Gender Reveal Question Mark Pinata Tutorial - Part One: Cutting Out the Pieces

This pinata was the highlight of our gender reveal party (see this post here). When looking for ideas of how to reveal the gender of our baby to her three big brothers, I came across the pinata idea on Pinterest. I knew my boys would really enjoy breaking it open to reveal pink candy for a girl or blue candy for a boy. I decided that I wanted the shape of my pinata to be a question mark. I found question mark pinatas for sale, but I wanted something a little more unique than I was seeing. Plus, I knew I'd enjoy making my own. So, I did some research on making pinatas. I found this tutorial to be very helpful and it became the basis for my process. If you'd like to make your own, follow along!

Materials Needed:

1) Two large, flat pieces of cardboard. My pinata was 3" high, about 1.5" feet wide, and 2.5" deep. I used a box that a replacement front-loading dryer door was shipped in.

2) A craft knife. Use a new blade. You'll thank me later.

3) A tough pair of scissors. Don't use your sewing scissors. I used our utility scissors.

4) A pencil and whatever other things you'll need to draw your question mark. I used a ruler, a large mixing bowl, a handmade compass (string/pencil/thumbtack), and a large mug.

5) A roll of masking tape. If you want your pinata to hold up to a real beating, use duct tape. Our pinata took about 6 good hits to break open.

6) Spray paint. If your pinata is covered with a darker color than yellow, you could probably skip this step.

7) Crepe paper streamers. I went through about 150 feet of streamer (about 1 and 2/3 small rolls).

8) Manual die-cut machine and circle die (or sharp scissors and a circle template). I used a Big Kick machine and a circle die by Sizzix.

9) Liquid adhesive. I used Helmar 450 glue.

10) Super glue. I'm not entirely sure what kind of glue my husband used to glue the dot to the question mark, but it held up great (until a bat hit it!).

11) Ribbon to hang the question mark from. You could also install some sort of hook, but I liked the look of ribbon better. Just personal preference.

First, draw your question mark on one piece of cardboard. I traced a large mixing bowl for my inner curve. To create the outer curve, I made my own compass. Secure a string to the center of your curve with a thumbtack. Tie a pencil to the end of the string, placing it so that when vertical, the pencil would draw a line 2.5 inches wider than the original curve. Draw the outer curve. Remove the compass. Use a ruler to draw the straight parts of the question mark. Trace a large mug to create the dot.

Next, cut out your question mark. Be as precise as possible. I used my craft knife for the most part, then used the scissors to clean up some edges.

When your first question mark (the front of your pinata) is cut out...

(big brother photo bomb!)

...use the negative space in your cardboard as a template to draw your second question mark (the back of your pinata). This way, your front and back are as perfectly the same as possible.

Next, cut strips from your leftover cardboard for the edges of your pinata. My strips were 2.5 inches wide and I needed four that were 3 feet long.

Now you have your components and it's time to assemble. See Part Two: Assembly for those instructions. Thanks for stopping by! Tessa