DIY Pinata - Gender Reveal Party

I was in hardcore "save money" mode in planning our gender reveal party. I knew I wanted to incorporate my craft side and make lots of cute and fun things for the party. I came across the idea to reveal the gender using a pinata. Basically you can fill it with colored confetti and when its broken open the specific color is showered down, but I wanted to make it like a traditional pinata and fill that bad boy with candy. We decided that we were going to write the pertinent information on the candy and once it was broken open then the guests would have to rummage through to find the piece. It was a fun and new way to reveal to our family and I loved it. The next decision was what would the pinata look like. I scoured the internet until I decided that I didn't like anything in my price range and that "it didn't look that hard to do." So I enlisted the help of my hubby and we made our own Question Mark pinata.

What You'll Need:
Cardboard (Big pieces)
Pencil
Xacto Knife
Masking Tape
Crepe Paper (I used streamers from The Dollar Tree)
White Glue
Scissors

Directions:
1. Draw out your shape onto the cardboard. Since mine was a big question mark and I wanted it to look proportional, so I had to re-draw it a couple of times to get the shape right. To make the question mark you will need (2) sets of the main shape, (2) 6"x 6" squares, (4) 4"x 6" squares and several long 4" wide strips for the sides.

2. After you cut out your shapes, its time to assemble. Take your masking tape, one main body and the 4"W long strips and start to shape and tape them to the main body. Tape the sides all the way around and repeat with the back. Use the same technique for the dot of the question mark. I made sure to glue a string attaching the dot to the main body. Don't forget to cut a fill hole at the top and add in your hangar before you decorate. It will be easier to do it now.

3. Take your streamers and cut 3/4 of the way up the sides ever 1/2" down. Take your glue and apply a strip of glue to your base and attach the streamer. This is the time consuming part. Sit in front of the tv and listen to your favorite show and just keep applying streamers in sections all the way around until its completely covered.

4. Take a gander at your completed pinata, and let your hubby pretend to take a whack at it with some wrapping paper.

This is a super simple project, but time consuming. I would say to start working on it at least two weeks before your event to ensure you have enough time! At least now I know how to do it, so if baby girl ever asks me to make one for her birthday parties, I know I can!

Have you hosted a gender reveal party? How did you announce your little ones gender?