DIY Pinata - Our Birthday Tradition

If you read our post last week about how we do birthdays, you know that we love a good pinata in this house. And by that I mean a free, amazing, whatever they come up with pinata. So today I just wanted to give you a basic idea of how we make them, so you can go forth and make whatever your kids dream up.

Did you guys do paper mache growing up? Because that's all this is! All you need are balloons (or thin cardboard from a cereal box if you need square shapes), newspaper, flour, and water. Plus any paints and decorations you want.

Start by making your pinata form with balloons or cereal boxes. Don't use anything thicker than that or you won't be able to break the pinata when you are finished! Just do your best to make the basic shape of your item. Here are some examples:

• Death Star - one large punching balloon (easy!)
• Ninja - two regular balloons taped together with one blown up slightly less for the head (construction paper arms and legs added at the end)
• Long Neck Dino - two regular balloons taped side by side for a long body, a small balloon for the head, and a paper towel roll for the neck (we added construction paper legs when it was done)

Tape a loop of string to the form that you can use for hanging it when you are done. If you can loop it all the way around to the bottom that will give you the best hold.

3 Tips for a Great Kids Birthday

I love birthdays. Always have, always will. It's a good thing since we're getting to have a quite a few birthdays around here. In fact we just finished prepping for another one, so I thought this would be the perfect time to share how we do birthdays at More Like Home!

Over the last few years I've found there are really three keys to  making an amazing birthday that we all enjoy but all of it really boils down to this - it's completely un-pinterest-worthy. Because we don't do the pinterest big three: 1. elaborate decorations 2. themed party favors 3. a big party *gasp*  But we do our very best to make it a super special day for the birthday boy. And we do have lots of fun, lots of memories, and very few regrets. So here are the More Like Home top three birthday planning tips: