Mom’s piñatas prove a big hit
Colourful creations made to be destroyed
Hand-drawing designs, cutting cardboard, building 3D figures, cutting tissue paper by hand, smearing on glue and meticulously placing the paper into discernible patterns, East Londoner Candice Frohbus has created more than 300 colourful, festive piñatas.
From the R2D2 robot, Paw Patrol characters, balls, llamas, a range of movie and video game characters, all kinds of alcohol bottles from tequila to Champagne, Frohbus, 40, has made a career of creating detailed replicas of people’s favourite things and characters for special occasions.
While her creations are made to be destroyed, Frohbus loves the meticulous process of building each colourful character or item and the joy they bring to others.
“I wouldn’t want to be around to watch all of my creations get smashed,” she quipped.
“But to see the videos my clients send me and to watch kids scream in delight and have the best time bashing their piñatas and dashing for sweets really makes it worth it.”
Her passion was sparked three years ago after a complicated request from her son. “He was turning five and so badly wanted one and I couldn’t find them anywhere, but he just wouldn’t let it go.
“So the very first one I made was Marshall from Paw Patrol for my son,” said Frohbus who still has old Marshall peeping out from under her desk.
“It was so nice that my son wouldn’t smash it, he wouldn’t let anyone touch it,” she said.
After her son’s birthday party, Frohbus, a mom of two, started receiving requests from moms at the party and so she delved into piñata making and soon decided to make this her fulltime occupation.
“I was still working at the time and it just kicked off. I was in the corporate world and I was getting tired of that too, so going into this full-time started feeling like a good option.”
And now there is no other job Frohbus enjoys more.
“It’s a really peaceful process. My boys know when I’m working I get in my zone, I have my earphones in and listen to podcasts.”
Though peaceful, Frohbus says that doesn’t mean it is always easy.
“I start by drawing the figure and all its different sides on a piece of cardboard and then it’s just a matter of building it up.
“It’s a very meticulous process. I have to hand-cut each of the pieces of paper and glue them on and my OCD really drives me crazy sometimes.
“I work as long as I need to, to get it right because I don’t let anything leave here unfinished or not exactly right.”
Each piñata is reinforced accordingly, so cardboard needs to be rolled to create 3D effects and sometimes Frohbus’s papier-mâché skills are also put to the test to create the roundness needed for her 3D character piñatas.
This means that time, creativity and some ingenuity are needed to make each piñata.
“I reinforce the sides of each piñata and make it more difficult depending on the ages.
“So, essentially, three-yearolds get less reinforcements, but I definitely make it sturdy enough to have lots of fun.
“It shouldn’t break the first time you hit it, but you also don’t want to be whacking it for hours on end with nothing happening,” Frohbus said.
When it comes to Frohbus’s piñatas, the filler is just as customisable as the piñata itself.
“I fill it with sweets for kiddies’ parties but people have requested little shots and all kinds of things depending on the event.”
She said in the past some of the most challenging piñata requests were to make different types of alcohol bottles and then fill them with tiny shots of specific liquor.
“A Champagne bottle was my very first commission and that was really challenging. It was tough, but I’ve made so many since.
“You can’t buy small shots of tequila so I’ve had to decant and make my own small shots before for a client’s piñata. That takes a while to do as well.”
While some piñatas are more difficult to make than others, Frohbus says there are many characters which now come quite naturally.
“I’ve done so many llamas. They are incredibly popular and I’ve made tons of them and could probably make them in my sleep,” she laughed.
Frohbus said some of her favourite piñatas were those made for gender reveal parties, but that children were definitely her number one and favourite clients.
“I love gender reveal piñatas, because I’m often the only one who knows whether it’s a boy or a girl. It’s exciting.
“Little people are definitely my favourite clients though, and when my clients send me videos or photos from the day it makes all the hard work worth it,” Frohbus said.
She said creating full-time made her much happier than corporate life and that she was able to spend more time at home with her children.
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