Tis’ the season for giving! December is all about shopping, presents, gift giving, and wrapping. Whether you’ve got a gift exchange coming up, or you’re involved in a cookie swap, or maybe you’re prepping some neighbor treats, there are plenty of opportunities for giving this month. We wanted to create a simple way for you to easily package up small treats in a really festive way. Enter the Holly Berry Surprise Ball!
Typically surprise balls are crepe paper-wrapped balls that have a small hidden toy in the middle. We’ve opted to use paper strips to create a lovely holly berry that you can fill with candy, a gift, or even some homemade cookies wrapped in parchment paper! Adorned with a paper holly leaf, you can write their name and a sweet sentiment. These holly berry surprise balls are the perfect evening activity. They’re a cinch to make and deliver to all your friends!
Get the tutorial and start filling your berries!
Holly Berry Surprise Ball
Holly Leaf Template PDF and SVG
Materials:
- Cardstock in different shades of pink, red, and green (12×12 for the large berries and 81/2×11 for the small berries)
- Scissors
- Paper cutter
- Hot glue gun
- Gold Pen
- Treats, trinkets, or treasures to fill the berries!
Instructions:
- Cut your paper into 1-inch by 12-inch strips for the large berries and 1-inch by 8 1/2-inch strips for the small berries.
- With your hot glue gun, make the strip into a loop by dabbing some hot glue onto the ends of the strip and overlapping them.
- Repeat process using 4 to 8 strips total depending on how dense you want the berry to be.
- Be sure to tuck in your treat or trinket before the cover the berry completely if it is a larger gift. If it’s small, you can easily spread the paper strips apart to squeeze some candy into the strips.
- Using the templates provided, cut out 1 to 2 holly leaves for each berry. Score the center of each leaf.
- Write their name and/or a note on the leaf with a gold pen and attach with hot glue.
- Deliver to your friends, neighbors, teachers, or co-workers and be on your merry way!
Photography by Clara Sumsion Jones | Crafting by Rebecca Hansen