There's been a great deal of talk over at Ohdeedoh today about piñatas — and we think they're for more than just kids. Even if your party is adults only, that's no reason not to blindfold people and watch them whack things with a bat. Here are 10 things to fill up an adult piñata with to be sure you throw the best party ever!
For those who might have been to bachelorette parties with "adult piñatas" — this isn't the same kind. Our adult piñatas aren't shaped like parts of the human body, but instead are filled with more grown-up fare instead of your typical bouncy balls and whoopie cushions.
1. Gift Cards: Toss in a $10 gift card for gas or your local Starbucks and watch the frenzy begin.
2. Childish Toys/Snacks: Never underestimate the power of a candy necklace, ring pop or a glow bracelet.
3. Plastic Mini Bottles: Baby bottles of booze raining from the sky? There aren't many who will pass on that.
4. Bottle Openers: Even though many have people one on their keychain, you always need another, plus they're inexpensive and readily available.
5. Guitar Picks: Depending on your crowd guitar picks are a great and inexpensive thing to add and they come in all sorts of colors (for those concerned with coordinating such things).
6. Movie Tickets: Like the gift card above, movie passes are worth throwing yourself on the ground for. It makes seeing the A-Team twice a not-so-expensive reality.
7. Lottery Tickets: Picking up 20 lottery tickets isn't too tricky and there's even the chance you'll make money back on the deal!
8. Gum: There aren't many who will say no to a pack of gum, especially when they don't have to choose what kind to buy. Try bulk retailers for the best deals.
9. Tea Bags: Many varieties of tea come individually packaged and can be used as filler without risking the tea being ruined.
10. Decks of Cards: They're a great way to start a party and keep one going, plus they last forever and will bring back a great memory each time the recipient brings them back out.
Do you have a good idea to add to the list? Sound off in the comments below!
Image: Flickr member peasap licensed for use by Creative Commons
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condoms
Best idea...Ever! I was a little scared to see what these "adult" gifts were, but they turned out to be G rated. How much fun would it be to have an adult pinata at my next party. Thanks for this great idea.
Best pinata ever, one my friends made in college in NYC, shaped like a giant cockroach (in honor of their apartment) filled with licorice beetles and chocolate babies.
We had an "adult piñata" at our wedding reception and it was a blast.
As the bride I was having some anxiety issues during the reception. The pinata was brought out and I went at it! I felt so great afterward, we got some fun photos, and the guests had fun scavenging for the loot!
Every year at Christmas Costco sells boxes of tiny, bottle-shaped chocolates filled with various liquors. They're all individually wrapped and would be perfect for this. Just store in a cool dry place until needed.
I had a pinata at my birthday a few years ago, so I can speak from experience.
Adults hit the pinata A LOT harder than children. The Pixie Stix broke. it stings when the sugar dust gets in your eyes!
condoms, zigzags, mini bottles of vodka, glow sticks, lighters, tacky fake tattoos... best pinata ever. best party ever.
I interned at a firm where they stuck their matchbooks and vodka bottles in a pinata (they put their logo on anything awesome they could imagine).
Are you kidding? The BEST thing to put in an adult pinata is FLOUR!!
I can confirm that adults do hit harder than kids. Many of the mini bottles didn't make it. Thankfully they were plastic. And cheap.
small nail polish for girls....but make sure they don't fall on a hard floor....
Perfume samples (in their folder-cards)
Condoms (novelty ones like rainbow and glow in the dark)
Packets of seeds (flowers, veggies, etc)
iPod shuffle
Anything amusing from Archie McPhee
USB chips
Havaianas
Aveda travel size bath and beauty products
iPhone skins
Incense
Burt's Bees lip balm
Hair ties and hair clips
Laser pointers
Invitations to the after party
Just before I graduated from college, I made a piñata with paper mâché -- out of all the drafts of my final thesis, the drafts on which my academic advisers had written awful, nasty, soul-crushing criticisms. I filled the piñata with about $10 worth of random goodies I'd found at the Dollar Store -- packages of mini-chocolates, pens, hideously ugly kitschy plastic jewelry, even a spatula. Then, we beat the hell out of that thing, symbolically destroying that negative feedback from evil professors. So cathartic! I was totally ready for graduation once I got that out of my system...
(They had so traumatized me that I couldn't write anything useful for the entire year after I graduated. Joke's on them: I've been a successful journalist for years now, and my first book is coming out in the fall.)
What about those little packs of Advil (for the morning after all of those baby bottles of booze)!
Little bottles of Eros-brand lubricant. This sounds like so much fun. I'm tempted to host a party just to have a pinata!
hgrill02 - sooooo right! My family and I even used to fill eggshells with flour and crack them on each other's heads on the holidays
Now...
BOTTLE OPENERS! ARE YOU GUYS SERIOUS? I can only imagine the party guests rushing to the E.R. explaining to the triage nurse that a rouge bottle opener, flying from an adult pinata at a little under 80 mph, mistakenly opened their skull, not their bottle.
I have a full childhood's worth of experience with pinatas (yes, I'm Mexican), and believe me: even hard candy can do that to you, or near enough. As if it wasn't enough, you have a whole bunch of crazed adults fighting over gift cards, and still you want to add shrapnel in the way of bottle openers? For real?
I tell you, I would never, ever, participate in a pinata thing like that, but I'd for sure stand by and watch the carnage while rubbing my hands! Lol!
Don't forget lube packets to go with the condoms.
Just brilliant. I can't wait to try some of these out at our next Backyard Movie Night!
I was at a party where they used mini-bottles in the pinata. DON'T DO IT! The plastic bottle cracked and dribbled liquor all over, soaking the pinata, dripping on the participants, and ruining everything inside. Very disappointing.
Charlotte,
I'm sorry --can you explain this correlation between cockroaches and "chocolate babies"???? that sounds pretty racist to me and Im surprised no one else has picked that up...
Anyway, another great item to include (for cities with subways)--- train tokens/cards
What's wrong with just plain ole candy? Yes, I know people shouldn't have a lot of it - but almost no one hates candy.
AVOID the condoms and the porn... especially when the birthday boy's parents are in attendance. That was an uncomfortable birthday party to witness.
I think cockroaches are equal opportunity nuisances.
What a fun idea. I'd probably just stick to candy, because I love anything sugary and yummy. Other adult items might be too embarrassing!
Wrap fragile items such as liquor bottles in bubblewrap, so no one knows what they're collecting.
Also
Starbucks instant-coffee sticks
Honey sticks
Silk flowers / Leis
How do you even know the race of a chocolate baby??????
Exactly, laressa!
We're not upset that you're pretending to eat babies, but we're very concerned about what race they are intended to represent.
I'm so confused about the racist comment...what are you talking about?
A couple of Decembers ago we had a candy-cane and condom filled pinata, it was fun for all!
oh ferchrissakes, chocolate babies are racist and rainbow colored skittles are homophobic. pick your battles people.
Piñatas are the best! And even better, have a custom piñatas made for your party:
http://www.brynnatas.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/PinataQueen
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Birchangel
Temporary tattoos would fit the bill well. I buy mine at www.tattoosales.com which is based in AZ. Their products are all made in the USA and completely safe. Cool selection.
abc123, I'm very sure my friends weren't being racist. They were looking for not-too-hard black/dark candies to put inside a cockroach to match its color. It never occurred to me...and I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone!
A good way to get around booze bottles breaking, but still wanting to get some libations in a pinata- I used beer tickets (like the kind used at a fair or beer garden, purchased at the dollar store) and let party goers trade those in for the real thing (stacked up in the room to entice mayhem for the tickets). Those, tons of scratch & win tickets, and old fashioned candy and nostalgic party favours made for a very enthusiastic & frenzied crowd. It helped that the pinata was a giant replica can of PBR (made from papier mache and tin foil) and it was for my boyfriend's friends. It went over extremely well to say the least.
I organized a high school grad party themed "Going to Cancun" and stuffed the pinata with ramen bricks, spam singles, and quarters for laundry. The college-bound grads loved it!
Seriously, macantidur??? You probably have a lot of money to spend, I'd LOOOVE to go to one of your partys! lol
I also didn't get why the babies were in the cockroach piñata, but I don't see the idea as racist! just a bit nonsense...
Anyways, I'm thinking that those "action dice" (like the ones with kissing or drinking games) would be a cool addition to the piñata!
Oh man! A friend of mine and I made a pinata as a present for a long-lost guy friend's birthday. We haven't talked to him much in the 7-8 years since highschool, but we had great fun making a special gift that we hoped would make up the difference. We filled it with silly things. Some small, some bigger, but all around ridiculous.
High School Musical Themed Socks
Plastic Snakes
Assorted Candy
A striped thong
Cheap plastic hand clappers
Dollar store puzzles (like the metal nails you have to get apart, or the one where you have to roll the ball into the dimple)
Cereal
We used the cereal (off-brand lucky charms seemed appropriate) as filler because we weren't content with the overall fullness of the pinata. Plus, it's a pinata! It should make a huge mess!! We did warm him that he should hang it up outside. Best idea ever :)
Have fun with it!
Reusable shopping bags...Paper soap, party hats, foldable scissors, GLITTER...
Such fun ideas. The recommendation above to use flour is excellent and looks great in photos when it goes all over the place. Best done outdoors, it's also important to make sure that there is no liquid-based filling, such as mini plastic bottles. The flour and liquid combined will make a gruesome slushy paste!
That said, I have an adult piñata company, Card-Bored Box, selling both risqué and non risqué piñatas (for bachelorette/hen parties). Silly and fun, several of my customers have especially loved using colourful clip-on hair extensions as piñata filler. Check out the website for details => www.card-boredbox.com
Coming to this conversation quite late, but wanted to comment that not all piñatas are the smashing kind. Some piñatas are pull-string, which might work a little better for small indoor spaces and would be a good solution if you truly wanted to include things like the mini-liquor bottles or fingernail polish. Like Card-BoredBox, I also make a piñata. It's called The Original Panty Piñata, and it's a sweet bridal shower game with a kind of naughty name. Our piñata is a pull-string version and dove-tails nicely with bridal shower and bachelorette games (think Newlywed Game or your favorite drinking game). Anyway, I was very grateful for this list of ideas, especially the contributions from macantidur and utopiaflower. You can check out www.pantypinata.com for our ideas on adult pinata stuffers too. If it's a girls-night-out, I would add to the list PANTIES for the birthday girl, bride-to-be, etc.