Homemade pinatas are always a hit at my kids’ birthday parties. I really enjoy the challenge of making them and all the kids enjoy the challenge of breaking them. In the past I have made pinatas that are all based off a round shape. This makes it easy to make the main body by paper macheing around a balloon. But a trash truck is all right angles and flat sides. So, I had to try something new. Making a garbage truck pinata turned out to be simple and fun.
Before I got started, I looked up other DIY trash truck pinatas for inspiration. This pinata from Crazy Wonderful was the look I was going for, but wasn’t made from paper mache. So, I did my best to recreate the look using my own method.
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How to Make a Trash Truck Pinata
Materials:
- Cardboard (I used these 12″x12″ squares)
- Masking tape
- White cardstock (optional)
- Flour
- Acrylic paint (green, white, grey, yellow)
- Black cardstock
- Mod Podge (optional)
- Rope
- Pinata bat
Making the Structure:
Start by making your trash truck shaped structure out of cardboard. You can use old boxes, but I found that using 12″x12″ cardboard squares made it really easy. First, cut out the shapes of cardboard for the profile of the trash truck. Draw the front on one piece. You can tell from my picture that it took me several attempts at drawing it before I was happy with the shape.
Next, do the exact same thing again to get your pieces for the other side. Use masking tape to tape the three pieces together to form each side.
Then, attach the two sides together. I made mine 9″ apart. So, I cut 3″ off of three of my squares of cardboard and then used those three pieces to form another 9″ spacer piece. I also taped on spacer pieces to the top and side.
Lastly, fold up the two sides and attach the top and flat side of the back together. I used white cardstock to cover the hood of the trash truck pinata, but cardboard should work too. Make sure you leave a space open, so you have access inside your pinata later. It is also a good idea to punch two holes in the top to have somewhere to hang your pinata from later.
First Paper Mache Layer:
Now that you have your basic structure, it’s time to make your paper mache paste. I use this recipe from the Spruce Crafts that uses a 1:2 ratio of flour to water. I always make a lot and place it in the fridge between uses. You also need to rip newspaper or paper bags into strips. I normally use newspaper, but I ran out part way through and switched to brown paper bags.
Once you have all your supplies, start paper macheing. Make your first layer cover the front of the top half (besides the hole for candy). Don’t forget to poke through your hanging holes after this layer. Then, after it dries, flip over your garbage truck pinata and do a layer on the entire bottom.
Now that you have a whole base layer, you can fill your pinata. I was worried that moisture would drip onto the candy if I filled it before this point. To fit with the theme, I filled mine with both candy and trash. I put in newspaper, cardboard containers, washed yogurt containers, etc..
This would also be a good time to string your rope or a hook of some sort through the holes in the top of your pinata. It will be inconvenient to paper mache and paint around it, but easier than threading it through the holes later like I did.
Next, cover the hole in your pinata with either cardstock or cardboard. Tilt the pinata to move everything you added to the far side. Then, do a paper mache layer over the newly added material. The tilt is another precaution against paste dripping through to your candy. Once our pinata broke open, I didn’t see any on the candy or trash so it worked.
Finishing the Paper Mache:
Now you can go to town paper macheing on more layers. With the added strength of the cardboard, this pinata is going to already be tough. So, your layers are more about getting a smooth shape than adding strength. My cardboard sank and curved as my first layer dried, so my later layers were trying to correct this.
Between each layer, let the last layer fully dry. Then, rotate the pinata to get to new sides. Place your strips going the opposite direction of the previous layer.
Decorating the Garbage Truck Pinata:
Once you are happy with the shape of your trash truck pinata, it is time to paint it. This is the simplest pinata I have painted and my four year old daughter was able to help. First, paint the cab white and the back green. Once again you will have to do the top half, wait for it to dry, and then do the bottom half. Because I used plain brown paper as my last layer, I only needed one coat of both colors. Which was really good, because I used an entire bottle of green paint to paint it.
Does your trash truck pinata look not quite right? That is because it is still missing wheels. Cut six large circles from black cardstock and hot glue them on to your pinata. From this point on you will have to either hang your pinata or store it upside down so you don’t squish the paper wheels.
Then, use grey paint to paint on two side windows and a front window. And use yellow paint to paint on circles for headlights. You can paint on as many details as you want, but I kept it simple and stopped here.
Lastly, I add what I think is a really fun touch. In Pixelied, I made a logo similar to Waste Management, but using my son’s initials. Then, I printed two out and glued one to each side of my garbage truck pinata. I painted over them with Mod Podge to help them stay on.
Using the Garbage Truck Pinata:
Once you are ready for your kid’s party, it is time to hang your garbage truck pinata. If you listened to my advice and already have something attached to the top of your pinata, this will be easy. If you didn’t, poke two holes in the top and carefully feed a piece of rope through. This is what I did and it ripped through, because I didn’t get it through all the layers. I ended up tying the rope around the entire truck so the kids could continue hitting the unbroken pinata.
Then, let the fun begin! Give the kids a bat to take turns hitting the pinata with. I always let the birthday kid go first and then everyone else in age order. We used a plastic bat, but it was not tough enough to fully break it. We ended up giving the older kids a metal bar to use instead. I would recommend something like a wood bat instead. Even with a better bat this is a tough pinata that should allow every kid to have multiple turns.
Conclusion of Making a DIY Garbage Truck Pinata
I love how this garbage truck pinata turned out. It was my simplest design yet, but it was obvious what it was and my son loved it. As I mentioned, it was tough which let every kid have multiple turns. Everyone enjoyed hitting it and of course loved running to get the candy once it finally broke.
The trash also coming out got several laughs. And I got a good laugh that my 3 year old niece grabbed one of the empty yogurt containers and put it in her candy bag. We even used the fallen trash for the next game that was also a hit (check it out here). Overall it was fun to make and fun for the kids to play with.
Let me know in the comments how yours turned out. And check out these other fun trash truck party ideas and other DIY pinatas.
