We created this punch box to use for the Candy Button Trivia game we played at our Maddie-licious party. It’s pretty easy but does take a little bit of time.
You’ll need:
4 white poster boards
a circle cutter
tissue paper in the colors of your choice
glue
18 paper lunch bags
prizes
packing tape
ribbon
First, start cutting circles on your poster board. We set our circle cutter to 5 inches. This let us make three columns of three circles each per poster board. You can choose to make smaller or larger circles.
Your poster board will look like this after you’ve finished.
Repeat the process on the second poster board. Now start cutting out the tissue paper and gluing the squares over each circle. We cut ours into 6×6 inch squares as our circles were 5 inches.
We recommend cutting individual squares since punching out one hole may pull the paper off the others. Once you have all the circles covered, tape them together to form one long strip. You should then have something that looks like this.
Next, take the remaining two poster boards and cut them in half length-wise.
Then fold each piece in half length. These will be the side panels of the punch box.
Lay the smooth side of the poster board (the edge you didn’t cut) next to the poster board with the cut-outs. Line up the top edges and tape together.
Next, take your lunch bags and cut off the top 6 inches. (We saved the tops and made small snack bags by gluing and folding the bottoms shut.) Take the bottom half of the bag and start making 1 inch cuts along the top and then fold them over. These tabs will be what you use to tape them down. Repeat with all the bags.
Lay out the board and place a prize on each circle so the prizes are evenly distributed. Then cover each one with a paper bag and tape down.
Once all the bags are attached, fold over the side panels to cover the bags. You may have to tape the side panels together across the back. Thread some ribbon across the top, hang it up and you are ready to go!
Did you have a game to play with this? Or did everyone just get a turn to break one open? I love this idea! It makes me think of the Price Is Right!
We used it to play a candy-themed trivia game. Everyone answered a question and got to pick a “button” to punch.
Great idea – could also be adapted to be an advent calendar…
That’s a great idea, too!
Funny, my husband and I just made a very similar game, but it was out of a large flat cardboard box that lay on the floor. He segmented it into little squares with cardboard, each square got a prize, then we did an overlay of paper. It was for my son’s third birthday–pirate themed. The kids went on a treasure hunt that ended for them “digging” a prize out. This is a great idea, too!
Really fun project, and I love the idea of making an advent calender, or a countdown to any special day.
Hello Advent Calander!
I’m really wishing I had that tool to cut out big circles! I need to make this by Saturday for my son’s second birthday. The polka dots will go GREAT with our Hungry Little Caterpillar theme!
It’s the Martha Stewart circle cutter available at Michael’s. So handy!
Thank you SOOO much for the pictures! A very helpful and easy to follow tutorial, I think even I can do this
Great idea! I wish I’d seen this before my daughter’s party last week!
This is such an amazing idea – just finished assembling ours for a party on Saturday.
We had a giant cardboard box, so I glued the cardstock to that, and then cut through the cardstock and cardboard – it stands on its own!
The stand-alone idea is great! We’d love to see a picture.
I used this idea as a classroom management tool right before Christmas. I created a Christmas tree instead of the straight panel, and instead of “candy” themed prizes, the circle pouches were filled with reward ideas for the kids and good behavior. It was fun, and thanks for the great idea!
What a great idea!
I used this for my daughters rainbow 4th birthday party. The kids LOVED to punch their prize as they left the party. The parents were pretty impressed as well. Thank you for the tutorial!
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Thanks so much for this! We had one for our daughters’ 2nd and 4th birthday party this past weekend. It was a Christmas theme, so we did Christmas trivia to go with it. The kids LOVED it, and it was so nice to have a party where a kid or two wasn’t in tears after being trampled going for the pinata prizes!!
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I made this for my daughter’s 5th birthday party this weekend. It was a HUGE hit! Some of the moms were wanting me to make it for their kids’ parties
Thinking about using this for valentine’s day party at school.. Maybe call the game “heartbreaker” with Hearts(cut with exacto knife) and red and pink tissue paper. Thanks for sharing. I think the kids will get a real kick out of this if I can execute it
What a great idea! We’d love to see pictures of the finished game.
Wonder if it would be a bit easier to glue rather than tape?
Absolutely! We just ended up using tape because we were worried that some of our heavier prizes wouldn’t stay put with from the game being hung up and the movement from the poking.
Oh my gosh!! I love this!! I would totally feel like being on Price is Right!! So much fun! Thanks for sharing!!
what were your questions you asked
thanks
Here are some sites where we pulled some of our questions. We also changed the format of the harder ones into multiple choice to make it easier for younger guests.
The 10 Spot Candy Bar Trivia
http://www.stylemg.com/Style/February-2011/The-10-Spot-Candy-Bar-Trivia/
Sweet Trivia
http://freshare.net/article/sweet_trivia_questions_and_answers_by_deanna_mascle/
Thank you, I love this idea! I was looking for something besides a pinata that they could get a prize, but was easy, since they’re in Kindergarten. Yeah!!
Brilliant. I just saw someone else share a tutorial…inspired by your tutorial. Sometimes, though, there is no reason to reinvent the wheel when it was done so perfectly the first time. Your tutorial is AMAZING. I am pinning this and hope to be ambitious enough to try this for my daughter’s birthday party.
Amy @ whilewearingheels.blogspot.com
I love it!
i love it, im considering using this as a idea for a prize picker instead of lucky dip for my party in september… thanks!
Thanks for the great idea!!!! I need squares instead of circles and I’m thinking about using square Kleenex boxes instead of bags… Can’t wait!
What a great idea to use Kleenex boxes!
Mine is almost done. It has been time consuming, but fun. I filled mine with alot of misc small things found in the party isle at walmart. I bought pink polka dotted tissue paper for ones with girly surprises in them, and blue polka dotted tissue paper for ones aimed more for boys. Can’t wait to see if the kids enjoy ruining it as much as I enjoyed making it!
Cute idea with the paper!
We are having a 5th birthday party for my daughter this weekend, which is candy themed. I followed the directions and it looks like Dot candy! We are going to play basically “hot potato”, but with a small hershey’s kiss pillow. Whoever ends up with the “kiss” is whose gift my daughter will open and then that child will get to punch out their prize! Can’t wait! Thanks for the idea!
Just wondering how the ribbon held it??
Cute idea! A ribbon was threaded through two holes on each side and taped to the box on the inside with packing tape. The tape reinforced the holes and kept the ribbon from pulling too much. It stayed up from the beginning of the party until the very end.
Happy birthday to your daughter!
i really love this idea to get everyone involved….
Making one now with train cars instead of circles for my son’s train-themed party on Sunday. Thanks for the idea!
What a cute idea!
I made this for my daughter’s 15th birthday party. The theme was candy and balloons. I made this board, and instead of putting prizes in the bags, I put slips of paper with point values, and some holes had point values and a bonus punch again tickets. I made up a candy trivia game. The kids loved it..
going to use this idea at a sleepover with the trivia theroy, and a rainbow theme, really like it will post the hit afterward.. and possible pics too
thanks for sharing