Puzzle Gift Certificate

 One of Santa's gifts to our family this year was season passes to a local amusement park.  Although the passes took up a big chunk of the Christmas budget and will bring fun times all year long, there was really nothing to wrap or anything fun to present on Christmas morning.  Then Santa's elves had the idea for a puzzle.  It was a fun little activity to do in the midst of present opening, and it would work for any gift that is not wrap-able.

As you can see,the "gift certificate" was just printed on a blank puzzle.  

(The elves found these puzzles leftover from my teaching days, but you can often find them really inexpensively in teacher's stores, craft stores, or  HERE on Amazon )

Then the pieces were separated and put in a plastic bag.  

(Oops, somehow I missed grabbing a picture of this ~ but the bag just had a sticker on it that said "#1 SOLVE THIS"  and then there was a little token gift that was wrapped with a sticker that read "#2 OPEN THIS")

The kids truly LOVED putting the puzzle together and trying to figure out the message as the words were gradually revealed.

Of course, they also loved the big candy bar that they unwrapped after solving the puzzle.

I think this puzzle idea would be a great way to present any kind of gift certificate or announce some kind of special treat.  It definitely was a hit here.

Sharing our puzzle at:

The Frugal Girls 
 Sassy Sites
Tatertots and Jello 
Design Dazzle 
Skip to My Lou 
Today's Creative Blog
 I heart Nap Time