Unleashing Joy: The Importance of Including More Piñatas in Our Lives

Someone recently reminded me to preserve my peace. This stuck with me. Ever since, I have made margin for it and the activities that encourage more peace in my life. Like never before, it is imperative to focus on that which brings peace and preserve it. Like Maria Kondo once said, if it does not spark joy, only this time if it does not preserve your joy and your peace then should it really belong.

My favourite birthday party as a kid was one where the theme of the party celebrated Latinx culture. To preface it, this was when Chi Chi’s was still around in Ontario in the 90's. My parents would take me there on the night that it was a live mariachi band. I would order my favourite quesadillas off the kids menu and squirm along in my seat to the music. Nothing quite like it!

I loved those memories beyond measure – still do. Because of this, that very year, when my mom saw my visceral ecstatic reaction to visiting said restaurant, she decided to go all homemaker on steroids and made me a mexican themed party featuring a piñata. She even let me help her make it. Martha Stewart would have been proud. It was quite literally a bash, a fun one at that.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/8cc3f8_88922cf7cdbf46cfbb499badba08f611/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

A Piñata In Action

To my recollection she started by creating a flour slurry: a goopy paste made of flour and water. Don't ask me to recall the smell. It was dreadful. As I peered over the edge it bubbled as if a concoction straight out of mysterious cauldron. The feel of running my fingers through it was so satisfying. We cut strips of newspaper, a time in history when the newspaper delivered to our doorstep, this putting context to how old I am. Picking out what went into it was such a blast. Off we went to the local dollar store and picked out items that would work for the frame.

Then the form creation and crafting it with purposeful weak points to ensure that the candy eventually breaks through. Then decorating it with tissue paper to give colour and life.

But let’s get to the point of why we need more piñatas in our lives.

1)    They spark joy and build community on a basis of fun.

Whether we’re making them or giving them as party favours for that hard to gift for person, they bring people together and remind us that we are stronger when we come together.

2)    Picking up a constructive deconstructive hobby in making your own piñatas from scratch.

I’m not proposing going out and making something difficult out of a piñata. Use what you have! The recycling bin is a treasure trove of supplies for homemade piñata. Become one of those people that sees potential in everyone and everything and voila, you’ll have supplies for it. Especially since the glue for the piñata is simply just 1: 1.5 flour to water. Warning though, it does also spark hoarding tendencies unless you stay on top of the projects. I digress.

3) They help give you a gift idea for that special occasion.

The person that you are gifting it to gets to pick out the contents of what will spill out. And, besides the clean up, it's space considerate for those that live in more compact living spaces. Also, it can double as a goodie bag for kids parties. But they aren't exclusive to children's events. Let the adults get in there too and beat the living daylights out of a Tim Horton's coffee cannister.

4)    They are a cheap form of therapy.          

And we can all use therapy in our lives.

Once the piñata is built and decorated, you now can take as many swings at your creation as you want. No one gets hurt besides your recycling, and you now have a treasure trove of bon bons to share with yourself and others when it’s all done. And, for those of us who are doers in the audience and talk therapy doesn’t seem to work, a celebration of releasing healthy levels of cortisol saves us money in the long run. An hour of therapy can run us 100 dollars. At most, piñatas shouldn’t run you more than 30 dollars. Cost savings right there.

And who wouldn't want to bat at a mumified Pikachu creation like the one I created as seen below.

What’s better than finding healthy outlets where we can bring people together, destroy things, have fun, and not get arrested while doing it. Seems like a win win to me and it ultimately is meant to preserve peace.

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