Saran Wrap Ball Game (Fun Party Game for All Ages)
If you’re looking for a fun game for everyone to play at your New Year’s Eve party, you need to try the Saran Wrap Ball Game! This game is SO much fun, and SO easy to customize. It can be played anytime of year, with people of all ages.
Here’s how to make it:
Start with some plastic wrap and some candy (leftover Christmas candy works) and/or some small toys. I picked up some random stuff at the dollar store. If you’re playing with adults, you can throw in money, gift cards, mini bottles, whatever you’d like. You’ll also need a pair of dice.
Pick something awesome to go in the middle- the final prize…
…and roll it up nice and tight…
Then just keep adding more items with several layers of plastic wrap in between…
Eventually you end up with a nice big ball of plastic wrap…
Now what…?!
Here’s how it goes:
Everyone sits in a circle. Choose someone to go first. You can start with the youngest, or even the player that rolls a 6 first. We chose to start with whomever rolls doubles first.
Going in a clockwise direction, while one person is unrolling the ball, the next person (to the left) will be rolling dice. Once that person rolls doubles, the ball and the dice are each passed to the left.
Game play continues to the left until the end of the roll has been reached…
Each player gets to keep the prizes they unwrap.
No cheating! 😉 I suggest telling them they have to keep the ball on their laps!
If you’d like to add an extra bit of difficulty to the unwrapping process, I had my older boys use two forks to try to unwrap the ball!
You can also try some of these fun ideas from Awesome Jelly:
- Try wearing winter gloves or mittens while unwrapping to make it that much more difficult!
- Use Press and Seal wrap to make it a tad more challenging!
- When making the ball, you can use one solid strip of Saran Wrap or individual pieces. If using individual pieces, try going every which way with the pieces to really make it challenging to unravel!
- If you have a large group, try using two large balls and start them on opposite ends of one another.
- Place a blindfold on the person who is unwrapping!
Written by Danielle for Hip2Save. Danielle is a proud mom to 5 amazing kids in Utah, who lives for coffee and baking. She’s dedicated to balancing her own interests and passions, while encouraging her children to follow their own paths in life.
I just got my candy ball ready last night for tonight’s party. I use packaging tape for more of a challenge for older kids. We do it every year and they love it!
I did this for several parties this holiday! We use oven mitts to make it more challenging. I also use a mix between Suran wrap, foil, wrapping paper, and a diaper for the center. I have found that if you do one continuous piece, some people know to grab an end and yank real hard and they get a lot of prizes. By using different mediums, the ball lasts a bit longer so everybody gets several turns 🙂 everybody always raves on how fun this game is. Sometimes for adults, I add little $5 gift card or lotto tickets. 🙂 makes for a fun time!
We did this at Christmas. To make it more of a challenge don’t use a continuous strip, constantly tear the wrap as your going and start a new piece in an opposite direction! Every time I put a prize in I would wrap if a couple times then start a new strip. For 8 people it took a good 30 minutes with no gloves to break through! Used about 80% of a roll of saran wrap. It was so much fun! For kids… use longer strips to make a tad easier. I watched a few videos online first and noticed that once someone got a long strip it was easy to break through and on some larger groups not everyone got a chance. Have fun!
We made these last year for teenagers and early 20’s children. They LOVED it. We filled with candy, lottery tickets and some cash. I think all of the parents and grandparents had just as much fun watching the kids do this. It is SUPER fun!
We played this last year at Christmas and put our ultrasound picture in the middle. We told the family there was an extra special prize in the middle! It’s how we told the family we were expecting our first child!
Love this idea!!!!!
Too cute! Congratulations!! 🙂
What a great idea! Congratulations!
LOVE that idea!
I just hate wasting the saran wrap. I must be the only one!
I agree with you. I can’t bring myself to send all that plastic wrap to the landfill just for a short game.
Recycle!
Exactly. Maybe there is a greener version of this game.
You could use newspaper. 🙂
Buy it on clearance now for next year. I purchased a bunch at Target for 70% off. This should make it super cheap and you don’t have to feel too bad.
Ditto. No offense to others but this makes me cringe.
How about re use all the Christmas wrapping paper?
I saw this on peppa pig lol! I was like that’s a cute British game 😂. The cartoon used wrapping paper
Yes! Pass the parcel! Great way to use up wrapping paper.
Never heard of this but it sounds like a lot of fun. I will try it for sure! Thank you.
You’re welcome! My kids loved it. 🙂
This is a tradition that dates back to the Victorian Era…They used crape paper which is how I had made them in the past. I made these for Christmas gifts when I was in middle school over 20 years ago! Very fun as an individual thing or as the large party game version…. Love these!
Oh, how interesting!
I made one for tonight’s New Years party for adults! Chocolates, Lottery tickets, VS sprays, small gift cards and dinky useful things for both genders! Should be fun!
It’s alot more fun with kids when you put in a few Dollar bills and lots of change. Tons of pennies, nickels, and dimes. Because you could use a lot of change it made it so everyone got stuff.
Great idea!
Did this for xmas too but added “fun stuff” too like pick flossers, toothbrush, pack pf ramen, and socks. The kids reaction was hilarious.
Haha! Love it!
For birthday parties you wrap a gift in multiple layers if different wrapping paper. The kids sit in a circle and pass it around while music plays. Whenyiu stop the music whoever is holding it gets to unwrap one layer. They never know how many layers or who will get to the final price. Then you can do this with several small gift so all the kids can have a chance to win just about
Yes, I’m surprised this is being promoted. Sorry to be a killjoy, but we use waaaay to much plastic on this earth and this just adds to the problem (for 5 mins of fun). I’d rather play Spot It! or something, with the kids. Same fun, less waste. Let’s all try to do our part….
You could always reuse the plastic. We did.
so after its been rolled on the ground and through children’s hands you sat there and untangled and pulled it all apart to reuse? lol
– this ‘game’ seems super lame
Have you played it? It isn’t as tangled as you think in your head. Especially since we made a rule that you couldn’t tear through it, you had to find each starter section. Makes it very easy to reuse after that. I keep it to reuse for the game.
Thanks for the feedback.
There’s one in every crowd…
One grouch in every crowd that can’t let someone express their opinion? Yes, there is. No need to comment on someone else’s opinion.
Isn’t that the purpose of a comment section…..
I was thinking the same things as Beth. The shear waste makes me cringe.
We do this at my work Christmas party every year. It’s the highlight of the night. Because there are 50+ when including SO’s we are split into 2 teams. My boss wraps a piece of paper in various items, paper, duct tape, electrical tape, painters tape, fishing line, etc and we have a race between the two team to see who finishes first. The winning team gets bragging rights and who ever unwraps the piece of paper saying you win gets a special prize.
We did this for our family Christmas and everyone loved it! I filled 2 rolls of Saran Wrap with $85 of stuff from the dollar tree! So fun!
I did this for my daughter’s 1st grade Halloween party and it was a huge hit. I added a rule that even if doubles were rolled, the person unwrapping was able to get one prize before passing.
I like trolling
MWHAHAHA!
This is a huge waste. I’d rather wrap/package individual goodies and play games to win them. It would take longer to get the goodies.
Gotta watch the excitement before you throw out the idea. It is great fun for all ages.
No, it’s a waste. Playing REAL games is fun.
Just did this for our family Christmas a couple hours ago. Did candy in the layers and gift card in middle for movies. Used oven mitts. One roll of wrap and had over an hour of family fun. Yelling screaming lots of candy and finally my niece won. It was awesome!
We do this at school parties. Kids love it.
Reuse bubble wrap and packing plastic- that’s what I did. Used a little Saran and picking tape to seal it up! Each gift was wrapped superhero and princess!
I laugh that everyone seems concerned over a bit of plastic that once squished into a ball is the size of my fist when driving your car to the store is more harmful. To me the sound of laughter and the smiles that occur during this real game are not a waste. Go eat a granola bar and hug a tree ….
Amen!