Hajj & Eid Countdown Surprise Balls

We’ve been doing Ramadan countdown calendars with the kids since our oldest was a toddler. Each night of Ramadan they get a treat or toy surprise. Since this is something the kids look forward to so much, I decided to start the same tradition for the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah! 

I did these surprise balls for Ramadan a couple of years ago, and thought they'd be perfect to make for Dhul Hijjah, since filling them with 10 toys is a lot easier to do than 30! Actually, I'm only doing 9 toys, since the 10th day is Eid and they'll get their Eid presents then insha'Allah!

Look how pretty they are! Super easy and quick to make, and the kids have so much fun opening them each day!

I did gold and black, because that color theme goes perfectly for the days of Hajj! And also made a cute sheep :) 

All you need are little toys and crepe paper streamers in the color of your choice! 

1. Start by gathering all the treats/toys. The smaller, the better. I used little squishy cars, bracelets, tiny toys, stickers, tattoos, balloons. If you have older kids, this is a GREAT way to wrap up money as well! 

2. I put the hardest/biggest toy in the center and started rolling the streamer.

3. Then I went along trying my best to keep it round, adding toys, and wrapping each layer up. I suggest cutting the streamer with each new toy, so the kids don't pull off too much when opening and expose more than 1 toy a day. 

4. After the last toy is rolled up, go around to make sure it's a smooth circle. It'll seem like you're using a ton of streamer, but for each ball I barely used over half of 1. Which makes this a very economical countdown, because I bought each streamer for less than a $1. 

5. Tape the end to secure. You can leave it as is or decorate it however you want!

6. Make sure to explain to the kids that each day they get to roll out 1 toy, otherwise in their excitement they might unravel the entire thing in one go :)