Oatmeal Can Pinata

Whether youre having a pinata at your wedding reception, or thinking of making one for a childs birthday, theres one you rarely see and thats a cylindrical pinata. Its a really easy thing to make, though. An oatmeal canister - or a similar cylinder with a lid - works great to make a pinata for any special occasion. And, with the cylinder pinata you dont have to worry about people getting injured with a bat; theres no bat needed.

Its not even hard to make this type of pinata so even if you dont generally do craft projects you can whip it up in no time. Just empty a large oatmeal canister and wipe the inside out with a barely-damp cloth. Use a cord or piece of twine as the hanger for the pinata. Cut the twine to be at least a foot long and tie the ends together in a single knot. Set the oatmeal can so that the bottom is facing upwards and poke a hole in the middle of it with a nail or similar implement.

Turn the can over, remove the lid, and thread the cord through the hole, from the inside, out. It can be helpful to use a piece of tape over the knot to make sure its secure. Fill the canister with candy, small toys, gift cards, play jewelry and other goodies. Set the lid so that the open side is down and poke many holes in it. Make sure none of the holes are too close together or they could rip and form one large hole. Thread ribbon pieces through the holes of the lid, from the outside, to the inside. On the inside, curl all the ribbons except for one - any one. While curling the ribbons, just curl the last few inches of the ribbon so that most of the length of the ribbon is on the outside of the can. This will keep the ribbons from just falling out of the holes. The single, selected ribbon wont be curled. Instead, tie a knot in this ribbon. The knot should be large and strong - maybe even taped over to further secure it. Put the lid back on the oatmeal canister and use tiny pieces of tape, here and there, around the lid to keep it on the can. Dont over tape the seam or the lid wont come off later, when its supposed to. As the players gather around the pinata, each person pulls one string. The ribbons which are simply curled just slide right out, but the string with the knot, when pulled, yanks off the entire lid. You can decorate the canister any way you want when you tear tiny pieces of colored tissue paper and glue them all over the pinata. Make it a birthday pinata, an anniversary type, or a pinata for an end of the school year party.