The Mexican Piñata
When you think of piñata I’m guessing you think of something like this.
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One of the linguistic curiosities we’ve encountered in Mexico is that the word piñata refers not only to the papier mache model that you hit to release lollies, but the word also means birthday party. So you attend a piñata where they will have a piñata. Confusing, no?
Guerita turns 5 in 2 weeks so the preparations for her piñata have begun. Kid’s birthday parties are a big deal here and Guerita is still at an age where the whole class is invited and Mums go along too. We’ve been to quite a few parties in the nearly 2 years that we’ve been here so we have a pretty good idea of the drill:
- The party will have a theme revolving around a popular movie, TV show or toy (we’ve been to Spiderman, Batman, Hello Kitty, Snow White, Transformers, Strawberry Shortcake & Lazytown to name a few)
- The invitations will be distributed (usually through school) no more than 2 days in advance (at which stage I will curse and run round madly trying to buy/scrounge a birthday present)
- The party will be held in a large play centre (capacity around 200 people) which will be filled with family, school friends, family friends, neighbours and every other person you know and their kids
- The play centre will be equipped with playground equipment, a bouncy castle and trampoline. If not already in the centre, these will be hired.
- There will also be some other sort of entertainment hired - usually a clown and/or face painter.
- Food provided - corn chips (to be covered with chilli sauce), soft drink (soda) only, followed by tacos or hot dogs or hamburgers served by a hired catering van.
- There will be a table decorated with balloons and streamers to hold the enormous cake (which will be decorated in the theme) and piles of presents wrapped like this
- The kids will be presented with a ridiculously large lolly bag when they leave.
We’ve tried to avoid the over-the-top birthday party since we’ve been here - there’s no way we’d have 200 people to invite anyway! Last year we did a very scaled down version of the above at a local ice-cream joint. The logo of the place was a penguin so we had a penguin theme. There was no play centre, clown or face painter and I was worried the kids would be bored. Of course, they were completely happy running around with each other eating ice-cream and making a penguin-themed craft.
This year we haven’t been able to avoid the commercialised theme party - Guerita choice is (of course) Disney Princesses. I wish she wasn’t so obsessed with all things princess but, after some debate over how much to resist, we have decided to let this phase run its course (it’s got to be just a phase, right - how long can a princess obsession last?)( Don’t answer that, Kelley).
We’re having the party at school this time (the common alternative to the big play centre party) which is a fairly simple affair. We’ll take some decorations and food and cake into school for about 1½ hours, maybe plan a game and that will be it. But we will still have a piñata. Even at a low-key, school birthday party, a piñata is essential.
So, today we went to buy the piñata (Disney Princess, of course). There was much debate about which would be best. Should we get the star with a picture of all the princesses, or the Belle one, or the Sleeping Beauty? Not a decision to be taken lightly and not before closely inspecting each item. Finally it was decided on Sleeping Beauty because she does have a beautiful pink dress and because they had beautiful pink Sleeping Beauty dresses for sale. In Guerita’s size! Oh what luck! My fatal error was taking her with me to buy the piñata, because she was fixated on these dresses as soon as she saw them.
And I am obviously a complete soft touch, because this was the result:
Did I mention that Mexican piñatas are enormous! Look at the size of that thing.
And that was the small one.
At least we continued the time-honoured tradition (well, 2 years in a row) of having a piñata that is bigger than the child
And the Sleeping Beauty dress! Look at the dress! Look at the way it twirls, Mum! It’s great for ballet! Don’t I look like Sleeping Beauty, Mum! Part of me gags at the thought, but look at her face. Look how happy she is.
(Don’t you love the soft focus? What else could you do with a Princess photo???)
So in 2 weeks we will be knee-deep in Princess paraphernalia and I’ll bite my tongue because Guerita will love it.
And then I’ll come and blog about it and complain to you guys!!! Mwahahahahaaa!
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Hooley Dooley!!!! I don’t know what I find more shocking - the party or the size of the pinata!!! But I do LOVE the dress. And I wanna come. I’ve never been to a Princess party before (insert big pout here LOL).
Lightening’s last blog post..Personal Training - Session Four
Oh good luck! I’m still recovering from Jasper’s and that was very small. The princess dress is so pretty. Love the present wrapped with balloons inside - amazing!
Penny’s last blog post..Naughty!
And I thought Australian parties were way over the top!
First, I was floored with the two days notice (!) and then by the SIZE of these parties but oh.my.gosh look at that Pinata! (isn’t there something all wrong about bashing the h*ll out of a Disney Princess? Or, actually, perhaps not so wrong at all).
Have fun, eeeeeek.
M’s last blog post..School Holidays, Day 9: Happy Feet at Taronga Zoo
wow what a pinata!!
And the dress is lovely of course……….. and nothing wrong with valuing ones self as a princess as long as one is prepared to work like a maid when the need arises
Yes, it’s a phase. Roll with it for this too shall pass.
Good luck with the party!
Bettina’s last blog post..Screw Up Tuesday!
WOW! They are some serious pinatas.
I’m chuckling at M’s comment about bashing the Disney Princesses!
Great princess dress.
Fairlie’s last blog post..24 hours in Sydney
Lightening - I’ll send you an invitation! There’s guaranteed to be a lot of pink, so you’ll love it.
Penny - I know - the wrapping is amazing - everyone has their presents “professionally wrapped” and they are full on - mind you they only cost about $1.50 to get done, so why wouldn’t you??
M - the 2 days notice drives me nuts. I am trying to remember always to have a stash of presents ready for the next one, but when I run out it’s panic stations. I think I would find it quite satisfying to bash the cr*p out of a Disney princess!! I thought maybe the kids would get upset about choosing their favourite character and then tearing it apart with a stick, but they love it. Motivated by sugar I think.
Bettina -
I think she’d struggle with the maid part of it - judging by the state of her bedroom! I do hope it is a phase. I guess it’s fairly common for 5 year old girls.
Fairlie - I was chuckling too.
It is a serious pinata and it takes some bashing to get it open - they are really hard. Often useful to have a few older kids there with a good batting arm. 
Oh my, I’d better hide this window lest M&M and Kiki see the dress. They’d be all over it. As if their Snow White and Cinderalla dresses weren’t enough.
She really is the prettiest princess ;). I love these types of posts. Always nice to know how other cultures live
I’m much more grateful for my small parties now 
Kin’s last blog post..Back in the land of the Internet
The Mexicans sure no how to party. I would love to know how long it takes to crack the pinata! We have had small ones before and have had to resort to adult participation to crack open the lollies. Look forward to the photos of the princess party.
PlanningQueen’s last blog post..10 Quick Ways to Feed Unexpected Lovely Visitors
Izzy and Zoe are sitting here actually drooling!!!
They’d like to tell Guerita that they love princesses too and that she is soooooooooooooooooooo so so sooooooooo lucky to have that dress and pinata and that they would really like to have a party just like that.
And they want to know if I will print out the picture so they can ‘look at it forever’ LOL I think they are in love!
katef’s last blog post..Almost Wordless Wasing Day
Babe, I know you didn’t want to hear this but….
Moo is nearly 17.
Moo is obsessed with Aurora, Sleeping Beauty’s name.
All of her friends are a different Disney Princesses.
She had a faerie 16th birthday party and was showered with Disney Princess stuff.
This all started about a year ago…
Kelley’s last blog post..*cough splutter* whiiiiiiiiine & and actual post.
Oh she´s going to have a fabulous time.
misschris’s last blog post..Showers
Kin - I want to write more posts about Mexican life before we go - I’m glad you enjoy them. It’s good to record them even just for myself so we don’t forget!
PQ - it takes ages to break the piñatas open - they are so tough! They usually end up ripping them open after a while when the kids are getting impatient.
Kate - I thought Izzy and Zoe would like it. Sent you an email with something special for the girls
Kelley - Perhaps I should go back to the shop and see if they have a dress in Moo’s size!! Sounds like I was right when I thought Guerita was 5 going on 15!!
Misschris - she definitely will. She’s so excited about it and has hardly had the dress off!
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