[thehoghunter]

I think instead of making the skull come out with the skeleton, make just the arms, ribs, and lower come out. So you have the head, which you leave alone, connected to the neck and top of doll. Remove any body parts with just the bones (the hands will be an issue). Dress the doll so that the skeleton pops up out of the clothes instead of trying to make it pop out of the plastic body. The clothes will hid the surprise instead of the body.

I am going to be trying the same type of thing on my wheelchair granny...the hips stay on the chair while the rest of the skeleton pops up, so I have to use pants/dress for the legs which stay in place, but the top shirt will have to separate, showing the ribs and spine when she pops up. (sorry, don't have pics yet...still in planning phase).