Cinco De Mayo Craft: Mini Chili Piñatas

Cinco de Mayo is just around the corner, which means is time to break out the maracas, whip up some guacamole, and celebrate!

Hi, it’s Tonya, and I’m back with a fun Cinco de Mayo craft that’s the perfect addition to your celebrations.

For most Americans, Cinco de Mayo is just a good excuse to eat nachos and have a margarita or two, but I decided to look it up to see what it’s really about. May 5th is NOT Mexico’s Independence Day, as some may think. Rather, it is a celebration of an unlikely victory against the French Army at The Battle of Puebla in 1862.

While Cinco de Mayo isn’t as important to Mexico as their Independence Day (September 16th), they do observe the holiday by celebrating with their families. Evidently it’s a bigger deal to Mexicans living in America, and cities across our country with large Mexican populations hold parties to celebrate with parades, food, dancing, music and more.

If you’re planning to celebrate Mexican cuisine, culture and music with our friendly neighbor to the south, these mini chili piñatas are the perfect addition to your festivities. Use them as place settings or scatter them on your table filled with fun treats. You can customize the contents for kids or adults. 

What you need:

• cardboard – I used a cereal box (one cereal box made 4 piñatas)
• crepe paper streamers – green and red
• tape
• glue
• scissors
• fun treats or trinkets to pop into your piñatas such as candy, or items your guests can wear at your party

The first thing you need to do is sketch the basic shape for a chili onto the cardboard.

Cut it out, and use it as a template to make as many as you need. Just remember you need 2 pieces per piñata.

Cut thin strips of cardboard, about 3/4-inch wide. Use tape attach it to the side of the cardboard chili. Essentially you are making a chili box. Once you have attached one side, add a lid, and tape that into place too. Leave the top of the chili (where the stalk would go) open.

Cut a strip of green crepe paper streamer and glue it to the opening of the chili box, making sure that the majority of the crepe paper hangs over the end.

Now cut strips of red crepe paper streamers, and cut a fringe into each piece.

Using glue, attach each streamer to the cardboard chili by wrapping it around starting at the bottom and working your way up to the top where the stalk would go.

Place trinkets or candy through the opening of each chili piñata. Then gather the green crepe paper together at the top, twisting it until it closes.

And there you have it, a fun Cinco de Mayo craft for your May 5th celebrations. Have a great one!