Word Scramble Coupon

Need a creative take on a coupon gift? Add a word puzzle that must be solved for the recipient to find out the gift. The measurements of this card support up to a 7-letter word for the gift.

1 Piece of cardstock or an assortment of cardstock pieces

• 1 piece of 5 inches by 7
• 1 scrap at least 7 inches long and at least 1/2 inch wide
• scraps at least 5 inches long and at least 1/2 inch wide (the number of scraps should equal the number of letters in the gift)

Scissors or paper cutter

Ruler

Pencil

Hole punch or craft knife

Glue

Marker, colored pencils, glitter, stickers, or other paper decorating supplies

Cut the cardstock into the needed pieces and mark guidelines. Draw guidelines with a light pencil mark so you can erase later.

• 5 inches by 7 inches for the main card. Across the widest part, draw a line 1 3/4 inches from the top and a second one 2 1/2 inches from the top.
• 3/4 inch by 7 inches for the letter slot. For the first guideline, make a 1 inch margin. Then make lines every 3/4 inches across the rest of piece. Mark a small 1/2 inch square for each letter in the gift. For example, if the gift is a dinner out, make a square in the first 6 boxes after the margin.
• 1/2 inch by 5 inches for the puzzle strips. For the first guideline, make a 1/4 inch margin at the top and bottom. Mark 6 blocks of 3/4 inch between the two margins.

Cut out the letter slot windows. Either use a craft knife to cut out the 1/2 inch squares for each letter or use a hole punch to make the window. A hole punch was used to create the windows in the image, about 5 punches per window.

Stagger the puzzle strips and align them under the letter slot piece of cardstock. In each window, write one letter of the gift word. For example, if the gift is dinner, in the first window write "D", the second "I", the third "N", etc. Make sure you stagger the puzzle strips or there will not be much of a puzzle.

Add other letters to each of the other 5 letter boxes on each of the puzzle strips. Make sure you keep the strips in order.

Add glue to the the letter slot strip. Glue the whole margin. Between each letter box, put a thin line of glue. Make sure it it is thin so that the puzzle strips will fit and move freely. I used the point of a pencil to apply the glue to the lines to make sure the glue did not spread into the part that is supposed to be the letter slot. Use the guidelines as guides for the glue.

Align the letter slot strip between the guidelines on the main card. Make sure the letter slot lines up with the sides of the card. Let dry for several minutes or as long as it takes the glue to dry.

Slide the puzzle strips into the letter slots. Make sure they are in order so that when the letters are slid to the correct position it makes the word.

Decorate the front and back of the card as desired.

*Hint: If the letter windows look a little ragged from cutting or the hole punch, outline the windows with a dark marker to hide the minor imperfections.

*Hint: If you think the puzzle strips might slide out, add a thick line of glue to each of the margins. Coat with glitter or use colored puffy glue if you want something fancier.