Giving cash as a gift can sometimes feel impersonal, but it doesn’t have to! If you’re looking for a fun, unique, and visually appealing way to gift money for graduations, birthdays, weddings, or any special occasion, look no further than a DIY money bouquet. This creative cash gift is surprisingly easy to make and is guaranteed to bring a smile to the recipient’s face. In just about 30 to 45 minutes, and with a few simple supplies, you can transform ordinary bills into beautiful “money flowers” that are perfect for anyone on your gift list.
Easy DIY money bouquet for a fun cash gift idea.
Supplies You’ll Need to Create Your Money Flower Bouquet
Before you start crafting your impressive money bouquet, gather these readily available supplies. You can typically find everything you need at dollar stores or any craft or big box store, making this a budget-friendly DIY project too:
- Cash Bills: The foundation of your money flowers! For the bouquet shown, 25 bills were used, but you can adjust this number to fit your gifting budget and desired bouquet size. Feel free to use bills of the same denomination for a uniform look, or mix it up like the example with varying denominations to add visual interest. Ten dollar bills are a slightly different color and can create a nice contrast.
- Scotch Tape: Regular, non-removable Scotch tape works best. It provides a secure hold while still being easy enough to remove from the bills when the recipient is ready to cash in their gift.
- Bamboo Skewers: These will act as the stems for your money flowers, providing structure and allowing you to arrange them into a bouquet.
- Pipe Cleaners (Chenille Stems): These flexible stems are perfect for gathering and securing the money flowers together, creating the bouquet shape.
- Faux Florals (Optional): Adding sprigs of faux flowers or greenery can enhance the bouquet’s appearance, adding pops of color and a more realistic floral touch.
- Bouquet Wrapping Materials: Get creative with wrapping! Brown paper, tissue paper, and ribbon are great options. You can find these in various colors and styles to match your occasion or recipient’s preferences.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Assemble Your Money Bouquet
Making a money bouquet is easier than you might think! Each bill is carefully folded and taped onto a skewer to create a petal. These petals are then combined to form “money flowers” that you can arrange into a beautiful bouquet. Follow these simple steps to create your own stunning money flower arrangement:
1. Create the Money Petals
This is the foundation of your money flowers. For each petal, you’ll need one bill, one skewer, and three small pieces of Scotch tape (about an inch each).
- Prepare the Bill: Lay a bill face up on a flat surface. Fold the bill in half lengthwise and crease it sharply to mark the center. Unfold the bill.
- Attach the Skewer: Place a skewer along the center crease of the bill, positioning it about halfway up the bill’s length.
- Secure with Tape (Step 1): Use a piece of tape to attach the skewer to the bill. Place the tape over the skewer, allowing a small portion (about a quarter inch) of the tape to extend past the edge of the bill.
- Secure with Tape (Step 2): Flip the bill over to the back side. Apply another piece of tape in the same position as on the front, again letting a small portion extend past the bill’s edge.
Image showing step-by-step instructions for creating money petals, including folding the bill, placing the skewer, and taping.
- Form the Petal Shape: Turn the bill face up again. Take the two bottom corners of the bill and bring them together so they meet in the center, creating a curved petal shape.
- Secure the Petal Shape: Use the third piece of tape to secure the two bottom corners together, maintaining the petal shape. Apply the tape across the base of the petal as shown.
Image showing how to fold the bill corners to create a petal shape and secure it with tape.
You’ve now created your first money petal! Repeat this process for each bill you plan to use in your bouquet.
Note on Skewer Placement: The tutorial uses pointed ends of skewers taped to the bills, leaving flat ends as “stems” for gathering with pipe cleaners. Alternatively, if you plan to insert your money flowers into floral foam, tape the flat ends to the bills so the pointed ends can be inserted into the foam.
2. Combine Petals to Form Money Flowers
Once you have a pile of money petals, it’s time to assemble them into flowers.
- Assemble a Flower: Take five money petals and arrange them together to resemble a flower.
- Secure with Pipe Cleaner: Wrap a pipe cleaner around the skewer stems at the base of the petals to hold them together and form a flower shape.
- Add Faux Floral (Optional): For an enhanced floral look, insert a small sprig of faux floral or greenery into the center of each money flower.
Image showing a completed money flower made of five petals, secured with a pipe cleaner and with a faux floral sprig in the center.
For the example bouquet, three larger flowers were created. Make three sets of five-petal flowers. Then, create additional petals from the remaining bills, but leave these as individual petals, not formed into flowers yet.
3. Assemble the Money Bouquet
Now it’s time to bring all your money flowers and petals together into a beautiful bouquet.
- Gather the Flowers: Take your three larger money flowers and hold them together. Use a pipe cleaner to wrap around all the stems at the base, securing the main flowers together.
Image showing three money flowers being gathered together and secured at the stems with a pipe cleaner.
- Add Individual Petals: Holding the base of the bouquet in one hand, use your other hand to insert the remaining individual money petals around the outside edges of the flower clusters.
- Secure and Arrange: Use more pipe cleaners to secure the individual petals in place, filling out the bouquet shape. Add additional sprigs of faux florals as desired, securing them with pipe cleaners as well.
- Adjust and Shape: Continue to adjust the placement of the flowers and petals until you are happy with the overall look and shape of your money bouquet.
Image showing the top view of a completed money bouquet with money flowers and individual petals arranged together.
Image showing the side view of a completed money bouquet, highlighting the stems secured with pipe cleaners.
4. Wrap Your Money Flower Bouquet
To give your money bouquet a polished and professional look, wrap it just like a traditional floral bouquet.
- Prepare Wrapping Paper: Cut a square of brown paper (approximately 22 inches x 22 inches) and several smaller squares of tissue paper (approximately 11 inches x 11 inches).
- Layer Tissue Paper: Overlap the tissue paper squares on top of the brown paper, positioning them near one corner.
- Place Bouquet on Paper: Place your assembled money bouquet diagonally onto the layered wrapping papers.
Image showing the money bouquet being placed on layered tissue paper and brown paper for wrapping.
- Wrap the Bouquet (Right Side): Fold the right side of the brown paper over the bouquet, allowing the top edge to fold down naturally as you wrap. Secure the paper with a piece of tape.
- Wrap the Bouquet (Bottom): Fold the bottom corner of the paper upwards and over the bouquet.
- Wrap the Bouquet (Left Side): Fold the left side of the paper over, again letting the top edge fold down. Secure with tape.
- Tie with Ribbon: Finish off the bouquet wrapping by tying a decorative ribbon around the wrapped paper, securing it in place and adding a final touch of elegance.
Image showing the completed money bouquet, beautifully wrapped in brown paper, tissue paper, and tied with a ribbon.
Once wrapped, your stunning DIY money flower bouquet is ready to gift! You can display it in a mason jar or vase for an extra touch.
Tips for Perfect Money Flowers
- Skewer Direction: Remember to consider how you’ll display your bouquet when taping skewers. Pointed ends for pipe cleaner gathering, flat ends for floral foam insertion.
- Disassembly: To take the bouquet apart, simply slide off the pipe cleaners, gently remove the tape holding petals together, and then remove the tape from the skewers.
- Flattening Bills: If the bills become curved from folding, you can gently iron them on a medium setting to flatten them before using or spending.
With these easy steps, you can create a memorable and impressive money flower bouquet that’s far more exciting than a plain cash gift! Enjoy crafting and gifting this unique and beautiful present.
