Saturday, December 14, 2013

Christmas Taped Candy Treat Ball


If you're looking for a fun, easy Christmas game or activity for a party you are having, then this just may be the one to fit the bill. It's a good all-around game to play, and all ages can play. In order to play, all you need are: the tape ball, two dice, and a tray or surface that the dice can be rolled.

The rules are simple: Have the entire group sit in a circle, either on chairs or on the floor. This time around, we all sat in chairs, which makes it much more comfortable for us that aren't teens anymore. One person starts with the treat ball. They do their best to unroll some of the tape, thus revealing some candy or toys that they then get to keep. At the same time, the person to their left starts rolling the dice on the tray. The "dice-roller" rolls the dice until they get doubles, and once that happens, they get the treat ball passed to them, and the person to their left gets the dice ad tray. And then it all starts again, and the new person gets to try to unravel the treat ball until the person next to them rolls doubles. You get to keep whatever treats or prizes are opened during their turn.


To make the treat ball, get some cheap packing tape. You read that right. Get some CHEAP packing tape. We've played this game two different times now, and the first time around, I just used whatever packing tape I had on hand. We played it with a group of 12-13 year-old girls, and they had the thing unraveled in about 15 minutes, with no problems.

The second time that we played this was just last week. My husband brought home some packing tape from work. Apparently they use packing tape that is indestructible, unwrappable, and "once it's stuck, it ain't going anywhere". It was a little more difficult to unravel. Okay, ALOT more difficult to unravel. We're talking people using their feet to hold the ball whilst they put their entire body's muscles into trying to get a little tidbit of candy out. Oooooh boy. 

So, don't use industrial-strength tape. Enough said.  Pick something good to go in the center. My Christmas tape ball was just full of little treats and candies for the most part, so for the center, I used an M&M ornament that had M&M Minis inside of it. But you can use whatever you want. You could make that center item something grandiose. Or not. Either way, start with that and wrap some tape around it. Every foot or so, add a piece of candy or some small item. It's important to cut the tape when its 3 or 4 feet long. Otherwise, you could have one lucky party-goer unravel the whole long piece of tape in one fell swoop. And then everyone else would go home empty handed, and that may start some sort of brawl. 


Okay. That brawl didn't really start with the unraveling of the tape ball, but this did happen at the same party, so I had to share. I'm not sure what started it, or if any of the boys needed a reason to jump on, but they were having their own special kind of holiday fun, and they seemed to all have smiles on their faces. Go figure. Free entertainment.

Back to the tape ball instructions...


Then, start another piece of tape and wrap a few more candies in the ball. It will seem very mis-shaped and odd, but as you go along, it will begin to resemble a ball.


I even added a few toys, like Hot Wheel cars. Those were the things people were really going for. You could add things specific to that holiday, like little Christmas ornaments or Santas, or some such thing. Be creative!


Keep on wrapping and adding treats. Remember to start new pieces of tape every 3-4 feet.


Below is my finished treat ball. Layers and layers of Christmas candies and toys. It looked so fun and festive all at the same time.

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