DIY: Piñata Dog Costume

Here it is! Pretty awesome, right?! I made this piñata costume for my pug, Dylan, for Halloween. Riley (my other pug child) is going to be something else, so you'll just have to stay posted to see his costume.Although this costume was clearly made for a dog, the technique and tutorial can also be used to make a piñata costume for children and adults by simply altering the initial kraft paper pattern. And just so y'all know, I'm a total pug weirdo and love my boys more than anything. I'd never put them in a situation that would hurt them and they oddly love posing for photos. If you'll visit the Pug Party link on my portfolio site, you'll see the festive fun we have together all year round.DIY tutorial is below. Enjoy!

Materials needed:

Bright-colored tissue paper (I'm a big fan of PaperMart)
Brown Kraft paper
2 Party hats
Scotch tape
Stapler
Elmer's glue
String, Ribbon

1. Using your kraft paper, create a cape-like pattern for your dog. For smaller (pug-sized dogs) you can see the approximate dimensions I went with below. I doubled my craft paper to make it a bit sturdier and taped the two pieces together with scotch tape. Like the below, you'll want to cut out a little scallop shape at the top and at the bottom for the neck and tail. Hole punch 2 holes at the top near the neck and 2 holes towards the middle.2. Make sure the cape-like pattern fits your pup! As you'll see, just to test the size of the costume, I used string around the neck. Later, I replaced this with a thicker satin ribbon. I recommend cutting 2 x 8" strands of ribbon for each of the holes towards the back and 2 x 6" strands of ribbon for the neck holes. Once you're costume is finished, loosely tie the strands at the neck and under the belly together into a bow.3. Cut 4" (in height) pieces of tissue paper and fold them in half. Then, using scissors, cut vertically, leaving about 1/2" at the top. Now, you have your fringe! Fold your kraft paper pattern in half, so that you're only working on one side at a time. Using scotch tape, adhere your fringe (working horizontally) up the top of your pattern. Leave about 1/2" blank at the top. Turn it over and follow the same steps for the other side.

4. As you'll see, I left the top blank so that I could secure one piece of fringe over the top. Glue the top crease of your pattern and lay a piece of fringe over the top. Now that the main costume piece is done, on to the ears!

5. Using the same technique, glue your fringe to the party hat starting at the bottom of the hat. Work in the same color pattern as you did for the body of the costume. Once your done with your first hat, repeat with the second.

If you feel like really going for it and want to make some fringe for your little pup's paws, cut 4 small pieces of kraft paper (approx 2"x 4" each) and apply a few rows of your paper fringe to them. As you'll see in the photos, these lasted about 2 minutes over here before Dylan kicked them right off. Paw fringe or not, you're all set and ready to win your local dog costume contest!