three crepe paper strips together before attaching them onto the bird.  We also attached the beak and covered it with smoother uncut yellow crepe paper.

Third session:  We continued covering the bird with red and white crepe paper.  We also rolled up some crepe paper and taped it and glued it up on top (also where the balloon hole was).  This formed the top feathers of the bird.  We cut some white and black felt make the eyes and eyebrows. It was mostly complete at this point.

Fourth session:  We used black foam for the tail, made a small slit in the back, to fit it in.  Lastly, we put together some props for our display.  We included a nest with some wooden eggs painted gold and some crocheted angry birds and pigs.

We had completed our pinata, and now awaited its judgement.  We left our display and came back an hour later, where the public voting box was opened so we could cast our votes.  To our dismay, three of our golden eggs were gone.   We had no clue where they went, til someone told us that a blue jay had actually swooped down and stolen the eggs.  We did notice a blue jay in the nearby trees screaming at us while we investigated the disappearance of our eggs... now we know why. Ironically, s/he was quite angry at us.  I guess it tried to get the largest egg as well, but couldn't carry it away.  Hope it's not trying to hatch them.

Anyway, we walked away with the People's Choice Award, T-shirts, a gift certificate, and best of all bragging rights and one heck of a story to tell.  The competition was fierce and the experience was fun.  Here are pictures of the other entries.

Thanks to the Hispanic Leadership Committee for hosting the pinata contest, and a special thanks to my team members who did an absolutely amazing job with the pinata.

For more information about making your own pinata check this site out: http://www.chevroncars.com/learn/fun-games/how-to-make-pinata