The giving of money or cash as a gift on holidays, birthdays and special occasions is universally accepted as a great gift by all who receive it. It is a very easy gift to give and you can give exactly what you want with the satisfaction of knowing that the person you give it to will appreciate it and be able to get something they really wanted.

The only problem with giving money as a gift it is that it is not a creative gift and requires little thought, usually you just stick it in a card, where’s the fun in that? Let’s not for get the fact that we all work really hard for our money and sometimes feel like we are just giving it away, that’s not fun at all, but, I am willing to give up the cash for a little fun and a good laugh.

Presents are so cool, a box all wrapped up in pretty paper, decorated with ribbons and bows, just knowing that there is something special inside, who wouldn’t love it. I have always preferred to wrap the cash in a box with a bow; if you just put it in a card everyone will know its cash so wrap it up. Jewelry boxes make people think it might be jewelry, shirt boxes suggests it might be a shirt and big boxes can really add a bit of mystery because they can hold just about anything. Big boxes can be the best because you can add things like shredded paper that they have to sort through to find the cash, or you can wrap little boxes inside the bigger boxes and make them open a lot of gifts before they get to the cash. You can also add things like rocks to make the box heavy and when lifted they will know that there is something in there.

Another fun and great cash giving idea is to buy a box of Macaroni and Cheese, the kind that is really cheap with the powder cheese packet. Take a sharp knife and carefully cut open the box at the top or bottom flap, basically you just want to separate the flap from the glue with no damage to the box so you will be able to glue it closed again. Remove the powder cheese packet from inside the box, tip it upside down and shake all the cheese to the top, then carefully with a pair of sharp scissors cut a straight line across the bottom, fold up the money nice and flat, (if you are giving a lot of cash you may want to empty a little of the powder cheese out) stick it inside the packet of cheese and glue that closed. Put the cheese packet back inside the box and glue the box closed. If you messed up with opening the box, just tape both ends so that way both ends look like they have been tampered with and they still will not know which end to open. The funny part is that nobody every looks in the cheese packet for the cash. They literally rip apart the box and dump out all the noodles but still don’t think about looking in the cheese packet. It’s a blast, however the money will be cheesy and you should not use the cheese packet because money is really dirty with a lot of germs.

A simple packet of drinking straws presents another fun way to give cash. Buy a box or a bag of 100 straws, they are usually pretty cheap and can be bought almost anywhere. Take a straw out of the package, roll up a twenty or whatever you are going to give, and stick it inside the straw. Put the straw back in the box or bag a little off to one side, not only do they have to go through all the straws to find it they also have to get the money out of the straw. That is the funny part because they always try to blow it out, their eyes will cross they try and blow so hard. It is hilarious and no matter how hard they try, they cannot blow it out. Rolling up the money small enough to fit inside the straw make take a little effort, and the money always has to be cut out of the straw so you may want to make sure you bring a pocket knife.

I have also been known to buy a book and tape the money to a page. If you just put the money in the book all they have to do is feather the pages and it will fall out, this way is much better, just make sure it’s a little piece of tape at the top so they can still read the book.

Hiding cash inside another gift is also a great idea, many times you can easily take something apart, like remove the bottom of an item and stick it inside there, battery compartments are also a good hiding place, just let them know there is a gift inside the gift and watch their little minds go crazy trying to find it.

Another fun way to give cash is to buy a small item, like a movie, a book or a piece of jewelry and wrap it in dollar bills instead of wrapping paper. It can be any denomination like $1’s, $5’s $10’s and so forth and it can even be a mixture of bills. However, I would advise keeping an eye on that gift because everyone will find it very appealing and we would hate to see it disappear before the person it was intended for gets it.

I strongly advise you use extreme caution with this gift idea, it is not for everyone and some people may find it offensive or in bad taste. It also has to potential to traumatize the recipient so I again need to emphasize the need to consider the type of person you are giving this to. Go out and buy a big box of tampons, 50 count or more, the kind with the plastic applicator, carefully open it up and pull one out, cut off the bottom at the point it is sealed, pull out the tampon, take it apart, cut the tampon off at the string, tie the money around the string, put it back together, put it back in the package, glue it close, and stick it back in the box with the glued side down. It is hard to detect which one has been tampered with since you only cut a small amount off and may take them a little while to find the cash but with the right crowd it can be hilarious.

These are just a few ideas to add a little fun to the cash giving process and I hope that you can use at least one of these ideas to make someone special smile or laugh. Life is short and happiness is healthy so have fun with the things you do.