How to Build a Universal Studios Mystery Box for Unboxing

If you follow us on YouTube you may have caught our video on How to Build a Universal Studios Mystery Box. Next Christmas we are surprising our kids for the holidays and driving down to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. My kids are obsessed with unboxing videos and mystery boxes which is what inspired me to put together this collection.

As you can imagine the trip itself will already cost a pretty penny so I am spending the year building out an Universal Mystery Box for each of them to unbox throughout our trip. Below I list out exactly what I bought for each of the various mystery boxes and how much I spent. My goal was to include items of all brands that are found in the Universal Studios Parks as you’ll see below.

(Check out our AWESOME Universal Studios trip where I realized all the rides are based on books!)

What’s in our Universal Studios Mystery Boxes?

The main theme of each mystery box, of course, is Universal. We are HUGE Harry Potter fans (and my kids are HUGE Jurassic Park fans!) but I didn’t want the box JUST to be themed for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter or Jurassic Park. My goal is to have items from most, if not all, of the Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure theme park rides.

Since we will be going for the Christmas holidays that means our trip is most of our Christmas gift! I want to make it extra special so I will be building several mystery boxes for each child and passing them out throughout the trip!

E.T. Blind Bags & Video Games-

I found E.T. Blind Bags on Ebay and they are the BEST! I didn’t even know about them and discovered them by accident but they are perfect for my retro loving kids! You’ll find lots of different options there but I paid about $4 per blind bag shipped.

Jurassic Park Hats –

These Jurassic Park hats are CHEAP!!! I paid about $4.50 each shipped. Quality is decent, plenty fine for kids. The back of the hat is a mesh but the logo is impeccable and great for hot summer days!

Jurassic Park Keychains –

These Jurassic Park keychains are FANTASTIC quality that I bought! You absolutely can’t beat $1.99 shipped! They are heavy and come in a variety of color options!

Harry Potter Music Box –

I have a son who is very much into music boxes and I snagged this beautiful wooden Harry Potter music box for under $5 shipped! It’s small but very nicely detailed and worth the price I paid for it.

Harry Potter Funko Plush –

Alright, so I got REALLY lucky on this one! You can find Harry Potter Funko plush toys in stores and online usually from $8-$15. I happened to find a few at my local Target on clearance for $2.50 each so I picked up a few of them for our mystery boxes! They are SO cute!

Harry Potter Novelty Candies –

harry potter chocolate frog jelly slugs beans

If you’ve ever been to Honeydukes in Universal you know that their AWESOME candies come at a price. Which probably means unless you’re willing to part with most of your wallet you’ll only be able to choose a select candy or two to bring home. Having 3 kids in tow I know an expensive candy store is not high on my wish list to see! So I picked up candies that resemble what you might find in Honeydukes at:

Dollar Tree – this is the PERFECT place to pick up those large colorful carnival sized lollipops
Walgreens – currently my local stores have Harry Potter Bertie Botts, chocolate frogs, and Jelly Slugs
Target – look for clearance Jurassic World and Honeydukes styled candies after holidays

Collectible Lunch Tins-

Thanks to my obsession with our local thrift store I’ve been collecting some pretty awesome metal collectible tins! So far I have a Minions tin and a Popeye tin! I see Marvel tins there a lot so I’ll probably grab one of those before our trip.

Monster Mash Magnets –

Magnets was something that hadn’t crossed my mind to add into our Universal Mystery Boxes until I stumbled across this Frankenstein magnet and this Swamp Creature magnet. Although they look homemade I still am in love with them!

Jaws Singing Toy –

Scouting out for souvenirs early means you sometimes get really lucky! I am an avid thrift store shopper and scored this KILLER Jaws animated toy that moves around and sings for a couple bucks!!! My son is going to go CRAZY when he sees this thing!

The Simpsons’ Comic Book –

Although admittedly I am not a fan of the Simpson’s, comic books make GREAT souvenir mystery box fillers! There, of course, is Marvel comics, these Simpson’s comics, and a whole slew of other Universal themed comic options! This book I happened to pick up at our thrift store.