Gift Idea for Your Graduate – Money Lei

Last year, when The Girl graduated, I wanted to get creative with her graduation gifts.  I knew that she would was only about three months away from being a very poor college student, so money was the obvious choice.  Rather than just putting in an envelope with an {overpriced} card, I decided to have a little fun with it by turning the money into a lei. The effort almost made up for the fact that she had to run down the freeway in order to make it to her graduation on time.  Almost.

Anyway, I figured some of you might be looking for a creative way to give cold hard cash this year, and thought I would revisit the how-to:

You’ll Need

60 Crisp $1 bills {wrinkled, worn bills don’t work as well}, or $5’s, $10’s, etc. if you are Daddy Warbucks
Clear tape
Thin ribbon or string

Directions

Fold a dollar bill accordion style.  Then, fold the bill in half.  Pull the sides out to create a full circle with the dollar bill.  Attach the edges to each other with a TINY piece of clear tape.

Slide the ribbon through the center of the circled dollar bill {feed it through the middle where your edges meet}.  Repeat the process until you have added all of the dollar bills. Tie the string/ribbon in a knot, and voila, a money lei.