Milestone Birthday Gift Randomizer

I made this lighted milestone birthday gift randomizer for our daughter’s 18th birthday. You can see the finished result in the video linked below. Each lighted “cup” contains a small toy with a number written on it. In our case, we purchased 18 gifts for my daughter’s birthday (Some big, some are very small)…. Every day, for the 18 days leading up to her birthday, she tears open a lighted cup on this display. That cup contains a small toy with a number written on it that corresponds to one of the 18 wrapped gifts sitting nearby. Eventually, on her birthday, she’ll tear open the final cup and reveal the final birthday gift.

There’s are a variety of ways you can complete this build. Here is what I chose to use:

1. A 3 panel cardboard display you can get from Staples, Amazon, or any craft/school supply shop like this one: https://amzn.to/45fPURw

1. Your choice of plastic cups. I chose these solo cups in pink for my daughter: https://amzn.to/3WoMesM

1. Matching tissue paper. I used matching napkins and simply cut them into smaller squares: https://amzn.to/3WoMesM

1. LEDs and project wire - I bought this pack of 20 blinking LEDs that operate on 3VDC. There are so many variations of LEDs to choose from… I liked these because they’re very small, very bright, and use only 2 AAA batteries to operate. https://amzn.to/3IsEiAP

1. Small Toys/erasers to hide in the cups: https://amzn.to/45fR9jE

1. You’ll need a few tools such as a Glue Gun and an exacto knife - thats about it: https://amzn.to/41SZNlc

https://amzn.to/3MIvc5k

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The first thing I did was to carefully layout the cups on the cardboard display. In my situation, I used 18 cups to create the number 18. I used a pencil to faintly mark where each cup would eventually be glued.

Carefully cut a slot in the center of each place where a cup will eventually be glued. My LEDs had resistors pre-installed, which worked well as I used the resistor to pinch into the cardboard slots and easily hold each LED in place as shown here. You may choose to put a dab of hot glue, but for my application, it wasn’t necessary.

Before gluing anything, I carefully wired the LED’s on the back side of the cardboard display as shown. LED’s need to be wired in a certain way or they won’t work. Mine had red & black wires, making it easy to distinguish positive and negative. I simply wired them all together in parallel and then connected them to the 3VDC battery holder (with switch)

Be sure to power-up your LEDs and test your circuit to make sure everything is working before taking the next step

I used an exacto-razor knife to cut these small holes in the bottom of each cup for the LED to pass through. You may use a drill or a hot soldering iron to melt a hole if thats easier for you.

I melted a bead of glue around the bottom of each cup - fed the LED through the hole - and then secured the cups to the mounting board, being careful to try to line them up as best I could against the pencil marks I made earlier, keeping everything straight and level.

I used little toy erasers as shown here to place one in each cup. You can use anything… buttons, stickers, etc…. I bought a variety of these cute little animals and I wrote a number (1-18) on each one as shown. I also took a scrap paper and made note of which cup held each little numbered animal. This is very helpful to do in case you want to RESERVE one cup for your child’s “special gift”…. Let’s say you have 1 big gift, like a new iPhone, that you want to make sure they don’t open until the final day of their birthday - you may call that gift #18. You’ll know what cup #18 is in. You can deter your child from opening that cup, but let them open any other cup on the days leading up to their birthday.

I then placed each toy into the corresponding cup noted on my map/key that I drew on scrap paper. I used a per napkins and a rubber-band to cover each cup carefully, being careful to not break the cup loose from the cardboard display.

With batteries installed, I tested everything one last time and then added a few decorations to the display. You may choose to add family photos, stickers, ribbon, etc…. I printed a few things on my computer and glued them to the board along with the fun ribbon that I glued to the edges of the display. That’s it - then you can set this up in a corner of your home with the 18 wrapped presents 18 days before your child’s birthday. They’re be HUGELY surprised when they see 18 gifts, but then they learn they can only open 1 gift every day for the next 18 days. You let them poke through one of the cups, tearing the napkin to expose a cute little toy with a number on it. They then search through their pile of wrapped gifts for the one with the same corresponding number. This is a fun way to celebrate big/milestone birthdays!

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