to make : surprise ball
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From what I've read, surprise balls are common in Japan. They are balls of crepe paper strips wrapped around small gifts, when the recipient unwinds the ball the small gifts are revealed one by one. I had one as a child and it was so much fun! Oddly, I mine came from Oklahoma. I decided to make some for Valentine's Day. In true me form, no one received it until late February.
The shots of these were taken in my pre-digital camera days, please forgive the quality - they were taken with a web cam and we all know how well that works. |
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First I tried to find thin crepe paper. No luck. Then I gave up and bought crepe paper rolls and cut the strips in half piece by piece. I don't suggest this. It wasn't fun. Try to find crepe paper sheets which you can fold and cut into strips by the bunch. The grain of the paper should run the width of the strip, so that is has the ability to stretch over the round shape of the ball. I bought red and white for guys and light and dark pink for girls. |
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I filled mine with little things I ordered from Oriental Trading Company. I was going for things small and relatively flat.
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Take the main gift, often the largest as well, and wrap around it a few times. Add some confetti, wrap, add a candy heart, wrap, keep going. You can space out the treats as close or as far apart as you want, you basically can set up your dramatic moments. That is unless trying to hold the ball together while you are making it doesn't drive you batty. When one strip runs out just keep going with another, you can tape the strips together if you want a long continuous piece, but I like the effect of being left with a bunch of little streamers you can use to decorate other peoples' heads with. I wrapped a short length of contrasting paper around the ball in one direction and secured with a sticker, which also held a little tag (heart shaped of course, valentine's day is all about cheese) on that simply said "unwrap me". One thing to keep in mind is the candy. Even I didn't want to eat the conversation hearts after they came out of the ball because the entire thing was too obviously handled. So use wrapped candy. |
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I really wanted to find a way to use the red gummy scottie dogs or the candy jewelry. I also was thinking about forming the ball around a lollipop and letting the stick poke out one side. I was also eyeing conversation heart tattoos. Or even better, glow in the dark valentine alien tattoos! ha ha! I love this stuff I can't help it!
This can, of course, apply to any occasion, or no occasion. Carroll Duvall talks about making one for mother on Mother's Day -- and if the entire thing is too intensive, TOPS Malibu sells Bami BallenTM for all occasions, and they have some nice shapes to. |
I've got a Parteeeee Boy!!!
Comment by Megan — December 15, 2006 @ 9:06 am
I ran across suprise balls on the Tops Malibu site and decided to make one for my 81 year old Grandmother for her birthday. She had never heard of one, but she loved it! I wrapped nicer gifts in hers, like earrings and sugar-free candy (she's diabetic). For the center, I used some soft "house-socks" and I wrapped the whole thing with regular "fat" crepe paper. Because my inner surprise was kind of large, the fatter paper worked. I wondered if I should have cut it in half, but decided that was too much of a pain and went for it with the fat paper. It worked out fine, once I got the ball going. Crepe paper has an amazing ability to stretch and mold to different shapes. Thanks for sharing!
Comment by Jennifer — February 8, 2007 @ 1:51 pm
What a cool website , heaps of ideas for me to make. I had seen Mystery Charm Balls on The vermont Country Store Web Site - there is nothing like this in New Zealand. So thought I search engine how to make them and your Web Site came up. I have book marked it as there are so many things I like to try making. Keep up the great ideas.
rachel
Comment by Rachel Upton — March 8, 2007 @ 9:40 pm
Oh, AWESOME!
I just saw these in a wedding magazine at £14 (that's $28) a pop and thought they looked cool, but no way am I spending THAT much on favours- I look them up on google and here you are with a how to!
ROCK!
Comment by Ellen — July 4, 2007 @ 5:21 am
My grandmother used to make them with me when I was very small. I'm now 69 and I still remember them (and her) fondly. Sometimes she would make one for my birthday party and when kids sitting around the table would pass the ball around and around, trinkets would fall out onto someones' lap. The last person to finish the ball would 'win' the last and best prize that was in the center of the ball.
Comment by Georgia Browne — July 31, 2007 @ 9:57 pm
I make these for Christmas but I make huge ones. I use the regular crepe paper and a ton of small things. Some toys, some useful things. Some for kids and some for adults. The finished ball is as big as a basketball or bigger. What we do is sit around the table, passing the ball around. Once we get a prize, we pass it to the next person. We just keep going around and around until all the prizes are gone.
Comment by Julie — November 2, 2007 @ 11:48 pm
My mom used to make this for me and my sister for our birthdays when we were very little. I completely forgot about them :) She would use a bouncy ball for the middle and then wrap it with one long piece of cray paper (like the kind you decorate with) and then add stickers (with their backings still attached), and anything else little and inexpensive she could fit in there. Thanks for the memory!
Comment by Allison — February 28, 2008 @ 5:09 pm
I'm having a hard time actually finding crepe paper in non-day glow colors. Where do you find crepe paper?
Thank you!
Jennifer
Comment by Jennifer — March 13, 2008 @ 3:53 am