Last Updated on December 19, 2022
Numerous situations warrant gift-giving; a loved one’s birthday, a remarkable fit a friend has achieved, or maybe it’s Christmas season. The fact is that we constantly gift people, and sometimes we run out of ideas on what to gift our loved ones.
In times like this, gifting money would probably be your best bet. You’re not sure whether your niece would want a new tablet or a makeup set for her graduation ceremony, you might as well gift her some money, so she gets to choose for herself.
After you’ve decided how much money you’d like to gift a person, the next thing to ponder is how you’ll present the money. A lot of thought has to go into this, as things can easily turn sour from here.
Research has shown that it’s not enough to get someone a befitting gift, your presentation of the gift has a huge influence on how well it is received. This is especially true when it comes to gifting money since many people attach their self-worth to how much money they make or don’t make.
When you casually gift a person money, the recipient may see it as condescending, like you’re throwing money at their face and subtly implying a lack thereof on their part. In the end, a gesture you carried out in good faith becomes one that evokes feelings of shame and embarrassment.
To avoid such scenarios, put conscious thought into how you’ll be presenting a money gift to a person. A good question to ask yourself in your attempt to personalize a money gift is ‘how can I make this person feel seen?’ Answering this question may help you devise a thoughtful means of presenting the money such that on seeing the gift, your recipient immediately notices you were thinking about them while putting it together.
Having trouble coming up with money gift ideas? We’ve curated 20 unique ways of presenting money gifts. Take a look!
1. Money Christmas Tree
Exchange of presents is one of the most exciting moments during the Christmas Season, so you have to nail it with this one. The idea here is to mirror an evergreen but with the needles as dollar notes. Put on your DIY kit and get as creative as you can. Do include red and gold ornaments such as ribbons and jingle bells to reflect the season’s vibe.
2. Gift Cards
If you own a store or boutique, using a gift card can be a thoughtful way of rewarding an employee. Whether you want to appreciate them for their dedication or you’re gifting them for their birthday, you can never go wrong with gift cards.
Everyone loves freebies! If you’re getting a gift for someone with whom you have a more intimate relationship, you can be more creative about how you give it to them. You could, for instance, buy a box of their favorite candy and bury the card beneath the candy.
3. Solo Search Party
If the recipient of your money gift likes a good challenge, you’ll love this idea. Design a trail of puzzles, hidden in different places, with one leading to the other. The grand prize for reaching the ultimate puzzle would be a stash of cash! Be sure to center the puzzle questions on moments you’ve experienced together or things that are sentimental to you both.
4. Personalized Piggy Bank
Go on Etsy or Amazon and purchase a cute Piggybank, which you’ll load with dollar notes and coins. You may decide to buy a piggy bank with your recipient’s name or initials, or personalize it yourself, the old-fashioned DIY way.
5. Money Candy Bars
This idea is spot-on for sweet tooths, especially children. Buy their favorite types of candies. Pour them into a deep bowl with lots of coins in it. Shake the bowl a couple of times, so the candies and coins are mixed. Wrap up the mix to look like candy bars, and you’ll have your money candy bars.
6. Transfer the money with an endearing message
If you’re not in proximity with your recipient, but you wish to give them money, you can do a transfer. Now, don’t just transfer the money like that. Compose a sweet message in the description entry of the transfer, letting them know how much they mean to you and how much you love to spoil them. This would be perfect for a significant other.
7. Money Pizza
Instead of throwing that pizza box away, use it to gift a loved one some money. You may design the dollar notes inside the box using ribbons or simply stash the money into it. You can further personalize this gesture by sticking a note on the inner upper part of the pizza box.
8. Confetti Money Balloon
If you plan on gifting someone money at their birthday party, try this; roll up some dollar notes and throw them into confetti-filled balloons. Hand the balloons to your recipient at their party.
9. Kleenex Box of Cash
Create a DIY Kleenex box, only that this one should roll out money. Use this money gift idea for someone who you know gets emotional on their birthdays. Your thoughtfulness and humor would be appreciated when your recipient realizes what’s in the Kleenex Box.
10. Money Lei
A lei is a garland of flowers graduating students wear around their necks. Let this inspire how you present your money gift to a loved one at their graduating ceremony. Design a lei with money instead of flowers. Don’t worry about whether they would be getting a floral lei already. The more, the merrier!
11. Money Soda
This is probably the easiest DIY idea you’ll find for money gifting. Get an empty bottle of soda and stuff dollar notes into it. If you want to spice things up, get your recipient about three bottles of their favorite soda. Stuff money in one, candy in the second, and leave the actual drink in the third.
12. Cash Pad
This is a clever way to gift a large amount of cash, say from 50 dollars upwards. To pull this off, get the cash, two pieces of cardboard and rubber cement. Place the cash between the pieces of cardboard, then cut the cardboard to match the size of the dollar notes. Apply a few coats of rubber cement to one edge of the bills and allow it to dry for about an hour. Once it’s dried properly, your cash pad is ready.
13. Money Fries
This idea is for that one kid who loves McDonald’s but is hard to please when it comes to birthday presents. Fold dollar notes into a potato chip-looking shape and stuff them into a Mcdonald’s fries pack. That child may never forget your gift.
14. First Aid Money Stash
You know that family member or friend who’s a little bit reckless and is likely to fall while running down the stairs? This idea is for them. Get your recipient a First Aid kit stuffed with dollars notes. They’ll thank you later!
15. Money Gift Wrap
Let’s say you have been able to think of a befitting item to gift someone, but you’re not up for those conventional gift wraps. DIY your gift wrap using dollar notes.
16. Unexpected Item
Surprise your recipient by hiding some dollar notes for them in a place where you know they’re likely to see it. A parent, for instance, can hide some dollar notes for their child in the cereal box, knowing the child takes cereal every day before leaving for school.
17. Money Cake
If you’re in the mood to show off your creative prowess, you could make a whole cake out of dollar notes. No one is saying you shouldn’t bake delicious cakes for friends and family on their birthdays. But you best believe you can never go wrong with a money cake either.
18. Money and Gift Card Basket
The idea here is an attempt to replace those gift hampers with random items in them. Often people don’t really appreciate those items because they probably don’t need the things in them. Instead of those random items, make a crafty basket of both money and gift cards.
19. Money Necklace DIY
A money necklace is a clever way to gift money as opposed to a bouquet. They can be used as a graduation day present, birthday present or you could even gift on to your teacher on teacher’s appreciation day.
20. Investment
This is especially feasible if you plan on gifting someone a huge amount of money. If you’re able to buy the stock at a company or Stock Exchange Market, then do so. By now, we all know that the smarter way to save money is by investing it, not leaving it to lie lazily in a bank.
When you mindlessly gift people money, it defeats the purpose of gifting them anything in the first place. Always make an effort to think of other gestures to augment your money gift. This way, no matter how much money it is, your money gift will be genuinely appreciated and unlikely to be forgotten.