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This Party Idea Also Makes A Great Teacher's or Coach's Gift

By
Home Stager with Sharon Tara Transformations

Here is a fun party idea for the holidays. 

Actually, this works for any type of party...birthday, anniversary, graduation. 

All you need is a child's 24 piece puzzle.

Prior to your party, send each guest a puzzle piece.

Instruct them to trace the puzzle piece around a photo of themself, cut it out, and paste the photo to the puzzle piece.  Make sure they trim the photo to fit the piece exactly.  They are to bring the puzzle piece to the party.

Once everyone is there, you put the puzzle together.  Because you can't always tell top from bottom or right from left on a puzzle piece, the finished puzzle will have people in all directions.

puzzle pieceYou need to assign puzzle pieces so that all guests are represented.  One piece per person if you are lucky enough to have exactly 24 guests, or one piece per couple or one piece per family. 

For a graduation or birthday you could have each guest bring a puzzle piece with a photo of the guest of honor on it. 

Make sure guests understand that it is important their piece make it to the party and that if they can't make it or don't want to participate they should pass their piece on to someone else.

 

Variation:

Teachers gift at the end of the school year or Coach's gift at the end of the season.

hockey team puzzle for the coach

 

Here is photo of a puzzle we did for my son's hockey coach.

I made it using photos of all the kids on the team and a photo of the coach in the center.

The parents of the players contributed to have it professionally framed. 

He said it was the most original gift he has ever received as a coach.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments (8)

Frances Sanderson
Bean Group / Franklin - Franklin, NH

Tara,

This is an exciting way to make a family Christmas party a little more interesting, too. Thanks for the idea. I'm guessing a child's puzzle is what you used for a template. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Happy Holidays!

Frances Sanderson, Franklin, NH  REALTOR®, Certified EcoBroker®

Dec 13, 2008 09:47 AM
Vicki Pedersen
Pedersen Real Estate - Riverside, CA
Providing Exceptional Real Estate Service

Thanks for this really creative idea.  This gift could be very meaningful to the receiver and I agree with Frances that it would be a great thing to do at a party.  I'm going to bookmark this post so that I can have it to remind me of this terrific idea. Thanks again.

Dec 13, 2008 12:44 PM
Joshua Frederick
Home Inspector for ASPEC Residential Services, LLC - Defiance, OH
Home Inspector in Defiance & all of Northwest Ohio

Very cool! And a great idea, thanks!

Dec 13, 2008 09:48 PM
Sharon Tara
Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH
Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

Frances:  Yes, a child's puzzle.  The 24-piece works really well.  The size of the pieces is a good size for photos.

We celebrated Christmas Eve at my parents' home every year until they moved to Florida several years ago.  Long before they moved, we made a puzzle of everyone that attended and after the holidays I had the puzzle framed.  It hung in the family room at my parents home until they moved.  It was then transferred, along with the responsibility of hosting Christmas Eve, to my aunt's home.  Seeing that puzzle picture today brings back happy memories.  It is a great idea for the holidays. 

Dec 14, 2008 04:56 AM
Sharon Tara
Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH
Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

Vicki:  It would be fun for a wedding or baby shower too...you would have to double or triple up on  people per piece if you have more guests than 24 though.  Thanks for the comment, I'm glad you like the idea.  If you end up doing it, please share a picture of the final puzzle.

Dec 14, 2008 04:59 AM
Sharon Tara
Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH
Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

Joshua  You are welcome!  Hope you can use the idea.

Dec 15, 2008 03:39 AM
Debi Ernst
St. Charles County, Missouri - Prudential Alliance Realtors - O'Fallon, MO
GRI, e-PRO, Broker/Sales Associate

Sharon - That sounds like a great gift!  Maybe I could do that for my parents, using pictures of their grandkids...  :)

Dec 15, 2008 04:09 AM
Sharon Tara
Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH
Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

Debi:  Using photos of the grandbabies is a great idea!  I'm sure they will love it.  It is a fun project...just make sure to trim the photos well so the puzzle pieces still fit together closely.  An exacto knife or razor blade works well.

Dec 15, 2008 09:45 AM