I have twin 1 year olds. Looking to make a piñata for their first birthday. They cannot hold a stick so I wanted the pull string option. Any experience with that?
Answer from Piñata Boy
I’ve never made a pull-string piñata, but what you want to do is make a door on the bottom that can be pulled open, but will still withstand the weight of the candy inside when closed. Then you firmly attach one string to the inside of the door so that when it’s pulled, the door will open. The rest of the strings go through the crack where the door opens, but they’re not attached to anything on the inside, so when they’re pulled they just freely slip out through the crack. The main string doesn’t have to be attached to the inside of the door, but doing so makes it easier to camouflage which string is the active one, since all the strings disappear into the piñata through the same crack.
How you make the door will depend on the nature of the piñata. Since the piñata isn’t going to be broken, it can be made from any kind of cardboard and then decorated — there’s no need to use papier-mâché if you don’t want to. The door can be a rectangle of cardboard cut out of the bottom of the piñata, then firmly attached on one end with tape to form a hinge that will allow the door to swing open, but will not come off. The strings would then be attached at the other end of the door, and the door taped shut with tape that will release when the correct string is pulled. Alternatively, a small cardboard tab or something along those lines could hold the door shut. How you do it will depend on the shape of the piñata and how heavy the treasure inside is. You should be able to construct, fill, and test the piñata before decorating.
Good luck, and I hope you’ll post a photo when it’s done!