How to Make an Awesome Death Star Piñata

Fun & Games Paper Crafts

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.

View more articles by Gareth Branwyn

@garethb2

May 28th, 2015 5

Nothing says festive birthday party love like an Imperial planet killer, groaning with goodies, for the kids to attack with a pool noodle light saber. Death to Lord Vader! Mmmmmm…. Starburst.

This Death Star piñata is actually rather simple to build, using only a beach ball, strips of newspaper and paper mache glue mix. The patience comes in carefully painting all of the Death Star surface details after the mache ball is finished and primed with gray spray paint. A graduated series of cardboard disks were used for the string holder inside the paper ball to better distribute some of the the weight and stress to make the piñata last longer.