As I mentioned in my last post, the highlight of Otis’s party for me was playing the game Pass The Parcel. My original idea was to make individual surprise balls as party favors for the kids — I KNOW!! But it sounded like a great idea when it came to me in the middle of the night! Happily, this solution was much more fun for everyone.
Here’s how I made my surprise ball.
I went to the store and purchased a variety of small prizes. I bought a couple of bulky prizes which I wrapped up in the center, but otherwise, I tried to find flat and flexible prizes. I also bought two different colors of crepe paper rolls.
Start wrapping! Wrap firmly, in all directions, and make sure the prize is completely covered. Glue or tape the end in place before you start wrapping the next prize. Here’s a helpful hint – do NOT buy a prize that wants to talk and coo and scurry away when you keep accidentally pushing one of its many start buttons or you will spend quite a bit of time looking for the OFF button and cursing.
For the other layers, find a good spot to place your next prize, with the goal of making the finished Parcel as ball-like as possible. It’s a good idea to fill those nooks and crannies.
Finished! It looked more like a Surprise Pumpkin than a Surprise Ball, but nobody seemed to mind – it was a huge hit.
Mimi, this is fabulous! Can you bottle up a tiny bit of your creativity and send it to me?
Molly says: “I really liked the surprise ball!”
(confirmation that it was, indeed, a hit!).
this is awesome – how i wish i had seen this before my son’s 6th birthday party last month!!!
This is wonderful! And officially on my to do list. Love it.