This fun and colorful piñata costume is made with crepe paper, fabric glue and a store-bought dress. It’s an creative, no-sew costume that’s perfect for Halloween or any theme party.
Last week we went to a costume party, and the theme was the letter P. I decided to go as a piñata and thought it would be an easy costume to make myself. Although my DIY piñata costume took more time that I originally thought, it was definitely a success as far as homemade costumes go – even though some people at the party didn’t know what I was!
I purchased a cheap tank dress from a discount store and then bought a ton of crepe paper streamers. Once I cut all the fringe into them – the most time consuming part of the process – I laid out a few pieces to determine my color placement. I wanted it to look random but organized at the same time…and kind of like a Mexican fiesta.
More DIY: succulent planters / canvas art / glitter shoes
How to make a pinata costume:
I stretched out the dress with a long art canvas that was wrapped in plastic, but I’m sure really anything would work. Then, I started applying the crepe paper with fabric glue – two strips of each color at a time.
Some of the paper pieces that I used were a bit too wide for the dress so I simply cut the excess off and secured the new ends with some extra glue.
Once the first side was finished, I let it dry overnight and gently flipped the dress over and started again, lining the colors up with the first side. Around the arm and collar I folded the paper over the edges and added glue to keep the “hems” in place. At the top of the straps, I added a horizontal strip flat over the seam to finish the costume off.
For the hats – I made the strips shorter, smaller and with thinner fringe. Then, I glued them to party hats and topped them with long, thin streamers of crepe paper. I used glue sticks for this step.
I added the red belt to define my waist because the dress made me look a little bit puffy!
(Sorry about the terrible cell-phone picture, but it’s the only full-length picture I took because we were in such a rush. I’m really disappointed that I don’t have any others.)
If you are following this tutorial and making your own piñata costume, I would love to see how they turn out! Would you mind emailing me pictures of your costumes? I may even feature them right here on Simply Whisked!
Readers’ Costumes:
How cute does Cassidy look in her piñata costume? I’m loving the color she chose and check out those awesome colorful lashes. They totally make the costume!
Melissa you are so creative!!!! Love the costume! Love you too! GM
Im going to do this costume this year. I don’t have hot glue gun but ordered glue that was for crepe paper. The dress is not real tight fitting so I hope this helps. I have no creative talent so we shall see. Thanks for great tutorial
That sounds like it will work great!! The tighter the dress the more likely it will rip when you put it on. Just make sure you still put something in between so the glue doesn’t go through the dress!
I’m going to try using a little black skort.
oh my goshhh!! i googled “DIY Pinata Costume” and stumbled upon this perfection of a post! this is AMAZING, and i am now using your tutorial how to do it!! thank you! ps- how many crepe paper rolls of each color did you end up purchasing??
I actually couldn’t find regular crepe paper rolls in France, but I would guess probably just one of each color would work. I bought premade crepe paper garland that had two colors and I cut it apart but I had WAY more than I needed and ended up throwing it all away. One of each should be plenty! I hope everything turns out great for you 🙂 I would love to see it!
How did you attach the hats to your head? Thanks!
They were just regular party hats that had elasticized string attached. It took a little bit of time but I managed to tuck the strings behind my hair to hide them.
How well did the material hold up? It seems like it would get messed up when you sit and move around a lot
It was definitely not something that I could have worn too many times, but it held up surprisingly well considering that it was just paper. I wore it for about 8 hours and it was really not in that bad of shape. The wear came mostly from the other party goers.
Exactly how Did you glue it and does it take alot of skill
I just made thin lines of glue across the dress and attached the paper to it, and no it doesn’t take much skill.
How wide did you stretch the dress out? I bought a stretchy dress too and am not sure how to account for the shape it will take when it’s actually on. Do I need to measure my bum and find an art canvas that is around that width?
You don’t have to necessarily buy an art canvas. I just had one lying around so that’s what I used. You could also use a big piece of cardboard or really anything that will stretch the dress. I guess I stretched the dress a few inches in each direction. The canvas I used was 40 centimeters wide. I didn’t measure anything, I just used what I had.
The back of a chair works for stretching the dress!
I found a similar idea but I love that you say how to do it!! Thanks so much! Can’t wait to try it!
Just stumbled upon this a year later, and i’m considering this as one of my ideas. You mentioned you added a belt bc the dress was puffy, and i wanted to know if you would recommend buying a tight-fitting dress or a loose-fitting dress and using a belt to cinch waist. Thx!
I used a tight-fitting dress, and I still felt that I looked puffier than I really was, which is why I added the belt. I would imagine that a loose-fitting one might make it look even puffier.
Hey, beautiful costume! Thanks for posting this. I have a few questions for you below:
1. I was wondering about the layering you did of the crepe paper. I see you did two rows of each color; however, did you glue each strip individually above the first strip placed? If so, what was the spacing? Just whatever looked right?
2. Since you did the attachment on one side of the dress, then flipped it over, were you able to see on the sides where the crepe was cut? or does it help to curve it a little bit so there isn’t a line of fabric showing from where the crepe was cut.
Hi Feeza! I glued each piece of crepe paper individually. If I can remember correctly, they were not too far apart – maybe a 1/2 inch. But you’re right, I just did what looked right to me.
I don’t remember there being any gaps between the two sides, but they’re may have been. I tried my best to overlap the sides by a little but since the dress would be stretching once it was on me. Also, try not to glue the strips too tightly so that when the dress stretches the paper doesn’t rip.
If you’re making this costume, I would absolutely love to see how it turns out!
did you purposely pleat the top edges of the crepe paper that you glued to the fabric? it seems that way in the close-up picture. did this help keep it from ripping? and if you could do it over again, what would you do differently? thanks!!
Yes. I did pleat or sort of bunch the crepe paper to keep it from ripping since I knew the dress would be stretching when I put it on. It definitely helped to prevent it from ripping. The only thing I think that I would do differently if doing it over again is to spread the layers out a little more (to have less layers overall) because I felt it looks a little “puffy”, which is why I ended up adding the belt. Other than that, I wouldn’t change a thing.
Love the costume! I unfortunately can’t find any crepe paper or garland…I can only find party streamers but they seem too thin…(they are only 1.75 inches in height)… do you think this would work?
To be honest, I really don’t know. I would suggest doing a trial on a square of fabric before trying it on the dress. Or maybe you could find some thicker garland or regular crepe paper online. That is what I would do. Sorry I can’t be of more help!
hmmm I bought streamer and about to start tomorrow. Where do you get crepe paper rolls? Michaels?
I actually made this costume while I was living in France. I would guess that Michaels or any party store would have some, but I’m really not sure. I think that the crepe paper streamers would work, but your layers would have to be small I guess. I did find some BIG crepe paper sheet rolls here, but it may require a little more cutting. (PS. I’ve ordered ribbon from that website before and everything was great.) Hopefully that helps!
as i saw in the picture did you pleat the top? and did it help pleating like if i made the dress without pleating will the crepe paper still stay on the dress?
I only pleated it a little bit, but the crepe paper has a little bit of a natural ripple to it as well. I added the pleats though because I didn’t want the strips of paper to rip when I put the dress on. I’m sure the paper will still stay on with the glue regardless, but I would suggest giving yourself a little room to stretch.