Having a hard time coming up with fun birthday gift ideas? Well look no further, this gift is a way to give cash without looking like you dug through your purse on the way to the party. You know…when your birthday “card” is an envelope from the bank and you drew a smiley face or birthday balloons on it with a ballpoint pen. This gift is a step above that with not much more effort. It’s a “one size fits all” present.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with the comedian Jim Gaffigan, but his routine on birthday gifts is HILARIOUS! It’s worth a search. Here is a quote from Jim on birthdays:
“It can be hard to give a gift. I can’t believe we’re still giving clothing as a gift, because whenever you get clothing as a gift you open it up and think… ‘not even close.’ And the person who gives it, is like: ‘you can take it back if you don’t like it.’ That’s all right, I’ll just throw it out. Really. Don’t give me an errand. ‘Happy birthday. Why don’t you head to the mall for me and pick up my dry cleaning while you’re there”?
Did you ever get a candle as a gift? ‘Hey, thanks… You know I have electricity right? Just tell me if my house stinks”. Ha. Ha. ( I however, appreciate a good smelly candle).
The materials for this birthday present couldn’t be more simple. All you need is an empty Kleenex box. Oh and cash. Dollar bills. Tape the dollar bills together end to end with Scotch tape. Obviously the more dollar bills the greater the “WOW”. Stuff them in the Kleenex box with just one dollar sticking out of the box. It’s fun to watch someone’s eyes grow wider as they pull out the dollars that go on and on. Make a tag that says: “Don’t “blow” it all in one place. The End. Happy Birthday.
This is an awesome idea!! My mom wants a new grill for mother’s day but we can’t afford that so we’re giving her money to put towards it. Boring but taping $90 in 1’s together would be so fun for her!!! Makes the gift a little more exciting, thank you so much for sharing!!
Thank you so much for checking out our blog. It really is a fun way to give a gift that works for almost anyone, any age, and any occasion. I plan on using this gift for some graduates this year!
Thanks again for reading, and let us know how your gift turns out
I just wanted to ask what kind of tape to use. I don’t want to rip every dollar when taking off the tape. This is really the best “cash” gift I’ve seen for a college student. Or for anyone.
Jennifer,
If you use the scotch tape that is more white than transparent it won’t tear the money. You could even cut it with scissors if you had To but I’ve never had the money tear with scotch tape.
Thank you for checking out our blog!
Thank you
🙂
There is also “Post-It” Labels in rolls. You can cut it to size to tape the bills together and they will hold. Then you can easily remove them because…well, they’re post-its!
I was wondering how many bills would fit in the square kleenex box, like the one pictured. Was there room for more than 90 or would more fit easily?
Kshop,
I think you could get $90.00 in one box if you packed it just right. It might be fun to throw some $5.00 bills in the mix. I’ve never been that generous. I’d like to be on your gift list please!
Such a great idea. Thanks for sharing – we borrowed this inspiration for a Teachers Appreciation gift, and modified it a bit to include comments from the students as well as gift cards to our teachers favorite spots (instead of the cash).
Karina,
What a great idea! LOVE it. I’m a teacher so I say that with all sincerity! You’re the best. Thanks for following.
Wouldn’t it be tedious for the person that has to pull the tape off the bills afterwards?
Meehan,
Nope. You just use a little bit of tape. Money doesn’t tear as easily as paper. If you use a clear Scotch tape that is more opaque, it’s easy to remove.
Thanks for reading!
Just did this for my nephew’s 7th birthday- his eyes were bugging out of his head! Thanks!
My nieces will love this…. thanks for idea!
Cathy,
Thanks for trying it!
I love it! I’m going to do it for all the graduations I got invited to this year! Thanks for the cute idea! (Now, what to do with all those kleenex I have to take out of the 5-6 boxes. LOL)
you use empty boxes..
or
ask your work, fmaily, friends for their empty ones. (if you really need to use a new box then i would go to the dollar store and buy the boxes there so then you are not wasting too much money! 🙂 )
Awesome idea – birthday, graduation, retirement…also love the teacher appreciation idea. As a teacher, I have saved the heartfelt notes from students and parents. I would think that you could fit lots of dollar bills in there if you roll the bills.
What’s a good saying that can be used for this as a graduation gift? You don’t blow out candles on graduation.
“Don’t blow it all” in this sense, refers to the kleenex box, tissues and “blowing” money. I think you could use the same saying for any gift giving!
I NEED to save this for when my cousin graduates (granted.. it’s in like.. 5 years). Maybe if I start now, I can have the bills increase in size as she pulls them out =P I’d HAVE to be there to see her face!
That is a GREAT idea to start out with small bills and get bigger! Love it. Thank you for reading
You don’t have to tear off the tape. Just use scissors to cut between each dollar. The tape on each end will just help the US not have to print money more often. Kind of like laminating, right?
We just used a small piece of tape on the very end of each dollar. The opaque scotch tape doesn’t stick or tear the dollar, but you could snip between them if you have a problem.
Currently taping together 25 ones & a five for my little sister’s 13th birthday! She asked for money but I always fell like no thought or effort went into the gift when I give an envelope with cash in it… This is so much better! Thanks for posting this 🙂
Or, you can totally decorate dollar bill siized paper or cardstock and write cute encouraging notes on it too! That would be soooo cute!
I’m so excited – I couldn’t wait ’til after my daughter drew out the money and her reaction. We’re giving some little gifts and stuff she needs – but she “needs” money the most. Thank you so much for an awesome way to “present” money – so it really is a gift! We’re doing $100, but I broke it up so she gets one or more of each bill: 10 one’s, 2 five’s, 1 ten, 1 twenty and 1 fifty – sorta fun. It won’t be quite as long, but I think she’ll like the progression. I’ll let you know! Thanks so much again!!!
I think this is a great Idea! I have several birthdays to use this for and I am always looking for new ideas. Thanks!
Great Idea! I did one before to a friend getting married..what I did I rolled 100 dollar bills (new crisp ones) and put it in a small decorated box and put it together tightly. In the card I put Congratulations! Just in case you get bored in your wedding night, you have something to do. They said they really have a blast opening the present.
But I think your idea is even better. I will do this for my niece and nephew in two weeks, I will see there reactions. Thank you for posting this.
Wow! Your idea is FUNNY. Thanks for sharing it, and for checking out our blog. We’d love to hear how your niece and nephew react. Obviously you’re the fun aunt!
Found this via Pinterest! I’m doing it tonight as a gift for my ten year old nephew. I can’t WAIT to see him open it tomorrow!!!! :o) Thanks for the great suggestion!
This is an awesome idea and I am going to use it to return the awesomeness from when my Dad did something like this for Christmas…..Imagine this…One hundred singles taped four across and then long like a scarf folded neatly into a sweater bow with a little post it instructing me to ‘pull’. It was well over six feet long and for pictures we literally wore them like scarves and walked on them like carpets. For my brother he took a different approach….Singles as tissue paper. My brother really wanted the newest COD game so he used the leftover money in his gift budget for Colt as tissue paper in his gift bag with his game. MADE FOR A SPECTACULAR CHRISTMAS MEMORY!! And now we will all pitch in on this for his birthday!!
sweater box! not bow, that makes it hard to imagine!
Can u tell me what FONT you used. I can’t get mine spaced like yours
I wish I could remember! We just picked a font we liked and cut around it. We made the tag fit our font. Good luck!
Love this idea! It is a great twist on cash gifts! I pinned it so I can remember it!
I would love to have you link this up to my party! http://domesticrandomness.blogspot.com/2012/08/friday-fascinations-3-everything-linky.html
Great! idea presented it to my Pastor from the church, everyone love it, it was a hit . He was so excited. Tanks
Thank you so much for sharing our idea. It makes us happy when they work for other people. Giving a generous gift to your pastor probably made his day!
THANK YOU FOR THE IDEA~ my tweak on it will be for my daughter in law. I don’t want to say don’t blow it, so INSTEAD I am saying MONEY TO BLOW!!!!! I can’t wait to see her reaction as she starts pulling it out of the box! Money talks! lol and this is SO MUCH NICER than just loose money in a card! THANKS AGAIN!
What a great idea! We love ” money to blow”. It’s a great way to give her a gift with the message to get something she wants. Let us know how she likes it.
You have saved me!!! I have 5 teenagers needing birthday presents……….I will have to mail the boxes but this way (light weight) the postage won’t put me in the poor house!! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!
Five teenagers! Wow! It sounds like you’re going to be VERY popular! Thank you for using our idea. We hope it’s the least stressful gift you ever give.
Thank you for such a cute idea. I’m going to put your site info and a picture on my blog today. You guys have such great ideas!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you! We’re so happy when someone finds something they like. We love a fun idea as much as the next guy! Thanks for checking us out.
This is a great idea, my sons bday is right before Xmas so money is a little tight but for him to get a box full of money is so exciting! Even $20 will go a long way!
It’s always hard to have a birthday around Christmas! Money is a fun gift for any age. I bet your son will LOVE spending money on something he wants, especially when there are so many deals going on this time of year. Thank you for checking our our blog.
Thanks for the great idea. It was a big hit on my grand daughter’s 14th birthday yesterday. I expanded a little on your idea. I made a collage of photos, from her early years, and pasted the pictures around the kleenex box…turned out very cute.
Thanks for the great idea. It was a big hit on my grand daughter’s 14th birthday yesterday. I expanded a little on your idea. I made a collage of photos, from her early years, and pasted the pictures around the kleenex box…turned out very cute. She loved pulling all those one’s out of the box.
LOVE that idea! What a fun tradition that would be. Thank you for your comments. Seriously love it.
I have made 2 of these for my granddaughters, several years ago. A good tip is to actually iron the money, it sort of stiffens it and looks nice when they pull out the money.
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often. How regularly do you post on your site nowadays?
Really cute ideas
Nancy,
Thank you for commenting and for checking out our blog!
I’m doing this for a girl’s birthday who is turning 7 this Friday. Can you wrap it up?
Yes! I usually wrap it up or put it in a bag with tissue paper. Have fun!
We did this last year for our son (15bday) but this year will be sending a bday care package to college for our other son – Box of “tissues”/$ and cake in a can both great ideas from Pinterest. Thank you for sharing!
Hello!
Just wanted to let you know I used this idea and my niece really had a blast pulling the money out from the box. She said her friend is having a birthday next month and she said if she can use the box and give her money too. I use a box full with flowers and cut green card stock to look like grass – so it’s like a green theme. Thank you for posting this great idea, I really enjoyed preparing it for here. I introduced my sisters-in-law to Pinterest.
So glad you had fun with your niece. I bet you made favorite aunt that day! Thank you also for checking out our post on Pinterest. There are some other fun ideas on our blog. We LOVE feed back. http://www.lovezilla.net
Thanks for including us in your ideas!
Thanks for the shout out artsymomma! We think it’s a great idea too. Thanks for checking out our blog.
Lovezilla