If you’re planning a Hawaiian Luau Party, or even a Pineapple themed birthday party, than a DIY Pineapple Piñata is an absolute must. The only problem is that Piñatas can be super expensive and if you’re like me, you’re on a budget. So instead of buying your Piñata for next party, I’ll show you how to make a DIY one for virtually free, all you need is a few supplies and a little time!
I am known for DIY’ing the heck out of my Twins birthday parties but it wasn’t until recent years that I began DIY’ing the Pinatas too!. First it was the Pinata for their 8th YouTube birthday party. The YouTube logo is fairly simple, a square, so I gave it a go and it was a huge success! I decided to take it a step further last year and challenge myself to their 9th Super Sonic the Hedgehog birthday piñata.
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From the looks of it, you’d think a piñata is super complicated to make right? It’s not! It is actually pretty easy, but it does take a good bit of time. But for the going rate of $50+ for a (small) piñata, I’ll spend the few hours to make one. Especially because the supplies needed to make it cost, drum roll please……$2! So when you do buy one, you’re definitely paying for the time, not supplies.
This DIY Pineapple Piñata actually would have been free, because I already had the cardboard, glue, crepe paper, and card stock, but I didn’t have the darn masking tape, so to Walmart I went.
If you’re planning a Hawaiian Luau party, or simply a Summer Pineapple party, than this Cool-dude Pineapple Piñata will surely be a hit with all the kiddos. Not to mention it’ll be a hit with your bank account too. If you’re down to DIY some other things for your Hawaiian Pineapple Luau to save a buck or two, this Pineapple Lollipop hack (*coming soon) is an easy and good one too!
Aloha, it’s a Luau! Make sure to check out the the details to the entire Hawaiian Pineapple party coming soon!
This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a cent more!)
Supplies Needed to Make a DIY Pineapple Piñata
- Large cardboard box
- Masking tape
- Yellow Crepe paper streamers
- Glue stick
- Green glitter foam paper
- Black poster board or cardstock (Optional for mouth and sunglasses)
- Umbrella pic (Optional)
- Habiscus flower (Optional)
- Box cutter
How to make a Pineapple Piñata for your Birthday or Hawaiian Luau Party
Follow the below easy steps to DIY your very own Pineapple piñata with Sunglasses and save a ton money in the process.
Draw the outline of the front of the Pineapple onto the cardboard and cut it out using a box cutter.
Just do your best here. It doesn’t have to be a perfect Pineapple shape. Once you get it all decorated, you won’t even be able to tell!
Draw the outline of the Pineapple Crown onto cardboard, and cut out using a box cutter.
Be so super careful here, please! Those suckers are sharp!
Trace the outline of the Pineapple you just cut out onto another piece of cardboard and cut that out
It’s super important to trace the first one you cut out and not freehand a second one, otherwise your Pineapple will be uneven making it really hard to tape together into a 3D shape.
Cut a 5″-6″ wide strip of cardboard for the middle of the Pineapple piñata
It’s ok if you don’t cut this in all one long strip, you can do it in smaller sections if you don’t have cardboard large enough. Just cut out as long as a piece as you can, and as you go around the outline taping it, you may need to cut more to finish it up.
Corrugated cardboard works best for this since it’s bendy, but if you don’t have it you can bend, fold, and mold the cardboard to get it how you need it. Basically wear it down so that it’s super floppy and malleable, making it easier to work with in the next step.
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Begin to shape the long, bendy cardboard piece around the outline of the Pineapple, securing with masking tape every 1-2 inches.
Place the backside of the Pineapple outline on top and secure with masking tape every 1-2 inches
It should be starting to look like a 3D Pineapple shape, like this!
Cut a small flap/opening for candy in the top of the middle cardboard piece, and poke 2 holes for string to hang
Cut a whole bunch of strips of yellow crepe paper streamers, some long enough to cover the front/back, and some shorter to cover the sides
Roughly measure out a bunch of strips that are longer then the length of the pinata, and cut fringes along the edges. Don’t worry about the length being exact, we’ll trim that all up later.
Use scissors to cut fringe all along each strip of crepe paper
Alternatively, you could cut the fringes after gluing them to the cardboard. I did one side each way, and I didn’t find one way to be easier than the other.
Glue the strips of yellow crepe paper across the front of the Pineapple, starting from the bottom and working your way up, overlapping them just a bit.
I found the best way to do this was to cover 6 inches of the cardboard with the glue, and then spread the crepe paper across leaving extra overhang. Don’t worry about the overhang, you will go around and trim it off nice and neat after. So just glue, and paper and cut, repeat. This does take a bit of time. You could also cut the fringe on the crepe paper after gluing it to the cardboard, but either way works!
Keep going….don’t worry about the overhang, were about to cut that off.
Trim the extra yellow crepe paper overhang from around the Pineapple outline
Repeat the same process for the back and the sides of the Pineapple Piñata
Use the cardboard Pineapple crown to trace onto the glitter foam paper, and glue to the top of the Pineapple
Cut out the green paper and glue to the front of the cardboard crown. Stick a few tooth picks into the bottom of the Pineapple Crown, and then stick them into the top of the Piñata, along with some hot glue to hold the crown in place.
Decorate the Piñata with Sunglasses and mouth
Draw the sunglasses and mouth onto black cardstock and cut them out. Use hot glue to attach to the front of the Piñata. Don’t let the word “draw” intimidate you! I have zero artistic drawing ability and I was able to pull this together. It doesn’t have to be perfect, look how crooked my sunglasses are….who cares!
If you want to be Extra like me, go ahead and add an umbrella pic and a flower to his crown.
You’re ready to fill that bad boy up with candy! Our favorite is the Mexican candy with Tamarindo and chamoy, YUM! If you don’t have a place to get that kind near you, trusty Amazon always has the huge candy bags. And don’t forget your Pinata blindfold and bat!
This DIY Pineapple Piñata is huge. Like, way too big. So don’t feel pressured to fill it allllll the way to the top or the top might break when you hang it, the string could pull right through the cardboard if it’s too heavy. Trust me, it’s happened! My twins always love filling this bad boy up!
Although this specific Piñata is made for a Hawaiian Luau party, the same concept can be applied to whatever theme you choose! Of course the shapes and colors and decorations will be different, but as long as the idea isn’t too complex it would be just as easy to make! We made a Sonic the Hedgehog Piñata last year that turned out great.
If you’re planning a Hawaiian Luau or a Pineapple party, you may want to check out the easy Pineapple Lollipops we made too (*blog post coming soon*) You’ll be able to read about the entire party soon.
Happy Hawaiian Pineapple Luau!!
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Until Next Time…
Stay Crafty San Diego!
Love this DIY Hawaiian Pineapple Piñata? Make sure to PIN it to your DIY Party board!
