***Story originally aired on October 8th***
If you’ve ever wracked your brain on what to buy the person who has everything, a Vancouver artist may have the answer for you and it comes in the form of a personalized piñata.
Meaghan Kennedy is gaining international attention with her ability to turn any likeness into a unique paper-mâchécreation. She’s created drag queen Divine, tattoo artist Kat Von D and glam rocker David Bowie. Ryan Reynolds, Jason Priestly and George Strombolopolous have also provided Kennedy with inspiration.
Conan O'brien Instagramed his personalized piñata, but his sidekick Andy Richter complained his likeness wasn't fat enough.
Even Ellen featured Kennedy’s locally-made piñatas on her show. Her DJ Tony danced around with his piñata before going to a commercial break.
You can also see some of Kennedy's creations hanging from the walls of Aphrodite's cafe in Kitsilano, including a few Canuck piñatas.
"The Sedins are super uncomfortable whenever they come in, because they somehow often get sat underneath their piñatas, and they think ‘what is going on here?’" said Kennedy.
Kennedy's quirky piñatas recently grabbed the attention of a writer for GQ magazine, who featured her business in a recent edition.
That led to a major order from a U.S. candy company that wanted 26 celebrity piñatas for a Halloween promotion.
Kennedy also creates customized piñatas of non-celebrities for birthday parties and other special events, but admits they're not always appreciated.
"Every once in a while you get someone who's super offended by it, but then I just think, well that person's probably not very fun,” she said.
A custom piñata starts at $300 and takes about a week to create. Kennedy can't quite believe her hobby has turned into a lucrative business.
"I was at an event a few weeks ago and everyone there is like multi billionaires and we all agree that I have the coolest job, which was awesome,” she said.
If you want to order a piñata, you can send photos of the person to Kennedy, then decide on an activity or outfit for your character and the size. You can either have Kennedy fill the piñata with candy or she will leave it empty so you can custom fill it yourself. For more information you can visit her website.