Who doesn’t enjoy receiving money as a gift, but handing someone a card with a $20 dollar bill inside seems so… boring. Not to mention, it’s way more fun to watch someone unwrap a real gift. With a little extra effort and a dose of creativity you can make giving cash fun again! Here are 23 creative ways to give money for any occasion. Many of these ideas can double as clever ways to give gift cards too!
23 Creative Ways to Give Money
You can turn any object into a creative way to give money with a little thought. Toilet paper, balloons, Play-Doh, and Pez dispensers are just a few fun ways to give money on this list.
1. Balloon pop
This creative cash giving method involves a wrapped gift and balloon popping, how much more fun does it get? See all of the details on giving cash in balloons at C.R.A.F.T.
2. Toilet paper
This is the perfect cash giving option for 2020, ha! Bonus: it’s so easy to put together and useful! Add a twenty to the center of a toilet paper roll with a note that reads “Just in case you get crap for Christmas, use this!”
3. Play “Dough”
And some extra “Dough” to a container of Play Doh for a gift that is sure to be enjoyed! Check out this post on C.R.A.F.T. for more details on how to give cash in Play-Doh.
4. The best kind of Pez-ent
Cash and candy? Yes, please! Check out C.R.A.F.T. for more details about giving cash in a Pez Dispenser.
5. Jolly jar
For a creative way to gift cash or a gift card consider hiding it in a mason jar filled with red Jolly Ranchers. Simply fill a mason jar with candy and hide the gift card inside. Add a sweet handmade tag that says, Wishing you a holly jolly Christmas!
6. Embroider a canvas
Here’s another creative, not as simple way to hide a gift card. Embroider a canvas with a silly message and attach the gift card to the back side. For all of the details about how to embroider a canvas post.
7. Santa box
As long as you have access to a printer, this is a super cute money gift box! You can stuff Santa’s belly with money, gift card or even chocolate. Download and print the free printable pillow box here.
8. Box of chocolate
I want to be there when little Johnny opens this box of chocolate! See all of the details on Life as a mom.
9. Holiday dough
10. Peppermint rolls
11. Money tree
Who doesn’t want a money tree? Find the complete tutorial over at Then She Made.
12. Origami
The iconic red truck carrying a Chrsitmas tree got a paint job and a grew an origami money tree! This is such a clever way to give money this holiday season. For more details, check out Jacolyn Murphy.
13. Origami heart
How fun is this idea to give origami money! See how to make an origami heart at Homemade gifts.
14. Money lei
A money lei might be the most creative money gift idea I’ve seen! Hop on over to Lil Luna for a detailed tutorial.
15. Scavenger hunt
Scavenger hunts make any present or gift card way more fun to give and receive. I’ve created clue game scavenger hunts for kids and adults. For really young kids, I always make clues with pictures and for adults I make up silly rhymes. Here’s way to much information about preparing scavenger hunt clue games on C.R.A.F.T. (Here’s another post about scavenger hunt games for any age!)
16. Money lottery
My brother invented what we call the “money lottery” method. He puts various amounts of cash in envelopes, fans them out and allows us each to pick one envelope. Typically this happens on Christmas afternoon. One year the big prize was $100! I must say it is pretty exciting, and my siblings and I look forward to it each year.
17. Gingerbread dough
This gingerbread “dough” and poem are such a clever way to give cash. The poem reads:
Gingerbread man with yummy icing
are oh so good and extremely enticing.
I set out to make a dozen or two,
but ran out of time. Oh what do I do?
So instead of the cookies I tied a bow.
It’s your own personal serving of holiday dough!
(Oringially found on Heart and soul scrappers.)
18. Secret book money
Hide a crisp $20 bill in a good book. Freakanomics, C.R.A.F.T., Guns, Germs, and Steel, or Where the Crawdads Sing are a few good options. A cook book or an adult coloring book could be perfect for the right person too! The hard part is not telling the recipient. Just let the recipient find the hidden treasure as they flip through the book. I promise they will be excited. It is like finding hidden money in your winter coat pocket!
19. Tissue box
Turn an empty Kleenex box into a money box and attach a note that reads, “Don’t blow it all in one place!” Thanks for the genius idea Lovezilla.
20. Paper bag pocket
21. Emergency money
Here’s a funny way to wrap a gift card or cash, frame it in glass with an insert that says, “In an emergency break glass!” Image found via Create my Event.
22. Raining money
Who doesn’t love raining money? Whip up this clever way to give cash with a tutorial from The Seasonal Home.
23. Pizza “dough”
Pizza is always a good idea, especially when it involves dough!
With Christmas just around the corner, I know this list of creative ways to give money will be super helpful ! Do you have any other ideas about how to give cash creatively? I’d love to hear…
If you have a sports nut….. I gave my son $500 dollars in Loonie’s (Canadian here) by gutting out an old football where the laces are. I took out the bladder, then packed the bottom sides and ends with plastic shopping bags, then unwrapped roll after roll of Loonies, then packed the top with more bags. Once it was full and firm, I took a shoe lace and put the football back together and tucked the shoe lace ends in. When my son opened the present and saw it was a football, he reached for it and was surprised on how heavy it was. Really neat surprise…. Funny thing though.. being the sports nut that he is, he joked by saying “I can’t believe you ruined a perfectly good football”….lol
I wrapped a ten pack of socks up with message, ” something exciting is hiding” inside 2 of the pairs I hide the money…
Fun to watch them going through all the socks
Hi what types of messages do you write , ideas please !!
OMG, that pizza one, I love it! I may have to do that for my college girl this year 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing these; I needed it.
I’m trying the pizza idea this year. My college grandson only wants cash.
I LOVE THESE IDEAS….My hubby and I were trying to think of ways to give our adult kids cash about a week ago – BEFORE Christmas!! You’ve compelled me to create a file in my “Notes” app titled “Christmas 2017 Planning”, and today is Dec. 27, 2016!
Happy to help you get a kick start on Christmas 2017 😉
When giving a wedding present , give a rolling pin and add a lot of cash around it. With a note that says”Rolling in the dough!”
My dad went to the bank and got a stack of new $1 bills. Then he went used pad/book compound and painted one edge. Once it dried he gave me a stack of perfect dollar bills that I could peel off one at a time.
The best money gift I have done was for my sister-in-law…. I got a 50 dollar bill and started wrapping rubber bands around it to make a big rubberband ball. It was so fun watching her undo it
Two years ago I bought red and green helium balloons and tied money to the strings. Each granddaughter picked their color and then had to figure out how to get them down from the ceiling! This year I had to come up with a new idea sooo I filled a pinata with candy and money! Both ideas were a great success and lots of fun to watch.
This past Christmas my mother and I set out to give my cousins money with some similar ways. We succeeded at the balloon box and money pizza but also tried some others. One was a money bracelet that we were able to find instructions for online. We also did a gum package of money, and Lindor Truffles. It was a fun project and my cousins really enjoyed it!
I´ve been hiding tips in the books for months, great incentive to re-read some old favourites!
One of my favorite things to give to children for their birthdays is a balloon with cash tied on the string kinda like a kite I make bow ties out of the bills.I usually give the same amount as their age. I have one nephew who loved it so much I had to start using amounts like 2 fives and 3 ones for 13. Its always a hit!
Craft stores sell mugs and cups that you can pull the inside of the mug or cup and attach a design to the inner cup and then insert the design cup or mug bag into the clear outside of that cup or mug. You can usually purchase these for under a dollar. Instead of coloring a design included with the mug or cup, I wrapped the mug with money and inserted back into the clear cup or mug holder. When finished your cup or mug is a perfect way to give money in a creative way. If you want your recipient of your gift to think you have gone off the deep end , place your designed cup or mug back into the original box and wrap it as a gift, this is really funny especially when you are giving to a older teenager.
I have purchased a photo album and each week since the end of my grandson’s junior year of high school, I put $20 in a sleeve. When he graduates, I will give the photo album as his gift.
My friend”s son (age 11) received a pair of jeans from his grandma, he wore them to school the next day. Imagine his surprise when he stuck his hand in a pocket and found a $5 bill. Each pocket had one too. Cool to get the surprise at school.
How fun is that!!! Great idea 🙂 But, what if he never found it?! I guess eventually it would have showed up in the wash 🙂
in my house the person who does the laundry gets to keep the money found in pockets…that’s how I get them to check their pockets before clothes go in the wash,
I loved this blog but thought our Creative Way to Give Money (Cash) as a Christmas Gift at foldinmoney.com could be a great addition. thanks for sharing these cool ideas.
Sue
My parents received 25 silver dollars framed for their 25th (silver) wedding anniversary. My son received a pair of “fireman” rubber galoshes for his 5th birthday that had several handfuls of change in them (like the fill-the-boot fundraiser fire departments do). Quarters fit perfectly into those “Airborne” tubes, and my mother used to slip a couple of those tubes in my care packages when I was in college. Of course there is always the cash in a small wrapped box, inside a larger wrapped box, inside an even larger wrapped box, etc… For those who just love unwrapping things!
Thanks, awesome ideas. Now I really need to get some money to put this into practice! lol
I have hidden money for my grandchildren for many years, here are some of the ones i have done in the past
hide rolled up cash and put into uncooked pasta, small tubes, work good
wrap money in tin foil, and put into a favorite candy, i open the end and them glue it closed, really fun i those big bags of assorted candy
i put some in between the “popcorn” packing peanuts ,i taped with clear tape nomey between two peanuts and added it to a box full of them.
roll them in a paper towel roll and can use toilet paper, hope these ideas help
Since Easter is coming soon, this gave me an idea to give money in plastic easter eggs in an old egg carton…thanks for sharing these great ideas.
I am going to give my wife cash for Christmas, so that she can go out and spend it on whatever she wants. Putting in a card, in paper or gift card form, doesn’t really convey much thought at all.
So, knowing how much I wanted to give, I started to think of ways to make giving cash as memorable as possible. Also, I didn’t want to use google to rehash someone elses idea, not that there is anything wrong with that.
I came up with the idea of giving her stacks of hundred $1 bills but wanted to take it a step further. I looked up how many bills are in a pound. 454, as each bill weighs a gram. I broke down the gift to be equal to just over a pound. I will wrap it in deli paper and put it in the frig.
Getting her to find it will entail a clue game, ultimately leading to a deli ticket to have her check the lunch meat drawer.
We are doing a scavenger hunt for our kids too.
Can’t wait for Christmas morning. Should be fun.
What a fun idea! Thanks for sharing!
We gave cold hard cash by placing the money into ziplock bags and freezing in buckets and bowls of water. We had to get creative to keep the bags of money from floating to the top of the container before freezing but it was a lot of fun to give a bucket with blocks of “ice” with money in it.
We are looking for some different ways to give our kids money this year. Last year we got them 300 one dollar bills, crumbled them up separately and put them in a pizza box. Wrapped the box up and had a contest. They sat on the couch, could unwrap the present but not open the box. Then they had to face the open end of box away from them and when we counted to 3 they had to see who could open the box the fastest!!!! What fun they had. Am really glad I found your site. thinking about the balloon one for this year!!
Thanks!
My mom was lots of fun and extremely creative but one year it boomeranged on her….It was my brother’s first year in college and she was always sending little care pkgs. to him … Well, this one time she decided to carefully open up a bunch of shelled walnuts, took out the nutmeat and replaced it with different denominations of money ($1.00 – $5.00 – 10’s 20’s 50’s and even a hundred dollar bill…)and glued the shells back together again. …Well, my brother was busy preparing for his finals and wasnt all that excited about a receiving a big box of unshelled walnuts so he dumped them in a bowl and put them out on the coffee table for anyone to enjoy…When his friends came by he was completely surprised when they started to open up the nuts and out popped the money…!! Need I say more..?? His books were pushed aside and everyone helped him painstakenly open each and every one….!! Needless to say, he never took her surprises for granite again and always, always checked everything very, very carefully …inside, outside, and upside down. : )
Ha! That is awesome! What a funny story… Thanks for sharing, Marty!
These are some very cool ideas!! You are so right…a card with a $20 bill in it is just too boring!
Love the ideas and will use a couple this Christmas!!! Thanks for the ideas!
Charlotte from AZ
Happy you like the ideas, Charlotte 🙂
Thanks for Showing Me the Money!
Kelly
Love all these ideas! Thanks so much!
Those are so creative! I like the balloon idea, I’m going to have to give it a try. 🙂
How about it put money in the balloons (like your post) but hang them on a dartboard and give the recipient(s) a certain number of darts (5?) to throw. Whatever balloons they break, that’s the amount they get. Of course they keep throwing darts until they break a balloon with each one.
That’s a great idea! Thanks for sharing, Vicky!
Is there an easy way to get the money into the balloons?
All you have to do is roll the bills up, add a little tape to hold it together and put them right into the balloon. Add a little confetti for extra excitement, just remember though, you will have to do some clean up.
Thanks so much for this idea! My son received a dart board for his birthday a month ago and I’ve been trying to think of a clever way to gift cash for him this Christmas!
I like it a lot! So creative!
Thanks, Vera!
Thank you, C.R.A.F.T., for the great roundup!!! I bookmarked it, FBed it and Tweeted it, too! You're awesome! Thanks for all the information and inspiration C.R.A.F.T. provides. Merry, merry and happy, happy!
aww, thanks Laurie!