Add some fun to your Valentine party games this year with this easy to make, no-mess piñata. Bright and cheery pinks and reds dress up a plain paper grocery sack with no gooey paper mache to clean up!

What you'll need:

How to make it:

1. Open the grocery bag and put treats and trinkets inside. Fill about ¼ full.
2. Fill remaining space with crumpled up newspaper. Leave a small amount of space at the top of the bag so it can be folded over and closed.
3. Fold top over and secure with staples.
4. Poke or punch a hole in the middle of the bag in the fold. Be sure it's low enough that the hole won't rip.
5. Cut long strips of tissue paper about 3" wide and as long as the tissue paper sheet is. Fringe the ends of the tissue paper by cutting slits about halfway up.
6. Starting at the bottom of the bag, glue the tissue paper onto the bag by the solid edge only, do not glue the fringe down. Repeat on other side of bag with same color.
7. Repeat these steps, working your way upward toward the top of the bag, alternating colors each time. We used light pink, pink and red for ours.
8. Thread string or yarn through hole at the top and tie a knot.
9. Gently lay the bag on its side.
10. Cut strips of tissue paper about 1" wide. Fold in half, then glue to the bottom of the bag at the half-way point.
11. Set aside to dry completely.
12. Hang by your string and hit with a waffle bat or rolled up newspaper until it breaks.

Tips:

• Tissue paper usually comes folded. We cut along the crease to hide any fold lines.
• To avoid a shoving match when the candy drops, try putting goodie bags together instead of loose candy and trinkets. Label each bag with a certain color label (think garage sale dots from the discount department store) and assign each child a corresponding color either via a sticker or ribbon bracelet. This will eliminate any fighting over who gets what candy.
• You can stuff your piñata with other material if you don't have newspaper. Just remember that whatever you use may come out of the piñata with the candy. So if you use packing peanuts, you will be cleaning all of those up afterward, whereas if you use crumpled paper, clean up will be much less intensive.