end of summer surprise...

With Chloe wrapping up her preschool career this week, I wanted to do a fun thank you gift for her teachers who have done so much. After seeing some really festive and creative surprise balls on the web and hearing from Linda Crispell that she's going to do a version for the Best Halloween Ever blog (can't wait!!) I thought I would try one myself. I started with filling up a giant plastic prize ball with some fun flower lollipops and a card with attached gift certificate. I found the ball container at Party City. I added some kitchy mini-rulers, crayons and confetti for an end-of-summer back to school theme. I did one for each teacher.
This gave me a great base for wrapping and and made this a giant ball of surprises. I didn't trim the crepe paper since the ball is so big. I just started wrapping in different directions and put a little piece of Japanese tape for a cute way to transition to a different colored tissue.I started adding in the little surprises to each layer, tucking it into the crepe paper and then continued to wrap around. There are little notebooks, stickers and other goodies embedded into each layer.Layer upon layer of pretty surprises develops.I then did some decorative colors at the end to give it a festive look.
I added a thank you to the front and Chloe added some stickers to the sides.Here are the goodies we put inside. You could do this for any theme or occasion. My kids don't know it yet, but they are each getting a back to school surprise ball on their first day back.

I hope they enjoy opening them. What a fun way to say thanks for the memories!