I have made this death star pinata for my party, for two years in a row now. The first of the two party's theme was science fiction. So I taught this pinata was a very good idea. For the second party there was no theme but I felt that this pinata was much easier shape to make than a conventional donkey shaped pinata. The first year I made this pinata it was better quality as I had more time and better materials. However I did not take many pictures of this pinata.

Step 1: Paper Mache

First you need to inflate a beach-ball. I put this ball in a small bowl so that It would not stick to the plastic bags underneath it. This also allowed me to spin the ball around so I had access to the whole ball. Then I used some wallpaper paste and news paper ,but you can also use PVA glue and news paper, to cover almost the whole ball. I left a small section free to put the sweets in and this is where the death star will fire its lasers. I applied around 3 layers of paper mache. It takes around 7 layers for it to become completely solid but I did have enough time to do 7 layers then paint it. The next step means you only need about 3 layers.

Step 2: Duct Tape

The first year I made this I used really thin duct tape. this was brilliant and worked very well. However a year later there was no thin duct tape so I used thicker tape and it did not work as well. It took much longer to smash. Duct tape is a good way to make the death star as this means that you do not need to paint the news paper as the tape is already gray.

First if you reconise any week spots use the duct tape to strengthen these parts by going over them. Next tape up the whole balloon using the duct tape. Making sure to leave some weak points in the pinata so that it can be destroyed. Taping the pinata took about 1 and a half rolls of duct tape.

Step 3: String

Next you need the make sure that the death star can fly in space on its own. The first year I did this much better as well. My recommended method is to use thin string and tape it right around the pinata with the sting meeting at the bottom. This year I just taped the string at the side of the death star. This meant the string was not as strong so some of it came off and we had to repair it whiles we were hitting it.

Step 4: Detail

I used a black permanent marker to draw some detail onto the side. I drew lots of rough shapes and lines. I could have been really neat and made a beautiful job of it. however again I did not have enough time. It was getting destroyed anyway so I felt the finer detail didn't matter to much.

Step 5: Sweets

The fun part! fill the pinata with different kinds of sweets and goodies for people to catch when they fall out. Make sure that all the sweats are wraped because basically all the sweets end up on the floor.

Step 6: Circle

To block the hole you should use some thin card with tape attached. Making a flower shape with the tape allows you to stick the card to the inside of the death star. Then go over the outside with more tape.

Step 7: Frickin Lasers

I put lasers to my death star for a little added extra. I taught this was a nice touch that looked pretty good. For this you just need to cut 3 straws short then sellotape them onto the circle you created with the card and tape.

Step 8: Thats No Moon

I put the string onto a climbing carabiner, this meant that the death star moved which added an extra layer of difficulty. It took a lot of hits with a lightsaber to get through and in the end we used a large stick. This prodject was much cheaper than buying a pinata and was still lots of fun. I hope you enjoyed reading.