My Wedding Surprise Balls

I was working on some surprise balls the other day when I realized that I had never completed this post. What better time than now?

When I first learned of surprise balls I was completely enchanted. I still am. They appeal to any age and are lighthearted and innocent fun. Through the years, I’ve made them for a number of reasons and events. They are super easy to make and can be either luxurious or economical. It’s totally up to you.

I discovered them around the time that I was planning our wedding. I, of course, decided that I really wanted to incorporate them into the event somehow. It would be a small event, so giving them as favors would not be price prohibitive. I decided that I’d either display them in two glass lanterns on the head table or I’d put them in gift bags for when guests arrived at their hotel rooms.

Our wedding was planned to be at Disney World, so I tried to make a lot of the contents themed accordingly.

I wanted to find miniature wands to buy but had no luck. I made tiny little fairy wands from gold glitter stickers and tiny wooden dowels that I painted gold. I labeled these as “Tinkerbell wands” in silver ink. Yes, I added an apostrophe before they were added to the balls.

I took tiny bottles full of shapes and glitter and labeled them “Pixie Dust”. The letters were cut out on my Cricut Explore Air and Stephen and I applied them to the tiny bottles.

I made these little poseable fairy dolls, patterned after the ones from Magic Cabin. Even though I know how to make them, I wouldn’t recommend it if you can afford to just buy them. They are a pretty good deal for the effort that it takes.

There were also fake mustaches, which are a staple Surprise Ball ingredient. To be unique and fancier, I found these at Target in something other than the traditional black variety and included little cards with an introduction on them.

The little girls would receive “make your own ring” kits in their surprise balls.

I found a little book of neat henna tattoos and was able to cut them apart and add them with some printed instructions.

Here is some of the rest of the assortment that ended up in the balls.

Surprise Keychain Bag, Mood Ring, Wish Bracelet, Good Luck Mini Dragons, Shaped Stretchy Rubber Band Bracelet, Snowman Paratrooper, Mickey Maze, Fake Mustache, Tiny Waterpaint Palette, Eyeball Finger Puppet, key Bottle opener, Miniature Clothespin with Inspirational Phrase on It, Mini Rubix Cube, Mini Activity Book

Mini Car, Weepuls, Temporary Tattoo, Hopping Frog Racer, Gold Coins (I ended up subbing in some that I ordered that were metal and like real pirate coins instead of these), Mini Telescope

Bracelet, Fake Ring, Mickey Spinning Top, Playdough, Fuzzy Bouncing Ball, Mickey Clapper, Disney Princess ViewMaster, Mini Toy Horse, Hear Maze, Frozen Whistle, Mini Skateboard, Disney Princess Stickers, Fairy Doll, Inflatable Punching Balloon

At the center of each ball was one of the Disney Surprise Keychain Bags. I had a couple of different varieties, trying to base each on the interest of the person that would receive them.

The balls were wrapped in a white crepe, decorated with my standard gold seals and then some silk mini ribbon roses, wrapped in cellophane and decorated with curling ribbon and tiny wedding bells.

I actually have two of them left. I have no idea what actually ended up in them because I had them leftover quite by accident. I had debated doing something with them a couple of times, then decided it would be sort of romantic to open them on our 20th wedding anniversary.