Easy Money Gift!

When I was a kid, my mother was always so insistent on making sure we beautifully wrapped every gift we gave.  It wasn't until about 10 years ago that a gift bag ever graced her home!  Ever gift was wrapped in a perfectly sized box, with gorgeous wrapping paper, and a floofy (Is that a word?) bow.  I remember sitting with her on the floor of her bedroom before Christmas wrapping presents that all matched each other and the recipient just perfectly!

It's a good thing she instilled this in me because I love to give cash gifts to people as gifts! I don't know what it is, but I love to give (and get!) money as presents to people!  I know that typically cash isn't a very personal gift, but when it's presented with love, it takes it to a whole new level!  Here recently, I gave Monkey's kindergarten teacher a cash gift that was so adorable! You can click the link to find out how I made it.

As for my Tiny Princess, I found a fun and easy way to give her preschool teacher a cash gift as well!  It wasn't as much money, but still a ton of fun to open!  

I gave each of her preschool teachers $10 in ones.  You're right.  It isn't much.  And it isn't fun.  But when it's connected together end to end with an imbedded message, it's a blast!

Here's how I did it.

First I went to Walmart and got $10 in ones.  My initial intent was to tape them end-to-end, but then I decided to imbed a sweet message within the ones.  The message had to be 10 words, one in between each $1 and one at the end.  My message was "I love you and am blessed by you. {heart} 'Princess"'.

Next, I found a box that was wide enough to fit the whole sh-bang inside.  Lucky for me, my husband gave me a anniversary band a few weeks before (Whoop whoop!) and still had the box.  

I cut squares from construction paper that were the same width as the bills and a smaller one to inset on the first paper.  I wrote one word on each of the squares as seen below.  You can see the strip of packing tape behind the word.  It was about 4 inches long and connected each bill to the top and bottom of each word.

Once all the bills and words were connected, I ended up with a long strip that needed to fit and connect to a tiny box.  (In hindsight, I would have gone with a bigger box.)  I wanted all the bills to come out of the box entirely, so I connected the bottom $10 do a longer plain strip of paper and taped IT to the bottom of the box.  I also did the same with the lid of the box so that when they opened it, it would come cascading out.  

Once the construction was finished, I wrapped in beautiful wrapping paper and a big floofy bow, just like Mom.  :)