Confetti-Filled-Fun - Cascarones!

"Cascarones or confetti eggs are festive, hollow chicken egg shells, filled with confetti. The word cascaron comes from the Spanish word "cascara," meaning egg shell. The colorful egg is crushed in the hand over the recipient's head showering the him or her with confetti. This tradition is most often carried out among friends and family. Cascarones derived from Mexico and have recently regained popularity in the southwestern United States. They are used for many different occasions but, especially Easter. Cascarones are gaining populararity at all occasions, including birthdays, Halloween, Cinco de Mayo, Diez y Seis, Day of the Dead, and weddings (wedding cascarones can be filled with birdseed).

Having one broken over your head is said to bring good luck."

After living in San Antonio almost all my life and purchasing many cascarones, I decided to start making my own cascarones to take to the Fiesta parades. And I wanted to make improvements:

Over-filling the hollowed out eggs (because most of the cascarones I bought only had a tiny amount of confetti in them) - whats the fun of a cascarone if it doesn't make a huge mess?

Using a variety of confetti, instead of the traditional colored paper dots you find in most cascarones. Foil confetti is especially fun because you will still find it in your hair the next week. I also throw in some colored feather bits/pieces for extra fun! Very effective visually.

Correcting the lackluster tissue paper ends - the end where the hole is to fill the egg is covered with a piece of tissue paper glued over it - booorring! Solution: I use MORE confetti fun to stuff into the holes in the ends, sealing in the confetti inside the egg - I usually use paper strips that have been accordian-folded and they look so much better than the boring tissue paper. And they also yield a bigger mess, which I find desirable in a cascarone.

Coloring/decorating the eggs with various mediums. I sometimes dye them the traditional way Easter eggs are dyed; I have also used neon-colored hairspray and acrylic paints, whatever hits me. Glitterized sounds fun, hmmm....

And lastly, I also pick one egg in the carton and partially fill it with white flour in addition to the confetti and feather bits, bringing extra luck to the person who gets hit with this one!