Hollow decorative container

Abstract

A decorative container includes a hollow avian egg. The decorative container has an interior surface and an exterior surface. The interior surface and the exterior surfaces define a cavity within the egg. The cavity contains a placed object, and the exterior surface of the egg includes ornamentation

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to decorative packaging for a gift that must be damaged and sacrificed to access the gift contained therein. More particularly, the invention relates to a decorated gift container, typically in the shape of an egg, that contains a gift or message for a recipient. To access the gift, the recipient must break open the container.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are many occasions where it is desirable to provide a gift to a friend, a family member, a business associate, a service provider, or some other individual. The occasions for gift-giving range from special occasions such as birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and holidays, to giving a gift to show that the recipient is simply in the giver's thoughts. In a particular gift-giving occasion, the gift-giver may decide to give money as a gift or may simply want to send a special message to the recipient.

Regardless of the occasion, the gift-giver may also desire to provide packaging for the gift or message that is special or has particular significance to the recipient. A greeting card is often used to convey the message or money gift, however, the gift-giver may desire to provide more unusual packaging.

Providing gifts or messages in unusual containers is known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,919 entitled “Method of Filling a Balloon with Articles and Air” to Oyler discloses a method of filling a balloon with articles and air. The article or articles can be gifts and the recipient either unties the balloon or bursts the balloon to access the articles inside. U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,915 entitled “Bursting Balloon Which Embodies Toys and Related Items” to Boris et al. also discloses a method of filling a balloon with items and air and then sealing the balloon. The balloon is then pierced or punctured, causing the balloon to explode and empty its contents.

Yet another unusual method of conveying a message or gift token is through the use of a candle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,640 discloses a candle containing a fireproof, leak proof container which, in turn, may contain a personalized message, a fortune, a prize token, or other such item. The prize/message container is hidden in the candle and becomes visible as the candle is consumed. Alternatively, the candle may contain a fireproof strip containing a message, which is revealed as the candle is consumed.

Christmas ornaments have also been used as a means of conveying a small gift, message, fortune, or words of wisdom. U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,993 entitled “Disposable Paper Fortune Ornament” to Ampomah discloses a paper, cardboard or other sheet material ornament consisting of two halves that are joined together. Prior to joining the two halves, the desired items such as a fortune, a message, a good luck penny or other such items are placed on one half of the ornament. The other half of the ornament is glued along the edges to the first half of the ornament, with the ends of a looped piece of cord or string resting on the glue in-between the two halves, to provide a way to hang the ornament. To obtain the message or other item inside, the recipient must tear open the ornament.

Further, other hollow containers have been used to provide gifts to a recipient. U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,605 entitled “Hollow, Decorative Object Containing Novelties” to DeLamar discloses a hollow clay decorated form such as an egg or cube that contains small gifts inside. To access the gifts, a knife may be used to cut away a portion of the form, preferably on the bottom of the form. Hence, the gifts can be accessed and the container can be displayed virtually intact.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,404 entitled “Coated Container” to Melashenko et al. discloses a hollow container that is coated, such that the coating can accept a nontoxic dye. The hollow container may come in two parts, such that a gift may be placed in the container. The container can then be coated, thus sealing the container and providing a dyeable container exterior. U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,985 entitled “Hollow Breakable Object Having a Breakable Dye Absorptive Coating” to Nicholson discloses a hollow breakable object having two shell sections encapsulating a novelty item or gift. The two sections of the container are affixed and then the container is coated, to form a breakable and dye absorptive surface on the container.

Arguably the best-known method of providing words of wisdom or a fortune in a disposable container is the fortune cookie, wherein a message or fortune is placed inside a cookie. To read the message the cookie typically must be broken.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an article that contains a message, fortune, small article or paper money, to be given as a gift. The article must be broken for the recipient to obtain the item contained in the article. In one embodiment, the article is made of an eggshell. A gift is placed inside the eggshell and the eggshell is sealed. The exterior of the eggshell can be decorated to fit the particular gift-giving occasion, if desired. For example, the eggshell can be decorated as a groom, a bride, a Christmas ornament, a present or the like. Additionally, the eggshell can be decorated in a way that is meaningful to the recipient, such as a football, fish, graduate, and the like.

When a real egg is used as the packaging, the egg yolk and egg white (albumin) are removed from the egg and the egg is sanitized and decorated. The consumer can place paper money, a fortune, a message or a small article such as a gemstone, in the intact hollow egg and seal the egg. The egg is then ready to be presented as a gift. Alternatively, the decorated hollow egg can be purchased already containing a certain amount of paper money, a message, fortune or a small article.

An alternative to using real eggs is to use a moldable material to create the egg shape or some other shape. The material can be molded into various shapes, keeps its shape, and is crushable so that the gift inside can be accessed, but does not present a safety hazard to the recipient crushing the shape. Materials used to prepare the shape include paper mache, plaster of Paris, wax, clay, resins and the like.

The shape is molded with a small aperture in the shape to accommodate insertion of a gift. Alternatively, dependent upon the material used, an aperture is cut into a surface of the shape, to accommodate insertion of a gift. The shape is decorated and a gift is inserted into the shape. An attached tab is placed over the aperture, permanently sealing the opening, and the filled shape is ready to be given as a gift.

The invention provides a unique and memorable alternative to packaging a small gift or message. For example, instead of inserting the gift item in a greeting card, the gift can be inserted into the decorated hollow real egg or alternatively shaped container, and be presented to the recipient. As such, the container appears to become part of the gift, not simply a means of conveying the gift held inside the container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a sampling of egg-shaped gift containers of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of an egg container of the invention, wherein a gift is present in the container.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a hollow egg container kit.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the tab for an egg container.

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of a molded egg-shaped container with a gift contained therein.

FIG. 6 is a bottom view of a tab for a molded container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, the invention is directed to container 10 that, in various embodiments, is designed for containing a small item such as paper money, a fortune, a message or some other small item such as a jewel or coin. Typically, the item inside the container will be a gift. Gift container 10 is an integral part of the overall gift presented to the recipient. FIG. 1 shows examples of one embodiment of finished gift containers 10. Here, the gift containers 10 are all egg-shaped, however gift container 10 may be made from moldable materials and be configured into a variety of more complex shapes of various sizes.

In one embodiment, the container of the invention may be constructed using real hollow eggs. Referring to FIG. 2, egg 20 is cleaned utilizing cleaning and/or sanitizing materials such as anti-bacterial soaps, bleach, bleach solutions and the like. An aperture may be formed in the eggshell by removing or “punching-out” a section of the eggshell. A pointed instrument, such as a needle or the like, may be used to create the aperture in the eggshell. An aperture 26 may be formed in the narrower end of the egg and aperture 27 may be formed opposite along the longitudinal axis 31 of the egg 20. The egg yolk and the egg white (albumin) are removed from egg 20, leaving a hollow egg 20. Pressure may be used to remove or force the egg yolk and egg white (albumin) out of the eggshell. For example, suction may be used to remove the egg yolk and egg white (albumin) or, alternatively, positive pressure may be used to force the egg yolk and egg white (albumin) out of the eggshell. Hollow egg 20 may be sterilized using a sanitizing solution such as a bleach solution or the like.

Once hollow egg 20 is sanitized, one of apertures 26, 27 of hollow egg 20 may be sealed. Aperture 26 can be sealed using a number of different materials such as mesh and Spackle, an adhesive sealant, wax and the like. Alternatively, aperture 27 can be sealed first. The sealed area can be sanded if necessary, to provide for a smoother, more even surface for decorating and one that is more appealing to the eye and touch.

After hollow egg 20 is sanitized and aperture 26 is sealed and allowed to dry or set, the exterior of hollow egg 20 may be decorated. The method of decoration can include paint, glitter, stickers and the like. Typically, the exterior of hollow egg 20 is painted and the painted designs can be tailored for particular gift-giving occasions. For example, hollow egg 20 can be decorated to represent a bride and groom, a Christmas ornament, a birthday cake, a pumpkin, a ghost, a graduate and the like. In addition, hollow egg 20 can be decorated such that it represents an item of particular significance to the gift recipient, such as a football, dog, cat or other animal, flag, coffee mug, and the like.

Once the exterior of hollow egg 20 is decorated, the gift item 30 may be inserted into hollow egg 20 through second aperture 27. Typically, gift item 30 is paper money, a note or message, a fortune, or some other small item such as a coin or a gemstone. Remaining open aperture 27 is then sealed, similarly to first aperture 26. The areas proximate apertures 26, 27 are decorated to blend into the decoration of the rest of hollow egg 20.

Referring now to FIG. 3, hollow egg container 20 can be provided to the consumer in its final form, decorated and filled, or hollow egg 20 can be provided in a kit form. Kit 36 contains decorated hollow egg 20, with one aperture 26 sealed. The consumer can then place their gift inside hollow egg 20 and seal the hollow egg container 20 with material 40 provided in kit 36. Then the area around second aperture 27 can be decorated with supplies 42 provided in kit 36, to blend into previously decorated hollow egg 20.

Alternatively, and referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, hollow egg 20 may have an attached tab 28 that is designed to fit over second aperture 27. Tab 28 comes decorated in the same style as hollow egg container 20, such that when tab 28 is affixed over aperture 27, tab 28 blends into the rest of hollow egg container 20. An underside of tab 28 may be coated with a permanent pressure sensitive adhesive 29, with a release liner (not shown) covering the adhesive surface. When ready to seal hollow egg container 20, the release liner is removed from tab 28 and tab 28 is pressed over second aperture 27.

In another embodiment, gift container 50 can take on an egg-shape or other shape. In any case, gift container 50 is a molded product of manufacture. Egg-shaped container 50 is used in the following example, however the container is not limited to the egg-shape, as a variety of shapes and sizes are contemplated. For example, the container can take on a geometric shape, an animal shape, figure of a person, office article shapes and so on. The process of molding the shape of gift container 50 provides the opportunity for more complex gift container shapes.

Similar to the previous embodiment wherein a real eggshell is used, gift container 50 of this embodiment of the invention is also hollow. As above, an egg-shaped container 50 is used as an example of another embodiment of the invention. Sealed egg-shaped container 50 is breakable so that gift or message 30 inside can be accessed. Gift item 30 is placed into molded egg-shaped container 50 through a small aperture in the container and then sealed. Consequently, the size of gift item 30 is somewhat limited. Typical gift items are paper money, coin, messages, fortunes, gems, pearls, a horoscope, tokens, theater tickets, and the like. To make opening of the egg-shaped container 50 even more festive, confetti and/or glitter can be added to the interior, to spill out upon opening of the egg-shaped container 50.

The hollow container 50 is produced by molding material into an egg-shape. The walls of the egg-shaped container 50 are relatively thin such that the walls can retain gift item 30 placed inside the container 50, but are thin enough to be broken somewhat easily, to gain access to item(s) 30 in the interior of container 50. Materials that may be used in making the egg-shaped container 50 include clay, paper mache, Styrofoam, resin, plaster-of-Paris, wax and the like. If clay is used to produce hollow egg-shaped container 50, then the clay is fired, such that the consistency of the finished container 50 is somewhat brittle so that it can be broken open somewhat easily. The other above-mentioned materials, and similar materials, tend to form a hard, but breakable surface, such that access to gift item(s) 30 can be obtained.

Egg-shaped container 50, once formed and processed as required by the material being used, may be decorated. Typical decoration is accomplished by painting the surface of container 50. Egg-shaped container 50 can be painted to acknowledge a special occasion such as a birthday, graduation wedding, anniversary or a holiday such as Christmas, Halloween, Easter, or the Fourth of July.

The decorations can include egg-shaped container 50 painted like a tuxedo, a wedding gown, a graduate's robes, a Christmas ornament, a pumpkin, a flag, and so on. Egg-shaped container 50 can also be painted to represent myriad items such as a football, a boat, an animal, a landmark, and so on. One of these designs may have special meaning to the recipient, and thus be chosen as the gift container. In addition to painting egg-shaped container 50, other decorative materials can be used such as glitter, stickers, and the like.

During the molding process, an aperture 32 providing access to the interior of container 50 can be fashioned in the wall of egg-shaped container 50. The mold can be fashioned to provide such an aperture. Alternatively, dependent upon the material used in making egg-shaped container 50 and its subsequent brittleness, aperture 32 can be cut into a wall of egg-shaped container 50. It is through aperture 32 that the consumer can place gift item 30 into egg-shaped container 50.

Once gift item 30 is placed in egg-shaped container 50, container 50 may be sealed such that access to item(s) 30 in container 50 can only be obtained by breaking open container 50. Egg-shaped container 50 may include a tab 33 on the exterior of container 50 near aperture 32. Tab 33 can vary in shape, size and location on egg-shaped container 50. Tab 33 is already decorated in keeping with the decoration of the entire egg-shaped container 50.

Further, tab 33 may be made of flexible material, such as a thin plastic or the like, and may be coated with a permanent pressure sensitive material 34 such as a pressure sensitive adhesive. Permanent pressure sensitive adhesive 34 is covered with a release liner (not shown) that is peeled away when egg-shaped container 50 is ready to be sealed. Once the release liner is peeled away, tab 33 is affixed over aperture 32 in the egg-shaped container 50 wall. Tab 33 may not be removable from aperture 32 without damaging egg-shaped container 50.

As noted previously, other shapes and sizes of hollow gift containers are contemplated. Hence, the size and location of the aperture(s) providing access to the interior of the hollow gift container can also vary in size, shape and location on the container.

It is understood that this invention is not intended to be unduly limited by the illustrative embodiments and examples set forth herein and that such examples and embodiments are presented by way of example only.

Claims

1. A decorative container comprising:

a hollow avian egg comprising an interior surface and an exterior surface, the interior surface defining a cavity within the egg, the cavity containing a placed object; and the exterior surface of the egg comprising ornamentation.

2. The decorative container of claim 1, further comprising at least one orifice in the exterior surface, wherein the placed object is placed in the cavity through the orifice.

3. The decorative container of claim 1, wherein the placed object is selected from the group consisting of paper money, coins, gems, pearls, notes, slogans, mottos, fortunes, and horoscopes.

4. The decorative container of claim 1, wherein the container is sealed.

5. The decorative container of claim 1, wherein the exterior surface is broken to gain access to the placed object in the cavity of the egg.

6. A decorative gift container comprising:

a hollow form comprising an interior surface and an exterior surface, wherein the exterior surface of the form comprises ornamentation; wherein the interior surface defines a cavity within the form and the cavity contains a placed object, and wherein the hollow form is sealed.

7. The decorative gift container of claim 6, wherein the exterior surface is broken to gain access to the placed object in the interior cavity of the hollow form.

8. The decorative gift container of claim 6, wherein the ornamentation on the exterior surface of the hollow form comprises material selected from the group consisting of paint, stickers, glitter, clay, fabric, markers and paper.

9. The decorative gift container of claim 6, wherein the hollow form is made of material selected from the group consisting of paper mache, plaster of Paris, wax, clay, wood and resin.

10. The decorative gift container of claim 6, wherein the gift container is sealed.

11. A decorative container kit comprising:

a hollow form comprising an exterior surface and an interior surface, the interior surface defining a cavity within the hollow form, the exterior surface of the hollow form containing at least one orifice; and

a closure.

12. The decorative container kit of claim 11, wherein the hollow form cavity is adapted to receive an object through the orifice.

13. The decorative container kit of claim 11, wherein the closure is adapted to cover the orifice and seal the hollow form.

14. The decorative container kit of claim 13, wherein the closure forms a permanent seal on the exterior surface of the hollow form.

15. The decorative container kit of claim 13, wherein the closure is selected from the group consisting of a plug, adhesive, spackle, wax, plaster of Paris, paper mache, clay, tape and paper.

16. The decorative container kit of claim 11, wherein the hollow form is made from material selected from the group consisting of paper mache, plaster of Paris, wax, clay, wood, and resin.

17. The decorative container kit of claim 11, wherein the kit comprises ornamentation materials.

18. The decorative container kit of claim 11, wherein the hollow form is a hollow avian egg.

19. The decorative container kit of claim 11, wherein the exterior surface of the hollow form comprises ornamentation.

20. The decorative container kit of claim 11, wherein the exterior surface of the hollow form is broken to gain access to the placed object in the cavity of the hollow form.