Have you seen these boxes around the Triangle?

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences began putting these "Mystery Boxes" around the area on Sunday to help promote an after-party for the opening of its new Nature Research Center.

From Sunday through Friday, museum staff and volunteers are putting out 500 of these boxes across Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill and Research Triangle Park. Each box contains a QR code on the inside lid. Scan the code using your smart-phone and find out your prize. You could win discounts at the museum store, $10 off at area restaurants or tickets to the NRC Gala After Party on Friday, April 13 from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Party-goers will get a sneak peek of the Nature Research Center, which holds its 24-hour grand opening on Friday, April 20. The center will include hands-on research opportunities for visitors, a WRAL Weather studio and prediction center where you can create your own forecast models.

These Mystery Boxes can be anywhere – on the street, a park bench, in a restaurant or a bus. To get clues and find out when a new box has been placed, follow the NRC Grand Opening Twitter account.

One more cool thing about the boxes: there is a band around them made out of seed paper that you can keep as a memento or plant in your garden and watch grow into a wildflower.