More fun than you can shake a stick at: Mexican woman in Humber Valley makes and sells her own piatas

With the ground still covered in snow, Newfoundland's Humber Valley may as well be on a different planet from the tropical beaches of Mexico. But inside Malena Padilla's cosylog cabin, there are colourful connections to her home back in Veracruz. Her whole back wall is lined with a rainbow of brightly colouredpiatas.

Piatas are basically vessels to hold candy and treats. They're made of cardboard, papier mchand delicate tissue paper cut into fringe, and children take turns trying to crack it open with a stick.

Padilla has been making them since she was a child. It's something everyone does back in her hometown.

"They're used for every single party. Birthday parties, Christmas parties, weddings. Everything you can think of," she said. "If it's a party, there's a piata."

Padilla moved to Newfoundland and Labradorin 2012, and after she had her first child she knew she wanted to include something from her own childhood back in Mexico. So she made a piatafor her daughter's first birthday. It was the first one she'd made since she moved to Canada.

But it wouldn't be her last.

Now a mom of two, Padilla has madepiatasfor each birthday and family celebration. Anda few months ago, she decided to take it a step further. She started her own business: Piatas by Nena,which is short for Malena.

"I didn't see enough piatas at the places where you buy stuff for parties so I figured it would be nice to start making [and selling them] and see what people think," she said.

So far she's selling her piatas through social media and at local craft fairs. She makes custom orders for party themes but often takes her cues from her daughters to keep up withwhat's popular with kids right now.

"Emma tells me what to do," Padilla said ofher 10-year-old daughter. "She says, 'This will be nice. This will be cute.'"

Besides inspiration, Padilla's daughters help out with all parts of the business. Toddler Naomi likes the papier mch and tissue paper. Big sisterEmma helps cut out the shapes and set up at the craft fairs.

"It's pretty cool when people don't know what piatas are me and my mom or my sister can tell them what they really are and what they're made from," she said.

As beautiful and detailed as her creations are, Padilla sometimes has to explain to people the real purposeof a piata: to be whacked with a stick until all the candy falls out.

"One lady came over and said, 'You have to put candy in it? I didn't know we had to put candy in it!''' Padilla said the woman had tried a piatayears ago only to have very disappointed children when they discovered it was empty and they had done at all that work for nothing.

Luckily,Emma is apiatapro.

"You have to hit it really hard and then you have to swing really fast," Emma said. "You have to aim at the same spot."

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