What every child needs in life is one good piñata party. What constitutes a good piñata party? First, you have to have one fabulous piñata! Second, you must invite at least 20 screaming, young children. Third, you must have a really solid stick to bat the piñata. Finally, you must fill the piñata with as many sweet goodies as possible so that when you break the piñata, the candies fall to the ground for the children to wrestle away from one another. Essentially, mad chaos breaks out and sugar headaches follow.

I once attended the world’s sadest piñata party deep in the Honduran countryside. 

It started off like any regular piñata party.  Fabulous piñata…check. More than 20 zillion screaming young children…check. A solid stick…check. All was going along splendidly. It must have been the largest piñata party I had ever been to. Both children and parents filled the yard outside of the home where the grand piñata was hung. Parents cheered on their children as they batted at the piñata, and some took pictures. Since many of the children were quite small, we knew it would take a while for the piñata to be broken.

The piñata took a beating. Each small child has his or her turn swinging at the dangling burro. Each attempt left yet another gash in the burro’s side. Yet, we noticed that the burro was more than determined to hold on to the sweet treats. The poor little paper burro was pummeled for over half an hour, yet no candies had fallen. Children became wrestless, parents became agitated, the hosts of the piñata party became suspicious.

Then came the big hit. One child finally took a swing that would certainly knock the candy out…or would it? Everyone stood staring at the broken piñata in amazement. The burro was shredded, yet no candy had fallen. The parents lowered the sad piñata in disbelief. It was then that the hosts of the party realized that in their rush to raise the piñata before the party started, they forgot to fill it with candy.