Piñata Boy
  • Home
  • Gallery
    • Alien
    • Jaguar
    • Princess Ducky
    • Alien Planet
    • Jimmy Kimmel Live
    • Rainbow Zebra
    • Demon Smiley
    • Medusa
    • Santa Smiley
    • Dolphin
    • Neopets – Feepit
    • Shark
    • Football
    • Neopets – Shoyru
    • Smaug
    • Ghost and Bat
    • Parrot
    • Stegosaurus
    • Green Dragon
    • Pigasus
    • Tarantula
    • Heart
    • Pirates of the Caribbean
    • Tropical Fish
    • Hello Kitty
    • Pokeball
    • Warlord of Nibblecheese
    • Jack-o-Lantern
    • Porcupine Pufferfish
    • Coloring Pages!
    • Jill-o-Lantern
  • Make Your Own
    • Before you start
    • Adding the hanging hook
    • Smashing your piñata
    • How to make a piñata
    • Decorating your piñata
    • Storing your piñata
    • Working with balloons
    • Decorating with crepe paper
    • Simple Piñatas
    • Working with cardboard
    • Cutting the candy opening
    • Step-by-step instructions
    • Working with papier mâché
    • Making a piñata stick
    • Ask a Question
  • Show Us Yours
  • Blog
  • About

Working with cardboard

(click photos to see enlarged)

I usually avoid working with cardboard because it’s difficult to break with a stick, but sometimes due to time constraints or the nature of what you’re making, thin cardboard is the best choice. If you’re going to use thin cardboard, most of the time you still have to cover it with papier mâché in order to stiffen the sculpture so it holds its shape.

You can get big sheets of thin cardboard for free from Costco or Sam’s Club. You’ll find them in the stacks of paper towel and toilet paper, and also in various other stacks of boxed goods throughout the store. They have always let me just have them.

Store-bought piñatas sometimes use corrugated cardboard for the target area of a piñata, but I never do. It’s just too hard to break.

In order to round off an area using thin cardboard, I cut a series of parallel snips in the cardboard and then bend them in on one another. When bending thin cardboard into shape, all the cuts must be the same length. If your cuts are different lengths, the cardboard will pucker and create pointed bumps.

With careful cutting you can get a smoothly rounded shape out of thin cardboard much more quickly than you could using a large punch ball. Just be careful that it’s not too hard to break – folding all those flaps down can create multiple layers of cardboard to break through, so you may need to do some creative cutting to make it breakable, especially for kids.

<< Working with balloons
Working with papier mâché >>

Make Your Own

  • Before you start
  • How to make a piñata
  • Working with balloons
  • Working with cardboard
  • Working with papier mâché
  • Adding the hanging hook
  • Decorating your piñata
  • Decorating with crepe paper
  • Cutting the candy opening
  • Making a piñata stick
  • Smashing your piñata
  • Storing your piñata
  • Simple Piñatas
  • Step-by-step instructions
    • Make a Heart
    • Make a Pig
    • Make a Tropical Fish
    • Make a Spider
    • Make a Stegosaurus
    • Make a Zebra
  • Ask a question!
Piñata Boy
All materials © 2025 Piñata Boy. All rights reserved. Web site by Websy Daisy.

MENU
  • Home
  • Gallery
    • Alien
    • Alien Planet
    • Demon Smiley
    • Dolphin
    • Football
    • Ghost and Bat
    • Green Dragon
    • Heart
    • Hello Kitty
    • Jack-o-Lantern
    • Jaguar
    • Jill-o-Lantern
    • Jimmy Kimmel Live
    • Medusa
    • Neopets – Feepit
    • Neopets – Shoyru
    • Parrot
    • Pigasus
    • Pirates of the Caribbean
    • Pokeball
    • Porcupine Pufferfish
    • Princess Ducky
    • Rainbow Zebra
    • Santa Smiley
    • Shark
    • Smaug
    • Tarantula
    • Stegosaurus
    • Tropical Fish
    • Warlord of Nibblecheese
    • Coloring Pages
  • Make Your Own
    • Before you start
    • How to make a piñata
    • Working with balloons
    • Working with cardboard
    • Working with papier mâché
    • Adding the hanging hook
    • Decorating your piñata
    • Decorating with crepe paper
    • Cutting the candy opening
    • Making a piñata stick
    • Smashing your piñata
    • Storing your piñata
    • Simple Piñatas
    • Step-by-step instructions
    • Ask a Question
  • Show Us Yours
  • Blog
  • About