Why do you wrap the balloons in newspaper instead of just laying the papier mâché strips directly onto the balloon?
I used to lay the papier mâché strips directly onto the balloon, but this leads to a couple different problems: 1) the ballons expand in the sun as the papier mâché strips dry, and the papier mâché sticks to the balloon and causes it to expand unevenly. The result was a lot of balloons popping in my backyard during the drying stage; 2) if I wrap the balloon in newspaper first, it doesn’t take as many layers of papier mâché before the piñata holds its shape. This allows me to make thinner walls for younger kids to break. A balloon wrapped in newspaper and then layered in papier mâché will usually hold its shape after three layers, but if it’s not wrapped in newspaper first, the same size balloon can take five or even six layers to hold its shape once the balloon is removed.
