Do y'all have Piñatas?
 

You know, like the cardboard thingee filled with candy...you hit it with sticks? You know what those are, right?

I mean, in Texas, having one of those at a birthday party is pretty normal. You don't think it seems like a "Mexican-themed" party, you just have a piñata, no big deal.

Have you ever been to a birthday party, where you live, and had a piñata?

Pretty much every party has a pinata, right? hell, even our funerals have pinatas. you have to close the coffin lid first though. the kids are a bit squeamish about digging for candy around the body.

sure I have.

wait . .. I live in Texas . . . maybe I don't count!

As a girl growing up in California we occasionally had them for birthday parties. Don't know about other parts of the country.

Growing up in Maine in the 70s, we very rarely had pinatas. I can only think of one time. Here in VA, I'd say about a quarter of the birthday parties in our group have them. And nobody considers them to be "Mexican" parties, they just have pinatas at them. We've had them ourselves a couple times.

we had them in illinois, but then again my best friends lived on Hero Street.

We have them fairly often for birthdays; My 12 yr old bought a basketball one last year, and was reallly disappointed that I would not let her repaint it as her least favorite teacher before her party.

Where we grew up, no one could afford a real pinata, so we would just hang up a kid nobody liked.

no wonder the black kids never came to your parties.:headshake

Would you say you have a plethora of piñatas?

Kids hereabouts PA/NY borderland have them regularly. According to Lil Griff they age out at 9 years.

Compared to my childhood, it seems like they've gotten less common for kids over 5 or so, though. By then it's less fun when the kids are old enough to be competitive about it, and someone always gets hurt in the mob rush to pick up the candy.

Pinatas are a lot more fun if you're swinging a chain saw instead of a bat. Nothing says birthday like a blindfolded six year old flailing about with a chainsaw. Highlights on America's Funniest Home Videos are better, too.

My kids always liked to have them, though they're growing out of them mostly.

Pinatas were only available at specialty shops here (and they were still rare)....until the last few years, now they are the *norm* at parties and you can buy them anywhere...like Big W (Walmart) and Kfart.

We had a big pink penis at a Hens nite recently, it was filled with penis shaped lollies, edible condoms and the such.

Much fun!

We don't get them much up here. In fact the first one I saw was last Christmas when my cousins portugese wife made one for all the little kidlettes xmas night. They had lots of fun with it though.

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

Hang it up, or float it in the pool. ;)

[Obligingly looks up the Spanish for "plethora" first] In SoCal, yes, we have una plétora de piñatas, de veras. Summertimes, you couldn't throw a fit without hitting a couple.

"...if you like hitting piñatas,
Getting caught in the rain..."

Hannukah piñatas... why not? Now when we start seeing Amish piñatas...

I had a pinata.

But I broke it.

Y'know they only gave me a $100 modeling fee for those pinatas, and not a single piece of the merchandising.;)

I'm trying to see the wisdom in such a creation. someone could surely choke on one. it surely can't be desireable for your partner to actually chew it. and really if swallowing is part of the equation, then why the condom?

it boggles the mind.

Huh, El Guapo's English lesson is marginally less silly if the English and Spanish words are so similar...

That's how it works. First, the tacos, then the pinatas. Next thing you know the Feds are raiding your town because it has become an offical immigration haven.

Perhaps they were gummy condoms, and not actually meant for use, much the same as you would not wear edible underwear during your heavy days?