I have three nieces all from the same family who have their birthdays within six weeks of one another. In order to keep the peace I have tried my best over the years to give them all similar gifts. As the eldest is becoming a teenager, this is becoming increasingly hard, so this year I decided to do something different and create Surprise Balls for them. For those of you who have never heard of these before, they are easy to recreate and adapt to the recipients age and taste.

All you will need is the following:

roll of crepe paper
small prizes (ie. bouncy balls, magnets, inexpensive necklaces, wash tape, japanese erasers etc.)
candy
money
other fun little items which are relatively flat (this is key in ending up with a semi circular ball)

Directions:

1. In order to start to create your ball, take your roll of crepe paper and wrap the crepe paper around your first prize. Continue to wrap the crepe paper around each prize three or four times before you add in another prize. Depending on the size and the amount of prizes you have this ball could be as small or as large as you choose.

2. In the end, I created balls roughly the size of an adult hand, which for a small child's hand will feel massive and exciting.

3. Include brief directions on how they need to unwrap the balls to see what is inside.

These surprise balls are the perfect gift for any age and a simple and inexpensive way to show someone you care no matter the occasion.

If you live in Seattle a great place to find items is Archie McPhee.