Guest Post: Wedding Pinata

By Linda

One of our challenges was trying to come up with something to replace dancing since neither of us are really dancing people so I wanted to share our idea since it was a big hit. We had a pinata made by my best friend and filled with local maple goodies, chocolates, mini liqour bottles and small toys. These served as our "favors" to guests.

Ahead of time, we had put out at each person's seat on the tables a little slip of paper with a thank you note and our shutterfly web site address for people to upload their photos from the wedding to share. We numbered them on the back for the pinata hitting order. The numbers were scattered randomly throughout the room and when we made the announcement for everyone to come out back we told them to bring that slip and then asked for who had #1 and so on. We had about 40 guests total and I think about 6 people got to swing before the pinata was broken by my brother. It was great!

How to Make a Basic Pinata:
Materials:

• 2 cups flour
• 3 cups water
• balloon
• newsaper cut into about 1" thick strips
• colored crepe paper cut into about 1" squares or streamers
• glue
• string

Mix flour and water to make a pasty substance. Dip newspaper strips in the paste and cover the balloon with them, but leave a hole near where the balloon is tied so you can add your fillings afterward. Do at least 3 layers of newspaper strips, allowing time between each layer to dry. When fully dry, pop and remove the balloon. Glue crepe paper squares all over. Get creative and add cones, streamers, or other fun stuff to add interest to the basic round shape. Poke 2 holes in the top near the opening and put a string through. Fill with goodies, hang from a tree branch and have fun!

Snippets:

Linda is former ski bum turned road technician who travels around Vermont helping towns deal with erosion and water quality issues that arise from the of hundreds of miles of dirt roads in the state. When she's not fixing roads, she's probably camping, hiking or just playing outside.

Chad is a former ski bum turned farrier (that's someone who shoes horses) and blacksmith and he's working toward being self-employed-full time. He likes to make big campfires and is the greatest camp cook.

Linda and Chad met when they both simultaneously moved from different states to the same small town in Vermont to enjoy life in the mountains. Chad proposed to Linda on the chairlift when they went skiing on Christmas day 2008.

Your turn: Do you have something you want to share with 2000dollarwedding kindred spirits? Maybe you want to write a post about how to DIY your wedding invitations or you want to share a profound realization that helped you approach wedding planning a little more sanely. Maybe you want to write about the name-changing dilemma or a creative idea for making your wedding more eco-friendly. If so, e-mail me your idea. We're looking forward to hearing from you!

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