For the past two months, Nancy Ruiz has spent her spare time cutting cardboard at home. Patience is crucial as she molds it into various shapes and brushes on adhesive.
The final form? It varies, but you can count on an intriguing shape and vibrant color.
Ruiz, 26, is making piñatas, much as her grandmother did decades ago — but with a twist.
Traditionally (largely in Mexico), a piñata is a hollow figure, often in the shape of an animal, that holds toys and candy and is whacked open by hungry, blindfolded children wielding sticks.
“Back then, [my grandmother] used to use ‘barro’ [clay] pots,” Ruiz said. “Now we use cardboard. Most people here [in Minnesota] don’t actually want to break the piñata.”
Ruiz is one of more than a dozen at-home custom piñata makers in the Twin Cities metro area who have been increasingly busy as Minnesotans buy more custom piñatas.
The demand for piñatas has even grown in non-Latino communities. But supply remains limited, causing prices to increase. That’s a good thing for vendors.
Higher piñata prices inspired Ruiz, owner of Hijas Mias Piñatas, to start making her own when she moved to Minnesota four years ago.
“I was just shocked,” Ruiz said after seeing $150 piñata prices in Minnesota. “In California, there’s so many, they cost 35 to 40 bucks.”
Big-box stores like Walmart sell small, generic piñatas. Some Mexican party shops, mostly near Minneapolis’ Lake Street, do too. But sellers say Minnesotans are more interested in custom products.
Sellers like Ruiz make piñatas from scratch, customizing their color, theme, shape, size and even purpose as buyers request.
They charge anywhere from $30 to more than $100 for a piñata, which can take anywhere from one to more than eight hours to make.
Ruiz’ latest piñata was bought by a woman hoping to surprise her husband. After some discussion with Ruiz, the customer decided the piñata should be in the form of a six-pack of Modelo beer, her husband’s favorite.
“She was like, ‘Hey, I want something pretty small. It’s going to be something decorative. I don’t really want to break it,’” Ruiz said.
Piñata purposes and the Minnesota influence
Most piñata buyers are Hispanic, specifically, of Mexican ancestry, Ruiz said. Hispanics make up about 6.75% of Minnesota’s population, according to census data, with Mexicans the largest national group in that population.
In Mexico, piñatas were traditionally used as a teaching tool in the Catholic catechism. Traditional piñatas were shaped like stars with seven cones that represented the seven deadly sins, according to Ruiz.
Outside of birthday parties, the busiest selling season falls during Mexican Independence Day celebrations in September and posada parties in December.
But as more Mexicans have moved north, traditions have evolved.
Back in California, Ruiz said, piñatas were still sold primarily to be stuffed with candy and broken during parties. Those buyers weren’t as interested in what the piece looked like as they were in its size and sturdiness.
But in Minnesota, sellers said their customers want softer, smaller pieces, and many use them as home or office decor.
Lili Garcia, a 30-year-old piñata maker from Oaxaca, Mexico, has been selling her creations on Facebook Marketplace for the last three years. She learned how to make piñatas at a party supply store she worked at before moving to Minnesota.
Garcia has also noted Minnesotans’ preference for less traditional custom-made piñatas, but she’s been most surprised by the times of year Minnesotans buy her products.
“It’s very few sales during the Christmas season,” she said. “It depends, but for Christmas, it’s mostly Mexican families buying. During September we barely sell any.”
Minnesota’s harsher winters keep people from gathering outside to break piñatas, she said. And so most of Garcia’s and other vendors’ sales come in warmer months.
Vendor Verónica Rodríguez Muñoz, 50, said she’s been selling to more non-Latino customers. Multicultural events and parties have led other communities to incorporate piñatas into their celebrations. And Hispanic children may invite friends or classmates to their parties, which exposes the tradition to other cultures, she said.
“For American [non-Latino] kids, it’s something new, but fun to break it; it draws them in,” Rodríguez Muñoz said.
Social media trends have also shaped the kinds of requests vendors get.
Superheroes and cartoon characters are top choices for younger children, while adults favor pieces that showcase their favorite brands or products, like an expensive tequila bottle.
And businesses have been buying piñatas designed with their logos to display at their offices or events.
Some local vendors are selling Labubu-shaped piñatas, cashing in on the demand for the popular collectable toy.
Capitalizing on trends and creating newer pieces that can be displayed on social media are quick ways to garner a following and create a customer base, Ruiz said.
“I didn’t know that being your own small business, I was signing up to be a content creator,” she said. “Wow, it’s so difficult just getting with the times now and marketing and such.”
Supply and demand shape sales
Tapping into new markets has kept vendors busy, but it has also drained current supply.
Vendors like Ruiz and Garcia, for whom making piñatas is a side hustle, said demand is increasing so rapidly that they can’t maintain a supply of already made piñatas. Ruiz has a full-time job and Garcia is a stay-at-home mom. So they ask customers to give them several days’ notice when they order a piñata.
Rodríguez Muñoz, who is retired and has more time available, makes about seven new piñatas a week. Even so, it’s hard to keep products in stock, she said.
Marisol Gonzalez, 31, a newer vendor, said she has had to turn away customers.
“I’ve gotten messages from people [non-Latinos] on Friday asking for a piñata for Sunday, and I have to say no, I need at least five days, maybe a week, since it’s personalized,” Gonzalez said. “Latinos, they know, but others don’t.”
The off-season will allow some vendors time to stockpile products.
Although Ruiz continues to have a full-time job, she’s begun to consider how to nurture her piñata business.When she bought a house in Fridley recently, she thought of her business. The home now has a room dedicated to piñata creation and storage.
“Having the option of making the designs and people coming and buying it the same day, they don’t have to wait two weeks, that’s something I want to cater to,” she said. “Now, with this house, I’m able to make so much more.”
