Piñata: The Packaging You Want to Break
May 05, 2014
What do you get when you beat a donkey with a stick? Candy!! Wait, did I mention it was a donkey piñata?
Piñatas, as we know them, have a history that dates back to the 1300s in Europe, where these destructible crafts were made of papier-mâché, cloth or pottery. The tradition was brought to the Americas by the Spanish and is now quite popular, especially among kids and that one over-aggressive adult who really wanted that lollipop and basically ruined everyone’s fun.
Today, piñatas are a staple of backyard celebrations all over the U.S. and Mexico, particularly at Cinco de Mayo parties (which just happens to be today).
As we are wont to do around the Ernest Packaging Solutions offices, we start thinking of the unique packaging proposition that piñatas promote. Their casing has to be durable enough to handle the journey from manufacturer to store to the end consumer, strong enough to hold fistfuls of candy, tough enough to withstand repeated blows with a stick – yet delicate enough to eventually break.
After all, no one wants a piñata to burst on the first hit, but you also don’t want to have to have an Albert Pujols swing to get the job done (unless, of course, you’re Albert Pujols and you can afford all the piñatas in the world).
Sometimes a packaging challenge requires that the materials break down easily for reuse or recycling, but only when it’s time and not in the middle of a shipment. Sometimes you need a solution that requires shipping odd-shaped items like piñatas.
Blending strength with flexibility and toughness with style is what good packaging is all about, and that’s what we do at Ernest Packaging Solutions. Want to know you have the best in the business crafting your packages? Contact us today to get started.
Happy Cinco de Mayo, and be careful not to walk into the swing-zone of a piñata today, or this may happen to you!
Gotcha! Bet you didn’t see that one coming.
