For my sons’ Legend of Zelda birthday party, they really wanted a pinata. But not just ANY pinata…. it had to be on theme, of course, but more than that my son wanted it to be his favorite dragon from the game. I didn’t have to shop around to know that I wasn’t going to be finding that at Party City or Walmart, so the creative wheels started spinning.
This was my first time making a pinata, and will probably not be the last! It took some time and creativity, but it it was huge impact decoration that made my kids’ day and was basically made out of trash so it was a total win in my book. Read on for how I created this Legend of Zelda dragon pinata.
Supplies:
- Cardboard Boxes
- Brown Packing Paper
- Paint
- Tulle Ribbon
- Tissue Paper
- Mod Podge
- Hot Glue Gun
- Box Cutter
- Wire for hanging
- Candy
- Curl Ribbon
Step 1: Creating the shape
Using a variety of cardboard boxes cut and hot glued together I created the initial shape for the dragon face. I experimented with a few different size boxes, in the end the winning combination was a chip box for the face and small rectangular Amazon box with teeth cut out for the mouth.
I cut out a flap where the bridge of the nose would be, folded everything together and used a ton of hot glue to keep it in place.
The horns were created with brown packaging paper, twisted into shape and glued into gaps of the face box. The eyes were a styrofoam sphere cut in half and hot glued into place.
Using the box cutter I cut out a U-shaped flap in the back of the head for filling with candy, and another on the bottom where the candy would fall out.
Step 2: Paint
Before the tissue paper, I used paint that we already had for the teeth, eyes, and to cover up some of the logos on the packaging paper I used. I also painted a little bit of black over the images of the chips because I was worried about them showing through the tissue paper.
(I meant to go back with teal paint on the eyes like the character, but I ran out of time)
Step 3: Tissue Paper
I bought 3 packages of tissue paper because I wasn’t sure how much it would take, but I only ended up using just a bit more than one package.
I cut the tissue paper into long 2 inch strips using an exacto knife. Each strip was then sliced halfway up in one inch increments to create the fringe.
Using a cheap foam brush and Mod Podge, I started at the bottom and worked my way around and up the dragon face, overlapping each layer of tissue paper a bit. This was actually a pretty fun process and went much more quickly than I thought.
Step 4: Pull Strings
The tutorial that I followed for making a pull string pinata told me to poke 3 holes in the bottom flap to tie strings on the inside, and then glue the rest to the bottom of the flap. So that’s what I did. Do not follow this method. When the kids pulled the strings our pinata did not deploy.
What I would do instead: poke 6 holes, and feed 3 extra long ribbons through them. Then glue the rest of the ribbons to the bottom. You might want to try a test run to make sure the flap will open.
Step 5: Final Details
I gave the dragon it’s fire with orange, glittery tulle ribbon wrapped around the horns and a few layers coming out of the mouth.
Step 6: Hanging
We had to get creative with hanging the thing because it was so heavy when filled with candy that the curl ribbon started ripping right through the box where I had poked the holes. I ended up using a pice of hanging wire that was sitting around the garage and used a roller nap on the inside to keep it from ripping through the box.
A red plastic tablecloth taped to the back and shaped into the air with a loop of fishing line attached to ceiling made the body.
