Creative Ways to Give Money as Gifts

My hubby and I usually give $50.00 to our nieces and nephews when they graduate from high school. I usually take 50 $1.00 bills and make a chain like we used to make with gum wrappers. I don't tell them how to take the chain apart, they have to figure that out for themselves. They all think it's a pretty cool gift. This website has very good instructions on how to make the chain:

Making a Gum Wrapper Chain

Also, my hubby likes to do origami. One rose uses 5 bills, whatever denomination you want to use. For one special niece he made 12 roses using $1.00 bills, so that was $60.00. She was amazed and said that she wouldn't take them apart. Her dad told her that since she was going to be going to college she may have to. She said that she would at least keep one intact, that way she would never be broke. LOL! She is now a junior in college and still hasn't taken any of them apart. She has them arranged in a vase and keeps it on her dresser at home. Smart, frugal girl! There are many of origami sites online, but he learned to make the rose from a YouTube video.

By Margaret from Denton, TX