The party stores here usually have pinatas to match every theme they currently have... ie whatever movies and tv shows are currently popular.

I used to have them at my parties all the time, when I was a little kid. My grandmother would drive to Miami from Key West (where we lived) to get them at a shop she had been going to for years. The most satisfying I can remember was getting to beat the daylights out of The Little Mermaid at my 5th birthday party.
::thinks:: I think the last one I had was for my 8th birthday party in Colorado.
My younger brother always had them at his birthdays as well, in Colorado and in Florida, until the year my genius father thought it was okay to use a real baseball bat instead of a whiffle bat.
If it hadn't been for the porch column in just the right place, my brother would've been killed. As it was, he got a good sized bump on his forehead and a fair bit of trauma. We kind of ditched piñatas after that.

First time I encountered the word I had to look it up. I didn't even really understand the explanation at the time (pre internet as far as I remember, so no pictures) I think I had a Trojan Horse in mind! Now that would be an interesting party - hundreds of Greek soldiers leaping out and butchering the household when the candles were blown out.

The real visual somehow seeped into my consciousness over the years so that when my friend bought one from a party shop I was unsurprised and knew what it was. I did think sniffily, "Hmmm. Not a very healthy thing for your 3 year old's party - violence and sugar?" :p (but I am known for not being child-friendly after all)

They're not common here - I bet if I asked in the pub tonight no-one would know what they were. But like any party game/ item/ must-have they have a vogue to them. If Amy has one at her party then you can bet Chantelle is going to want one at hers.

I don't remember seeing a lot of pinatas as a kid...but now they're everywhere (well, not everywhere.) My niece had a spongebob pinata at her 2nd birthday party.

It was a special treat years ago when my dad carefully transported a pinata home from Costa Rica...he hand carried the sucker. Bet you couldn't get away with that now!

I'm guessing you didn't get that one at Walmart??

I had pinatas as a kid and that was a looong time ago.

Pinatas seem to be pretty much a staple party item for kids. If you can't find one you can make them easy enough.

Growing up in the 70's in New England, we didn't have much of a Mexican influence. Tacos were basically unheard of in Maine in the 70's. You couldn't even buy the ingredients in the grocery store. It wasn't until the late 70's that the taco adds on TV (dueling kids shouting "I like making them!" "I like eating them!") brought tacos to us. After that, we were easting tacos at least once a week. It was probably around then that I saw my first pinata.

A Weber coated steel charcoal grill with the legs taken off, wrapped in a lambswool car seat cover, with a 2-slice toaster for a head.

The great thing is, you don't even have to put candy in it. And the kids end up exhausted. win win

LOL. We made them with paper machet (sp?) over an inflated balloon. Pop the balloon, drop the candy in, and start swinging.

We do the same except we mold the body out of C4 and hide the trigger under the burro's tail.

nuts, bolts, and screws instead of candy, right?

I guess you didn't grow up in a religious community.
Hang up Jesus and beat the crap out of him in the hopes he gives you candy...?

Oh, maybe you did.

Haapppy....http://www.pinatas.com/Hanukkah_Pinatas_s/173.htm