Money gifts

I never give our great nephews or great niece a simple check or cash in a card on their birthdays. Search for "Money as gifts" in the side bar under Search This Blog to find other examples of what I've done in the past.

This presentation took some time, but I had fun with it. Josh, the birthday boy, was 12 this past February. I gave him a box of straws. Unfortunately, the photos of the wrapped and initially opened box of straws have disappeared. The box contained over 60 drinking straws, all painted red, but only some had money in them. 

First I tried rolling up dollar bills and fitting them into a regular plastic drinking straw. This was really difficult. At my husband's suggestion, I rolled them up tightly around a wooden skewer and inserted them into straws from McDonald's and Wendy's because they are wider in diameter. Don't ask why I had this many straws on hand. You'll think I'm a Coke addict. 

Once I had the bills inside of straws, I wasn't happy that they were visible. I wanted Josh to inspect every straw, not easily see which ones had the cash. 

There was only one thing to do, right?  Paint them!  Since the straws have a red stripe, red was the logical color. I put skewers back into the straws and placed the painted ones over shoe box lids to dry. Once dry, I removed the skewers and placed all of the straws and lots of shredded paper in a large box to wrap as a gift. We have a paper shredder at the house and I used wrapping paper that I did not like to create the filler.

Josh enjoyed the challenge of finding the cash straws and working them out of their confinement. 

And for the record, I'm not a Coke addict. I'm a Diet Coke aficionado.