How to make a piñata from a cereal box

I am seldom excited to spend money on items that are meant to be broken and thrown in the garbage. So, I decided I needed to learn how to make a pinata from a cereal box. I chose a cereal box because we go through cereal like it is going out of style at our house, so I always have a surplus of these.

It was surprisingly quick and easy. And aside from the cost of candies, it was made with stuff that I had lying around the house.

How to Make a Piñata from a Cereal Box

Who does not need a homemade piñata?  I mean, you get to smash it, and candy comes flying out!  That sounds like a great idea!  So, let us get our supplies and start to make one!

What You Need:

1. An empty cereal box – If you have kids, you will have lots of these.
2. Cutting tools  – Scissors, cutting knife, cutting machine (I use my Cricut)
3. Tissue paper – I always have tons of this lying around from gift bags, so I did not need to buy any
4. Glue
5. Candy – I bought a bunch at the bulk barn, so there was a variety of candy.
6. String/twine – required to hang up the piñata when done.

Let’s Begin!

Piñata Design

I designed a cutout in Inkspace for my Cricut. You can get a copy below.  

You can print off the PDF and trace it onto a cereal box, or you can use the SVG and upload it to your Cricut.

If you want to start from scratch – that works as well.

Cut the Cereal Box

I used my Cricut to cut the design, but it can easily be cut with scissors or a crafting knife.   

Assemble

Apply glue to the tabs and press the side panel onto the tabs.  

Don not glue all of the side panels on, so you need to leave a spot for the candy to go in before you seal it up.

I tried gluing the front to the sides first and then gluing the back on.  I also tried gluing the front and back on at the same time to the side panels.  There was no difference.  Once the box starts to get closed up, it just gets tricky  no matter what.

Insert Candy

Finish Gluing

Apply tissue Paper

Cut up tissue paper into strips and got it ready for gluing.

I simply used a paintbrush and some white glue to apply the tissue paper on.  

I only used a small amount of glue at the top of the tissue paper so that there was some excess floating around.

After all of the tissue paper was glued on and dried, I cut notches into the tissue paper to give it some character.  Hindsight being 20:20, I should have cut the notches beforehand, but it made no difference in the end.

Add a Picture to the Front of the Pinata

My kids had requested that I make them a picture to color.  You can learn how to do that here with your Cricut.

I cut out a backing piece from the cereal box so that the picture would have some rigidity.

Then I printed off the design and glued it onto the piñata.  

And That’s It! You’re Done!

Some Important Notes:

While going through this activity, I learned a bunch of tricks I would like to share:

1. The size I used was to allow for one Piñata to be made from one Cereal Box.  A larger Piñata can be made similarly, but more cereal boxes would be required.
2. Do not send your husband to the store to buy candy.  He will come home with 10 times as much as you need.  This is bad for your waistline as we all know this surplus of candy is not going to the kids.
3. Try to get candy that is securely wrapped in bags/wrappers. Candy that is in a box, such as Nerds, will explode inside the piñata when you are hitting it.  The contents of these boxes will go flying everywhere, and kids will cry.
4. Cereal boxes and glue are surprisingly sturdy.  If you want to give your kids a workout, add glue to all of the tabs.  But if you want your kids to get the candy after 3-4 hits, use glue sparingly and not on every location.
5. Use filler in the box (ie: tissue paper). You do not need to fill the box with candy. Let’s be honest, you do not want your kids eating that much candy anyway.
6. Some feelings will probably get hurt if you are using one piñata per child.  So adding 2 or 3 of each candy (depending on the number of kids you have) to keep everyone happy is not a bad idea.
7. If possible, do it outside, so there is less mess to clean up inside.  🙂

And finally – ENJOY!

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