This is one of my posts that I can't remember where I first saw the idea. I can't take credit for originating this idea, but here are some of the things I did with it and how I did it.
The idea? Using a pop bottle for the wrapping of a gift. It is fun to watch them try to figure out how you put the stuff inside the bottle and how they retrieve the it.
The first time I did it was for a birthday party my oldest went to. For this one we used a one liter bottle. First drink the contents and wash out the bottle. Make sure it is dry before you go to the next step.
Next gather your supplies. You will need a label for the bottle (or at least scrapbook paper), an X-acto knife, and items to fill the bottle with, and of course your washed and dried bottle.
Using your X-acto knife cut an opening on the side of the bottle (I didn't have an X-acto knife so I used an utility knife to start it and then cut the rest out with scissors, but an X-acto knife would have been much easier). Don't cut the opening bigger than you need to remembering that it has to be covered with your label.
The next step is to fill the bottle with your desired contents. For this bottle we layered candy and stuck a gift card in the middle of the candy. It turned out cute even without the label (but of course the paper is required to hide the hole):
The gift card is hidden between those Hershey kisses. I placed double sided tape around the opening I cut in the bottle. This helped keep the opening shut and harder to find, it also helped hold the label on. I put double stick tape on both ends of the bottle and wrapped it around the opening. One of the best things about using a 1 liter bottle is that a piece of paper will fit around the bottle (a two liter bottle requires two pieces). You can customize your own label or use the one I made.
They look like this (the dots continue all the way around):
We also used this idea for another birthday gift. This one we used a two liter bottle and filled it with items that might come in handy in a sleep-over: movie rental gift certificate well, we couldn't find one so we put in a $5 bill instead, microwave popcorn, gum, candy, fingernail polish, fingernail stickers, fingernail file, and a few misc. items.
For another idea on how to use this for a teacher gift check out Part 2.
