This photo shows an orange crepe-paper ball in the process of unraveling. It's set on a wood-grain table, and there's a computer mouse in the background.

Creepy Crepe-y Surprize Balls, Boo!

This photo shows an orange crepe-paper ball in the process of unraveling. It's set on a wood-grain table, and there's a computer mouse in the background.

More fun than you could shake a cat at, this a-peeling Surprize Ball is just the way to unwind when a witch’s brew of Whoppers hits hard.

And, it’s a super-fun cheap thrill just in time for Halloween season! At $4.99 a pop, you can really have yourself a ball.

Basically, these Surprize Balls by TOPS Malibu are orange and black crepe-paper spheres studded with little prizes inside. So as you unwrap your mummy orb, you get a bunch of stuff you can decorate the inside of a trinkets drawer with.

This photo shows the orange crepe-paper Surprize Ball, set inside a molded metal leaf. Both are set upon a wood-grain table.

TOPS Malibu is a company that specializes in functional art. The website details the Native American origins of this object and its trend-setting evolution in the United States in the 1950s—and how the founder of TOPS Malibu (Judy Walker) revived the trend in the ‘80s.

I chose an orange-colored crepe paper-wrapped ball and got to work. Here’s what unraveled:

  • A slip of paper with a joke on it and a piece of trivia. I liked the joke best: “What do computers do when they are hungry? Eat chips.”
  • Temporary tattoos of stars, a shooting comet, and a crescent moon.
  • An arrowhead.
  • A crystal.
  • A piece of candy!!!!! (orange hard candy with orange stuff in the middle—my favorite)
  • A green plastic spider ring. (YESSSS!!!)

I’m pretty sure these would be fun for any occasion—and I could probably make one myself at home, next time, though there’s probably a technique for cutting and wrapping the crepe paper and stuffing things inside. Also, I’ll need to write some jokes. The one I read set a pretty high standard.

Here’s where a home-made surprise ball might come in handy:

  • At a restaurant, to fill up awkward silences while waiting for your meal to arrive. Instead of being on the phone, you could be on the ball.
  • When they tell you to drink 32 ounces of water an hour before an ultrasound appointment, and you follow the directions, and you’re bursting at the seams, but it’s “just going to be about 20-40 minutes longer because the technician is at lunch.” The surprise ball acts as a distraction and a possible clean-up aid.
  • At the family gathering, when that one aunt gets drunk and thinks she’s a palm-reader and tells you that you were once a cat in another life. Demolishing a surprise ball with rapid movements and daring leaps would prove her expertise. Also, it would be kind of bad-ass.
  • At the movie theater, when Nicole Kidman tells you, “Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this,” you can respond with a well-timed, witty joke about computers eating chips or something.

And, just for funsies, things you could put inside a surprise ball—Halloween-themed:

  • A severed finger (could be fake–or not)
  • Gummy candy eyes
  • Random buttons—but you could say they once belonged to Coraline
  • More black-and-orange crepe paper—for future fun
  • Razor blade shaped erasers
  • A crystal shaped like a Scream mask
  • Mini cinnamon Schnapp’s bottles
  • A slip of paper with a good recommendation for home disaster cleanup

Your Turn: Do you remember prizes at the bottom of cereal boxes? What’s your favorite?

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Published by ckennedy

Author of the DIY blog: Fixin' Leaks and Leeks. Paper/Rock Writing Consultation, Sole Proprietor.

23 thoughts on “Creepy Crepe-y Surprize Balls, Boo!”

  2. A children’s birthday party game in Australia is pass the parcel. It’s like musical chairs with a gift. The gift is wrapped in layers of wrapping. The number of layers can be vast. The children sit around and music in played. The children pass the parcel while the music played and when the music stops, a layer of wrapping is removed. This repeats until the gift is revealed.

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  10. I would be bound to drop it and the whole thing unravel in one go!

    Give them to children to throw around and you will have streamers and kids fighting over the trinkets that drop on the floor – highly recommended great fun for boys’ birthday parties in the 7-9 age range!

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