Poke-A-Pineapple Prize Cup Countdown Tutorial
Thank you Dixie® Cups for sponsoring this post. Check out how versatile these 5 oz. multi-purpose cups are!
Have you seen those prize cup punches that people make for birthday parties? I wanted to make a fun themed one, but since we aren’t currently celebrating anyone’s birthday, I decided to make the kids a bucket list inspired version instead. Rather than filling it with party supplies and candy, I filled it with activity prompts for our family to do together. Because my daughter loves pineapples, I designed a fun Poke-A-Pineapple Board made with 30 Dixie® multi-purpose 5 oz. cups.
Besides sharing the step-by-step pineapple prize cup punch tutorial, I have included a template guide for making your own pineapple with printable instructions and the letters for ‘POKE A PINEAPPLE’ for using with your punch board. If you decided to use it as an activity countdown like ours, I have also included printable blank prompts in five cute designs.
Poke-A-Pineapple Craft Supplies
- Dixie® multi-purpose 5 oz. cups
- Large Piece of Cardboard
- Yellow and Green Tissue Paper
- Rubber Bands
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun
- Pineapple Cup Template and Letters
Other Optional Items:
- Paint
- Paintbrush
- Yellow and Green Construction Paper
- Paper Cutter (this will make cutting the tissue paper and activity sheets easier)
Prize Cup Filler and Ideas:
- Pineapple Activity Prompts Printable
- Scavenger Hunt Clues
- Stickers, Temporary Tattoos
- Confetti
- Candy, Gum
- Small Snacks
- Small Toys
- Money, Gift Cards
Pineapple Cup Punch Board Tutorial
To begin your pineapple-themed activity cup punch, start by getting your background ready. Use a large, sturdy cardboard piece, or buy one of the tri-fold corrugated display boards that are for projects – usually found in the office/school supplies sections in stores. This is what our pineapple activity countdown game is made on. I decided to paint ours with a bright pinkish purple for the main background color with blue on the flaps.
I found the perfect pineapple tissue paper at the dollar store. It was yellow with short lines that reminded me of a pineapple texture. Plain yellow would also work. You will need 3 yellow and 2 green sheets.
The tissue paper was 20 inches by 20 inches. I folded it in half and then in half again. I took the long folded sheet and folded it in half vertically, and then in half again. You end up with a folded square shape. *If you were to open the sheet up, you will have 16 squares formed from the creases – 5 inches by 5 inches.
From the folded square, open it back up to the long strip (like the image one the left in the photo collage above). Cut along all the creases until you have 16 squares (5×5 inches).
Repeat with the rest of the tissue paper sheets. Set the stack of squares aside for later.
For this next part, you will need 30 cups. Since our box of Dixie® cups had the perfect colors for making a pineapple, I used 21 of the yellow designs and 9 of the green cup designs. You could also cover them with construction paper or even leave different colored ones since the pineapple design will still show with the tissue paper on top of the cups.
Before continuing on with the pineapple poke-a-cup game board, you will need to fill the 30 cups with the items and activity prompts. See more on this under the Poke-A-Prize Cup Filler Ideas section below.
Once the cups are filled with the prizes, it’s time to cover each cup with two tissue paper squares. I used plain yellow underneath with the patterned piece on top. (See bottom right image in the photo collage above.) Secure the tissue paper squares on the cup with a rubber band. Repeat with the remaining cups so that you end up with 21 that are covered with yellow and 9 with green tissue paper.
Dixie® Cups Shaped Pineapple Design
Use the pineapple cup template as a guide for creating your pineapple. Place the covered cups on the background board. Once you are happy with your pineapple shape, it’s time to secure them with hot glue.
Add hot glue around the bottom circle edge of the cup. Secure in place. Repeat until all 30 cups are glued to the background board. The hot glue held the cups in place great!
Poke-A-Prize Cup Filler Ideas
Up next is filling the cups with fun surprises. Whatever you decide to fill it with, be sure it is not too heavy and will hold up with the cup holder hot glued to the cardboard.
Our Pineapple Prize Cup Game is filled with activity prompts. These will vary depending on the ages and interests of your children. I have included a list of ideas to use as inspiration below.
I made a cute pineapple printable that has blank boxes for you to write in your own activity prompts. Print the sheets on printer cardstock if possible. There are 5 cute prompt box designs and 6 sheets total to make 30 activity prompts.
To make it more fun to poke the cups and see what’s inside, I added other small items along with the activity prompts. Some ideas are: gum, candy, stickers, temporary tattoos, and confetti. Kids love playing with balloons so including regular party balloons or the punch balloons in a cup is a fun option. You could also include jokes.
Another idea is to include money or a gift card that goes along with the prompt. An example from ours is going to get frozen yogurt with money to cover the cost. Since my kids haven’t been going with us to the stores lately, I got online gift cards with an activity prompt for buying a new book.
If you have an activity idea that doesn’t fit in the cups, hide the items around the house and use the blank prompt to write in a scavenger hunt clue to make it even more fun.
Since we didn’t use all the Dixie® cups in the box, I incorporated them into a couple of the prompts. The first being a cup craft challenge where they have to turn the cups into things like confetti shooters, animals, or anything else they think of. The second idea is a game challenge where they will use the cups to design their own games. The sky’s the limit!
More Countdown Activity Ideas
- Make Fresh Lemonade
- Roast Marshmallows and Make S’mores
- Science Experiment Day
- Make Slime
- Movie Marathon
- Backyard Camping
- Family Slumber Party in Living Room
- Make a Stop Motion
- Paint Pictures
- Obstacle Course
Besides being a fun countdown idea, the Poke-A-Cup Pineapple Board is perfect for a pineapple-themed birthday party as an alternative to a piñata. The cups could be filled with candy and other piñata stuffers. The kids can then pick a cup to poke or ‘punch.’ It’s also a cute idea for a pool party, beach theme, or a summer luau.
I love how versatile the Dixie® cups are and have found many uses for them. (Stay tuned for our fun cup craft creations!) The variety of designs and great quality make them useful for many things. Our Pineapple Punch Cup Game is something to look forward to during our triple digit weather months by keeping the kids busy. It will be great for family bonding and helping create lasting memories together.