Getting name of random item

[Dinocanid]

I'm having a problem with telling the user what item(s) they're getting. In short a random item is chosen from a list of items and given to the user. Whenever I try to get the name of the item I get an error. Here's the shortened version of the code:

PHP Code:

$random = mt_rand(1,3);

$Cnum = mt_rand(1,5);
                            switch ($Cnum){ 
                                case 1: $Citem = "ball"; break; //Common items
                                case 2: $Citem = "ball"; break; 
                                case 3: $Citem = "ball"; break; 
                                case 4: $Citem = "ball"; break; 
                                case 5: $Citem = "ball"; break; 
                            }
if($random == 1){
$newitem1 = new StockItem($Citem);
                        $newitem1->append(1, $mysidia->user->username);
                        $document->add(new Comment("Congratulations! You earned a {$newitem1}!"));
                        return;
} 


(For testing purposes, the only item is a ball. The error also appears if the number is 2 or 3)

If I just get {$Citem} as the item name then it works fine, but I want the words to match the items given, not be randomly chosen.