Mario Valentine’s Box – Piranha Plant (DIY)

Whether you’re looking for a Valentine’s Day box for a boy or a girl, this Mario Piranha Plant is a super unique and fun Valentine’s day box to craft with your little one.

While scrolling through Pinterest with my daughter Wynn, we looked for Valentine’s Day box inspiration. I of course, was trying to sway her towards “easy” DIY boxes. She locked eyes on Mario’s Piranha Plant and there’s no changing this girls mind. I’m not going to tell you this is a super easy project but if you like to DIY and your kiddo likes Mario, step up to the plate!

How to make a Mario Piranha Plant Valentine’s Day Box

I’ll show you exactly how to can make this spooky fire-spitting plant. Most of the steps, your kiddo can get involved and help out! Here’s our step by step guide to making a Mario Valentine’s Day box for school.

Supplies Needed to Make Mario Valentine’s Day Box

Large cylinder box (mine is 6.5″)
Hollow foam ball (mine is 8″)
Red, green & white paint
White foam sheets
Craft paper
Small wood dowel
Hot glue gun
Craft knife
Scissors

Money Saving Tip: I bought everything I needed at Hobby Lobby. But you could substitute the cylinder box with a large oatmeal container if you have one. If so, adjust the foam ball so it’s not too big.

Instructions for this DIY Valentine’s Day Box

Some images below were taken after completion but added in to give you more detail.

1. Let’s start with cutting the holes in the box and the styrofoam ball. This is where kids will drop their vday cards in the Piranha Plant’s mouth and they will be collected in the pipe.

Use the knife to cut a 4″ circle hole in the lid of round box. Then, with your mouth halves eye how wide you want the mouth open and where they’ll connect. Cut a small arch out of each half of the styrofoam ball. You’ll want it big enough so the cards can make it through but also ensure the edges can connect (we shaved a little more off so where they connect it was flat).

2. Paint the the ball halves red and the outside of the box green. Tip: Take the box lid off when painting so it doesn‘t stick to the base. Once the red paint is dry, paint a white lip on the edge of the ball halves on the opening of the Piranha Plant’s mouth.

3. Cut Piranha Plant teeth out. We needed roughly 24 teeth. Hot glue them to the inside of the mouth.

4. Cut out white circles for the Piranha Plants iconic look and hot glue them to the red mouth.

5. Attaching the red mouth halves was lots of trial and error but we figured out how to attach it and make it very sturdy! First, figure out the placement of the mouth halves so the Piranha Plant is open. Then hot glue them together.

5. Now you’ll attach the mouth to the pipe. Puncture small wooden dowels through the ball and into the top of the green pipe. . Lastly, hot glue the dowels really well so its not going to move!

Tip: Depending on your dowel length, you may need to cut it to 2-3″ for each side. Ours was 12 inches.

6. Last step is to personalize it! I found this Mario Bros font generator that’s free – try it.

We LOVED how it turned out and it was a big hit in her class. I hope you found our Mario Valentine’s Box Piranha Plant helpful. Have a Super Valentine’s Day!

Looking for matching Mario Bro Valentine’s Day Cards? These Mario V-Day cards can complete your theme!

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Are there real Piranha Plants?

Credit: Wikipedia

Mind blowingly, yes Piranha Plants are real! This spooky plant is called Hydnora africana and is native to South African forests. These plants are parasites and rely on a host to survive. While it mostly grows underground, a large “flower” is the only part of the plant visible above ground. It emits a smelly odor to attract pollinators like beetles, which in turn also get trapped long enough to grab pollen.