Here is a super fun way for your kids to give a holiday time gift to their classmates at school! By wrapping a little surprise in white tissue and crepe paper you create a darling little snowball surprise for your child to give. This is a great way to give a holiday gift without it being overly Christmas specific. If you are worried about being “politically correct” and trying to give something without offending families who may not celebrate Christmas this is a great idea. It is just a fun way for kids to wrap and give something to someone that is special to them and could work for anybody on their Christmas list too.
Earlier I showed you a cute classmate gift idea, Reindeer noses, that we made for my daughter’s preschool class. I also mentioned that I had another trick up my sleeve for my son’s kindergarten class. When i came across this idea for surprise snowballs over at The Speckled Egg, I knew it would be perfect. Her surprise snowballs were more of a fun activity to keep her kids occupied on Christmas eve, and it is a really cute idea. She used white streamers to create a snowball and wra[[ed in a bunch of little gifts as she wrapped. The kids were to find the sticker on the snowball, start unwrapping, and find little surprises as they unwrapped the entire ball. I thought it was such a cute idea that I had to come up wit a way to make them this year. I decided it would just be a really fun way to wrap up a little gift for each of the kids in my sons class. So instead of making it an activity, it is more of just 1 little surprise wrapped up in a snowball.
I snapped this photo of my son playing in the snow last winter and it was the perfect way to personalize some gift tags for his snowball surprises considering he is holding a big snowball. I edited and added the wording using Pic Monkey which I love (and it is free). I then cut out some rectangles from card stock paper to glue the printed picture on. They turned out really cute, and I think the photo really makes these a special gift from him to his school friends.
These were simple to put together, and can cost very little to make too. My son really enjoyed picking out a little something for his friends and helping to wrap them into snowballs.
Here is what you will need to make these:
- Colored card stock paper and scissors (or a Cricut machine of you have one)
- White card stock to print photo tags on
- Printer to print picture (or you could get fancy and use an actual photo)
- Small clear treat bags – I used Wilton treat bags
- Stapler and Glue (or double sided tape)
- Tissue paper and white crepe paper rolls
- A surprise of your choice to wrap up
First you will need to pick out some little surprises to give. We went to Party City and found lots of different options. We decided on a little red and green chocolate coin for each gift and a little toy too. Remember if you don’t want it to be a “Christmas” gift go with something like candy or a yo-yo (anything not specific to Christmas). My son chose to give the girls each three Christmas colored bracelets and the boys got a little finger puppet or Christmas character. We wrapped the boys gifts with a blue tag and the girl’s with a purple tag so that they could be easily separated and given.
To make:
1. Edit and print out as many photo tags as you need and cut them out (I printed mine in a wallet size from my home printer)
2. Cut out 2 rectangles from colored card stock slightly larger than the picture you printed (you need 2 for each snowball gift you make one is a backing and one is for the photo to be attached to)
3. Tape or glue 1 photo to 1 colored rectangle
4. Now set aside all of the tags for later and get the kids to help with the next steps
5. Cut a piece of tissue paper in half and set the surprise in the center of it
6. Have the kids ball the paper up around the gift
7. Take a roll of crepe paper and start rolling it around the ball until it is covered. Tape the end to keep it from unraveling.
8. Now tuck the snowball into a clear treat bag – roll the bag down and staple it closed ( I did this – not the kiddos)
9. Now add the picture to the front and the other plain colored card stock rectangle to the back and staple them over the top of the treat bag
10. Have fun giving this little snowball surprises to friends!
We have ours waiting for Christmas in a basket in the living room. Everyone that has come over to visit has been really intrigued by them and I think this would just be a fun way to wrap and give little gifts to anyone. It was a super fun project for the kids, and of course, they are very excited to give them, because they made them themselves! What a perfect way to help your kids to learn the importance of giving and to make it really fun for them.
I hope that his classmates really enjoy their snowball surprises, but most of all I hope my son feels good about doing something nice for the kids that he spends so much time with throughout the year.