“So I get to be a human piñata?” asked my nephew, Austin. He wasn’t really complaining— when I asked if one of the older boys could wear a t-shirt with candy glued all over it while being chased by the younger kids, Austin was the first to volunteer.
Last weekend, my family was planning to go camping in a remote area near the Juanita river. Unfortunately, there were heavy thunderstorms and flash floods in the forecast, so we decided camping with small children next to a river wasn’t safe.
Instead, we went to Muddy Run park on Sunday. The night before, some of us did sleep out at my sister’s house, where we could go inside if it rained, which it did for much of the evening.
Anyway, even if the camping was mostly a flop, I still made the candy t-shirt for our picnic! A co-worker gave me the idea.
Candy T-shirt
Supplies needed:
Large old t-shirt (I got a 2X from a thrift store)
Plenty of individually wrapped candy
Hot glue gun
To glue on the candy, I started at the bottom and glued the candy in rows. You can put the glue on the back of wrappers and press down. Or glue on the sealed edges of the wrappers using a spoon to press down. But watch out— I got a hot glob of glue on one of my fingers, and had to finish the t-shirt with an ice pack on hand to chill my poor blistered finger.
When gluing on the candy, I avoided the armpits and only glued a few pieces to the top of the sleeves.
After completing one side, I carefully turned it over and did the back of the shirt. I reached inside the shirt occasionally to prevent the inside from sticking together.
On Sunday, we took the t-shirt to the park inside an ice chest to keep the chocolate from melting.
All the kids gathered around, then eighteen-year-old Austin got a three-second head start, and the race was on! A few pieces went flying as Austin took off.
All in all, it was fun event for the children and fun for us grown-ups to watch. My co-worker said she made two t-shirts— one for the “little people” and one for the “big people” and the big people enjoyed it more than the little people, so I think this game would work well with youth groups too.
So instead of a traditional scramble or a piñata (or a candy drop from an airplane) you can try a candy t-shirt at the next family reunion!
Great idea! May have to try that one. Looks like lots of fun!!
It was fun, and simpler than making one of those newspaper tape balls. Didn’t last as long, though.