How To Make A Pull-String Pinata From A Regular Pinata - Ninja Turtle Style

My kids love having pinatas at their parties. I however, am not very fond of the idea of a bunch of preschoolers swinging a stick around inside my house. This is why I like to turn regular pinatas into pull-string pinatas. It is actually very easy, and can be done to any pinata.

Supplies

Pinata
Ribbon
Scissors
Tape 
Exacto Knife or Box Cutter
Stick Glue
Matching Tissue Paper (optional)

Method

1. Carefully remove anything that can be used to cover the ribbon locations. (If you don't have anything to remove move on to Step 2.)

2. Using a box cutter, carefully cut 3 sides of a rectangle in the bottom of the pinata, to create a little "door". You want to make the opening big enough for what you are filling your pinata with to come out, but you do not want it to be so large that the pressure of the filling pushes the door open.

3. Cut your ribbon in to pieces that are 2-3 feet in length. You want them long enough so that the kids will be able to reach them when the pinata is hung. Try to make the pieces similar length. You can make as many or as few ribbons as you'd like, I did 2 for each child attending the party.

4. Make a small slit in the center of the "door", and place one piece of the ribbon through the hole. Tie a knot in the ribbon, on the inside of the "door", and tape the ribbon down. (If you are filling your pinata through the "door", fill it now. If you are filling it through a premade hole in the top you can fill it whenever you like.)

5. Close the "door", and randomly tape the rest of the ribbons on and around the door. Use tiny pieces of tape; so that the ribbons will rip off easily, and so you can easily disguise which ribbon is the one that will open the pinata.

6. Cover the "door" opening and ribbon ends with pieces of matching tissue paper.
OR
If you removed anything in step 1 you can replace it now. I cut tiny slits in the brown piece I replaced, so that the ribbons would drop through. Then I glued the brown piece down around the edges.

Your pinata is now ready to P-A-R-T-Y!


To turn the turtle pinata into a Ninja Turtle, I first carefully removed the eyes. Then I glued a piece of crape paper around the turtles head and knotted it in the back. Next I glued the eyes back on over the crape paper, and attached a piece of black electrical tape for a mouth. 

This was a cheap and super simple solution to my problem of not finding a Ninja Turtle pinata on the market.

If you would like to see more from my son's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party, check out these posts.
The Decorations {Part 1}
The Food {Part 2}
The Favors {Part 3}



 I'll Be Linking Up At Some Of These Parties!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Party {Part 3 The Favors}

Last week I shared the decorations and food for my son's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Party. Today I am going to show you what I did for the favors.

To make the bags for the favors I made freehand patterns of the head and eye wrap. Then I traced them on card stock, cut them out and glued them to the bags. I used the same eyes that I used on the balloons and lanterns seen here.  I drew on the mouths and wrote on the names of all the kids attending the party with a Sharpie.

 Each favor bag contained a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles coloring book, a 24pk of crayons, some candy, a toy skateboard, an eye wrap, and some toxic ooze.

To make the Toxic Ooze I purchased tiny tubs of glitter putty from Party City. Then I printed out "Toxic Ooze" on Avery 8160 labels.

I wrapped one label around the side of the tub, and cut another label for the lid of the tub.

I made the eye wraps from T shirts, size XL. I purchased the T shirts at ACMoore. 

 I cut 3" strips off the T shirts, so you end up with a big band of fabric. Then I cut the band so you just have one really long piece of material.

Next I folded the piece of material in half longways, and then in half again. Now you should have 4 layers of fabric overlapping.  I cut a half circle from arrow to arrow on the picture above. That will give you 2 eye holes. Then all you have to do is tie it on.

Update If you would like to see more from my son's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party, check out these posts.
The Decorations {Part 1}
The Food {Part 2}
How to Make a Pull-String Pinata
 I'll Be Linking Up At Some Of These Parties!

Lunches Week 25

This week went by so fast I'm not even sure how I remembered to make my daughter's lunch each day, let alone take pictures of it. The worst part is I'm not even sure what I accomplished this week.

MONDAY

She had mini flower sandwiches, red peppers, carrots, wild rice with mixed veggies, a brownie, and a Capri Sun.

TUESDAY

I packed her dolphin shaped sandwiches , red peppers, carrots, goldfish crackers, and a Capri Sun.

WEDNESDAY

She had a cat shaped sandwich, pudding, carrots, goldfish crackers, and a Sistema Twist N' Sip* of water.

THURSDAY

I packed her a teddy bear shaped sandwich, carrots, squeezable applesauce, Trix treats, and a Capri Sun.

FRIDAY

She had a flower shaped sandwich, carrots, goldfish crackers, Hello Kitty Fruit Snacks, and a Sistema Twist N' Sip* of water.

The products used in this post are listed below.

The pink container is from Pottery Barn Kids. 

The container with green inserts is the Rubbermaid LunchBlox entree with trays*.

The clear container with 3 sections is an EasyLunchBox*.  

The tiny clear container is an EasyLunchboxes Mini-Dippers*.

The silicone cups are Wilton pastel cupcake liners*. 

The pastel star cups are from ebay.  

The squishy packs with the applesauce in them are Squishy Snack Paks.

Check out my review of Squishy Snack Paks here!

*Affiliate Links.

 I'll Be Linking Up At Some Of These Parties!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Party {Part 2 The Food}

On Monday, I shared the decorations to my son's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Party with you. Today I am going to talk about the food we had.

For lunch we had pizza, a Ninja Turtles favorite! Our sides were pasta salad, potato salad, veggies & dip, and chips & dip.

That is the boring stuff. Let's move on to what is really important....DESSERTS!!!

THE CAKE

For the cake I stacked three 10" round yellow cakes, and decorated them with the same butter cream icing I used on my Cookie Dough Cupcakes. You can find the recipe here. I used Wilton tip 2A to decorate the sides of the cake, and tip #5 for the top of the cake. The turtles are made from fondant, but I piped on their eyes on with the same icing I used for the cake.

THE CUPCAKES

The cupcakes were a chocolate cake with the same butter cream icing as the cake. I used an Ateco tip 869  to decorate them. The cupcake wrappers were colors of the Ninja Turtles' eye wraps.

THE BROWNIES

The "Sewer Lids" were brownies that I cut out with a circle cookie cutter, and drizzled with melted Wilton Light Candy Cocoa Melts*.

 THE DIRT 

The "Sewer Dirt" was a pudding dessert that my kids love, and it was also the first thing to get eaten.

THE JELLO

The "Toxic Ooze" was melon Jell-O.

THE COOKIES

For the cookie bar we had sugar cookies, butter cream icing, mini gummie bears, M&Ms, and a selection of sprinkles.

As usual there were plenty of leftovers, and everyone got to take home some goodies to enjoy the next day!


Update If you would like to see more from my son's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party, check out these posts.
The Decorations {Part 1}
The Favors {Part 3} 
How to Make a Pull-String Pinata

*Affiliate Links.

 I'll Be Linking Up At Some Of These Parties!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Party {Part 1 The Decorations}

My kids tend to pick out difficult birthday themes. By difficult I mean every time they choose a birthday theme there are no "products" to be found. My daughter has picked Little Miss Sunshine (part 1 & part 2) and Lalaloopsy for her past two birthdays. My son picked Phineas and Ferb, and Dr. Seuss for his past two birthdays. For my son's parties was lucky enough to find some clearance Phineas and Ferb products, and some Dr. Seuss back-to-school products that help me. The worst part is that within a year the major party stores picked up the themes, and started making tons of party products for them. So watch out next year Ninja Turtles birthday products will be everywhere!!!

To make the balloons I tied crepe paper around the inflated balloons. Then I used stick glue to attach the eyes, and drew on mouths with a Sharpie. The eyes are made of white and black card stock.

I used "Ninja Turtle" Lanterns for table decorations and set them randomly around the house.

I made these the same way I made the balloons. I tied crepe paper around the lanterns. Then I used stick glue to attach the eyes.

I found the green lanterns in 3 packs at Party City. They are each 9.5" in diameter.

For the pinata I bought a turtle pinata from Party City. I removed the eyes, glued on a piece of crepe paper, and replaced the eyes. I also added a mouth made of black electrical tape.

In a future post I will give you detailed instructions on how I turned it into a pull-string pinata.

Update If you would like to see more from my son's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party, check out these posts.
The Food {Part 2}
The Favors {Part 3} 
How to Make a Pull-String Pinata

 I'll Be Linking Up At Some Of These Parties!

These boy party ideas were also featured on Spaceships and Laser Beams.

Lunches Week 23

I sit here writing this post, as my kids play Cut the Rope Connect 4 (love it!) and watch it "sn-ain" out the window. After a 20 minute debate on if it was snowing or raining out they decided it was "sn-aining". I tried explaining sleet, freezing rain, snow, and rain; but "sn-aining" is the only the thing that stopped their arguing.

Even though today ended in an early dismissal, my daughter did have 5 lunches this week.

MONDAY

She had an I Love You sandwich, a Z-Bar, grapes, carrots, and a Sistema Twist N' Sip* of water.

 TUESDAY

Tuesday was her 100th day of school, and National Pancake Day; so she had mini "100" pancakes and syrup, grapes, carrots, squeezeable applesauce, and a Capri Sun.

 WEDNESDAY

 I packed her a heart FunBites* sandwich, Goldfish crackers, carrots, pudding, and a Sistema Twist N' Sip* of water.

 THURSDAY

I packed her a pierogies, squeezable applesauce, corn, pudding, and a Capri Sun.

 FRIDAY

 She had a kiss shaped sandwich, squeezeable applesauce, Bugles, carrots, and a Capri Sun.

The products used in this post are listed below.

The container with green inserts is the Rubbermaid LunchBlox entree with trays*.

The clear container with 3 sections is an EasyLunchBox*.  

The tiny clear container is an EasyLunchboxes Mini-Dippers*.

The silicone cups are Wilton pastel cupcake liners*. 

The pastel heart cups are from ebay.  

The squishy packs with the applesauce in them are Squishy Snack Paks.

Check out my review of Squishy Snack Paks here!

*Affiliate Links.

 I'll Be Linking Up At Some Of These Parties!

 

Pop Rocks Valentine & Free Printable

Next week is Valentine's Day and between my 2 kids we need to around 70 Valentines. My son's birthday party also falls next week, so I when I was looking for a Valentine for my kids to hand out I wanted something quick and easy.

I bought the 3 packs of Pop Rocks at the Dollar Tree, and broke them up so each child would get one pack. Then I used the Paint program on my computer and created a quick design. I then applies it to the Avery template here, and printed it on Avery 2"x4" labels (#5163).

I attached them to the Pop Rocks so that the Valentine saying was on one side and the "To: From:" was on the other side.

If you would like to download the printable to use on labels or card stock go here...

Valentines Day Printable OCH 

.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Tomorrow is the 100th day of school for my daughter's school district. I was asked to make some cupcakes for her class. When I told my daughter about this, she told me I had to make the cookie cupcakes. My kids just love biting into a cupcake and finding something a little extra on the inside.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Make 24 cupcakes

Cookie Dough

You can use your favorite cookie dough recipe, store bought cookie dough, or the recipe below. I like to freeze some balls of dough every time I make cookies so I always have some on hand.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt (I use Kosher)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (DIY Vanilla Extract)

1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips 

1. Cream the butter and sugars together, in a large bowl.

2. Beat in 1 egg and vanilla extract to the butter mixture.

3. Mix in the flour, baking soda and salt. Until just combined.

4. Gently mix in the chocolate chips.

5. Roll the cookie dough into tablespoon sized balls, and place them on a plate or cookie sheet (something that will fit in your freezer).

6. Freeze the cookie dough balls for at least 2 hours. I usually let the go over night, or use some I keep frozen.

Cupcake

You can use your favorite cake recipe, or the recipe below. 

1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix

1 1/3 cups water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

3. Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl.

4. Add cake mix, water, and oil to the eggs; and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

5. Fill the prepared cupcake pans, until each cupcake is 2/3 full.

6. Place a frozen cupcake ball on the top of each cupcake.

7. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cupcake (NOT the cookie dough ball) comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.

8. Cool in pans about 5 minutes, before removing from the pans.

9. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before icing.

Icing

You can use whatever flavor you like. For the ones pictured I used Wilton's Buttercream.

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening (I use butter flavored Crisco)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened (I use unsalted butter)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (Use clear vanilla if you want whiter icing.)

4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

2 Tablespoons milk, plus more for consistancy

1. In large bowl, cream shortening and butter.
2. Mix in vanilla.
3. Gradually mix in confectioners' sugar, beating well on medium speed. (Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often.
4. Add 2 tablespoons milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.
5. Add up to 4 more tablespoons of milk, to get the consistency you want.
 
The icing can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, but rewhip it before using.

 I decorated the cupcakes using Ateco tip #849. I topped each cupcake with a fondant "100" I made by cutting fondant with Wilton Fondant Cutters*.

*Affiliate Links.

 

 I'll Be Linking Up At Some Of These Parties!