7 Giving the gift of cold, hard, CASH.

 I have two younger brothers and both are saving money for high-ticket items (Guitar AMP and XBox), so for Christmas I am giving each money.  But there is NO WAY I can just give cash in an envelope, so I had to find some creative ways to gift the money.

I turned to my Facebook fans and got some great ideas!  I had thought of tying the money to a helium balloon and then wrapping it in a big box so when they open the box the balloon flies up.  One problem with that is I can't get a balloon on Christmas day.. I suppose a mylar balloon would last overnight. Kelly Clutter Fox suggested: Set up a treasure hunt...design a cool map, make up some clever clues. Make him work a little bit for it! Beth Ann Service:  i froze cash in water in a bucket. then put clues to help him find it. Angie Nebeker Arbuckle: Check with your bank and get the gold dollar coins instead. Keep in mind (I work at a credit union) this time of year, you may have to order them. Then put them in a cool treasure box - you can find these at a party or craft store for very little. The other thing you could do is look up origami folding for money... Lauren Bird: A money tree. Get a faux or real small tree and tie the money on the tree with ribbon. Make sure the money is in small bills so it covers the whole tree.  Someone else posted the idea of making a money lei similar to a candy lei but it appears the post was removed so I can't give credit. But that is one choice I went with. I didn't follow a tutorial - just made it up as I went. 


I took $20 one dollar bills and one $5 bill and wrapped them in saran wrap.  To start pull out a length of saran wrap - I just guestimated the size - I knew it needed to be long enough to go over a head and around a neck.

I rolled up the $5 bill and put that in the center. I then took two - three $1 bills and rolled them up together and spaced them along either side of the $5 bill.

Fold the saran wrap in half and press closed.

Roll the saran wrap up the rest of the way.

Tie ribbon (curly ribbon would look great, but I didn't have any...) between each set of bills.

Connect the ends and tie another ribbon and voila! you are done. 

I am going to add some other little trinkets here and there to spice up the lei, but really, this is going to a 13 year old boy, so he is just going to tear into it to get the cash.  I plan on puting the lei in a box and wrapping it up. For my other brother I am going to do the following: Both his and my favorite ceral is Lucky Charms.  {I can't help it, they are so delicious!}  I am going to buy a box of Lucky Charms, open it up and place bills inside baggies and then stick it in the cereal.  I am then going to glue the box closed and wrap it up.  I'm sure he'll be happy with the yummy cereal, but come on, all our siblings get these great gifts and he gets CEREAL?!?  I haven't decided, but I might add a little note to the box that says that Lucky is going to share some of his stash (or some such) to get him to look harder (and inside) the box. UPDATE - This worked like a charm!

 I didn't add a note, just said, "Huh... wonder what the prize is?" and he dug right in!  What are some fun ways you have gifted cash?