{"id":4316,"date":"2015-12-12T18:00:45","date_gmt":"2015-12-12T23:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/?p=4316"},"modified":"2016-11-15T18:04:20","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T23:04:20","slug":"plastic-wrap-christmas-big-kid-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/plastic-wrap-christmas-big-kid-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastic Wrap Christmas: Big Kid Fun"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Plastic<\/a><\/p>\n

Plastic wrap prizes! Several have asked how we do this activity, so here is a somewhat-clear description! (The pics are a little grainy in our living room that night!)<\/p>\n

One thing that I highly recommend as you prepare for Christmas with teens and adults is that you try to make new memories\u2026that you try to do things that are applicable to their ages. Yes, we definitely continue some of the earlier traditions. But we’ve also added new ones that are more age-appropriate. One of those is plastic wrap prizes.<\/p>\n

This activity could be in lieu of stockings, Christmas Eve PJs, pi\u00f1atas, etc. It is a ton of fun for teens and adults. With younger kids, there’s always a danger of some disappointment if they get Chapstick or antacids (lol!), but with teens and adults, it is all just good fun. Lots of laughs. Lots of usable items. And more family unity than you would think, LOL!<\/p>\n

 
\nHere is how we created the huge plastic wrap ball:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1)<\/strong> Take a bunch of small gifts—see suggestions below<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong> Lay the first one on plastic wrap that is pulled out then start rolling the plastic wrap around the prize.<\/p>\n

3)<\/strong> When it is covered,  lay another prize on it and roll again.<\/p>\n

4)<\/strong> When you come to the end of the roll, open another roll and tied the end of the first with the beginning of the second.<\/p>\n

5)<\/strong> When we were done with all one hundred plus gifts\/prizes, we had a huge ball like you see in the picture.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ray getting started on the Plastic Wrap Prizes for our Christmas Eve night! Sorting all of the goodies and gifts.<\/p>\n

\"Plastic<\/a>
\n 
\nGetting closer! This is more fun for young adults than stockings!<\/p>\n

\"Plastic<\/a><\/p>\n

 
\nThe “ball” is getting bigger–we are on our second roll of plastic wrap now!<\/p>\n

\"Plastic<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 
\nLast layer. The kids will pass the ball around the room to the next person, unwrapping another layer each time as their “prizes” fall out!
\n \"Plastic<\/a><\/p>\n

So what exactly do we do with that big ball of prizes, goodies, and gifts? Here is how that part goes down:<\/p>\n

 1)<\/strong> The kids all get in a big semi circle and the first one tears away the plastic wrap (the ball is on the floor in front of them) and gets the first prize he comes to\/first one that falls out.<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong> Then he passes it to the next person (or moves it over in front of the next person who does the same.<\/p>\n

3)<\/strong> They continue to do that\u2026they might see something they like better under the next layer, but they get whatever is next in the wrap. (They barter and trade afterwards!)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So what are good Plastic Wrap Prizes? This is dependent on a lot of factors:<\/p>\n

1)<\/strong> Whether this activity is in place of other gifts you would normally get them. (Ours is in part as this year we are doing a bigger gift card or two per person and then the “gifts” are the things in this plastic wrap as well as in the grab bags\u2026 See my upcoming post on grab bag gifts for Christmas eve.)<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong> If it is just for extras, like candy and trinkets that you put in their stockings, then you would probably want to limit it to $.50 or one dollar items, such as packages of gum, candy bars, nail clippers, etc.<\/p>\n

3)<\/strong> How many people will be opening the ball and removing things. For us, we have seven adult kids and four kids-in-law. Thus, I try to have at least forty-four items in it so that each “child” receives four gifts or prizes approximately.<\/p>\n

4)<\/strong> Your family’s Christmas budget. Since this is replacing some of their gifts this year, I will put a little bit costlier items in it than I did when it did not replace part of their gifts. Therefore, this year, we will have DVDs, nicer earbuds, and some $10 gift cards. Keep in mind that whatever you start is somewhat what people come to expect. (This is, of course, true with any gift of giving situation. Even going down to gift cards this year for us is challenging simply because that is not where we started with our adult Christmas gifts.)<\/p>\n

5)<\/strong> What types of things you want them to end up with. I have been on a minimalism kick for the last couple of years; therefore, I am opposed to giving them more things to have lying around their houses since I don’t want things lying around my house either. Of course, sometimes nicer\/more usable things are more expensive. Generally speaking, I try to stay away from too many Dollar Tree items and Target dollar bin items unless these are truly usable prizes.<\/p>\n

I know this post is getting long, but I would be remiss if I didn’t give you a list of some suggestions for the Plastic Wrap a Prizes. I recommend you use our Kids’ Faves List<\/a> if you are unsure of what your kids would like. <\/p>\n

1)<\/strong> Gum, mints, Lifesavers, TicTac’s, and other small gum and mint items (I get tons of “consumables” and usually put a gum or candy in every layer—so there is a consumable and a gift each time.)<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong> Favorite candy–again I use my kid faves list and get everybody’s favorites knowing they will barter and trade at the end.<\/p>\n

3)<\/strong> Ear buds\u2026 And more earbuds<\/p>\n

4)<\/strong> Fast food gift cards<\/p>\n

5)<\/strong> Movie theater tickets<\/p>\n

6)<\/strong> Hand warmers<\/p>\n

7)<\/strong> Small window scrapers<\/p>\n

8)<\/strong> Hand lotion<\/p>\n

9)<\/strong> Hand sanitizer<\/p>\n

10)<\/strong> DVDs<\/p>\n

11)<\/strong> CDs<\/p>\n

12)<\/strong> Pepper spray<\/p>\n

13)<\/strong> Meat thermometers (I’m all about meat thermometers for my kids’ kitchens!)<\/p>\n

14)<\/strong> Car wash cards<\/p>\n

15)<\/strong> Wal-mart gift cards<\/p>\n

16)<\/strong> Playing cards<\/p>\n

17)<\/strong> Hand held portable games (Yahtzee, etc.)<\/p>\n

18)<\/strong> Coupons for a ream of paper from our print center (we have a small press publishing company….Character Ink Press)<\/p>\n

19)<\/strong> Five dollar bills with a sticky note to use it towards something specific<\/p>\n

20)<\/strong> Laundry soap pouches in double zipper bags<\/p>\n

21)<\/strong> Spices (especially more expensive ones like real vanilla or a blend)<\/p>\n

22)<\/strong> Kitchen gadgets that are super useful<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Plastic<\/a><\/p>\n

23)<\/strong> Hand sanitizer, talcum powder, hand lotion, chap stick, nail clippers<\/p>\n

24)<\/strong> Soup, coffee, tea, and cocoa packets and add ins<\/p>\n

25)<\/strong> Personalized calendars and other small family pic items<\/p>\n

26)<\/strong> Flashlights and batteries<\/p>\n

27)<\/strong> Mini Lego figures<\/p>\n

28)<\/strong> Zippo lighters (in a box)<\/p>\n

29)<\/strong> Travel toiletries<\/p>\n

30)<\/strong> Toothbrushes and toothpaste<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Plastic<\/a><\/p>\n

31)<\/strong> Card games such as Pit, Uno, Dutch Blitz, Skip Bo, Rook, Phase 10<\/p>\n

32)<\/strong> Travel games<\/p>\n

33)<\/strong> Tylenol, Advil, Emergen C<\/p>\n

34)<\/strong> Office supplies such as pens, highlighters, sticky notes, envelopes, etc<\/p>\n

35)<\/strong> USB flash drives<\/p>\n

36)<\/strong> Household miscellaneous scissor sets, masking tape, pliers, extension cords, etc.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Plastic<\/a><\/p>\n

37)<\/strong> Favorite team paraphernalia<\/p>\n

38)<\/strong> Fuzzy socks<\/p>\n

39)<\/strong> Bathroom miscellaneous such as Q-tips, cotton balls, Band Aids, etc.<\/p>\n

40)<\/strong> Inexpensive sporting tickets (or museum)<\/p>\n

41)<\/strong> Phone chargers, car adapters, etc<\/p>\n

42)<\/strong> Stress balls, yo yo’s, Silly Putty<\/p>\n

43)<\/strong> Oven mitts<\/p>\n

44)<\/strong> Plexus X Factor, ProBio 5, Boost, Children’s Chewables, or Slim drink packets <\/a><\/p>\n

45)<\/strong> Car air fresheners<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Plastic<\/a><\/p>\n

46)<\/strong> Tiny plasticware containers, little zipper type bags (craft, pill, etc., sized)<\/p>\n

47)<\/strong> Table top mind games (Cracker Barrel style)<\/p>\n

48)<\/strong> Gas cards<\/p>\n

49)<\/strong> Chip clips, carabiner clips, zip strips<\/p>\n

50)<\/strong> Penny, nickel, or dime rolls<\/p>\n

51)<\/strong> Small feather dusters, scrub brushes, cleaning cloths<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Other Thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 I just use the cheap plastic wrap from the dollar store. (I thought I needed the heavier stuff, and I bought the thicker kind that year, but it really isn’t necessary.)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Watch out for things with strong scents. Cinnamon car fresheners, peppermint candy, wintergreen gum, pine cone room scents, etc., can make your prizes smell and\/or taste those scents\/flavors.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Things can get broken, so watch out for things not packaged. For example, my non-peppermint candy canes were all in pieces.<\/p>\n

\u2022 If having things even in cost is super important to you, you could handle this one of two ways: You could be sure that every layer of the plastic wrap has similar priced items. For example, you could put Chapstick, fluffy socks, and a five dollar McDonald’s card in if you want each layer to have roughly eight dollars with the stuff in it. Or, you could do it such where the very middle of the ball has all expensive things in it and the outsides of the ball has gum, mints, masking tape, etc. In this way, they would open the lesser priced things first and then expensive things last. Both of these ways in sure that somebody doesn’t just end up with a $1.50 worth of stuff and somebody else is up with $30 worth of stuff at the end.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plastic wrap prizes! Several have asked how we do this activity, so here is a somewhat-clear description! (The pics are a little grainy in our living room that night!) One thing that I highly recommend as you prepare for Christmas with teens and adults is that you try to make new memories\u2026that you try to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[995,643,488,281],"tags":[979,644,907,969,710,195,963,980,271,303,276],"yoast_head":"\nPlastic Wrap Christmas: Big Kid Fun - Character Ink<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/donnareish.com\/plastic-wrap-gift-ball-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Plastic Wrap Christmas: Big Kid Fun - Character Ink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Plastic wrap prizes! 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