The Money Tree

What do you give nephews who are in their early to mid 20's?  This year I was trying to think of a cute way to give gift cards.  I'm so tired of the same old gift boxes.  I wanted something different.  Something new, something funny, something that was outside of the everyday things.  I came up with the idea of making a money tree.  So often, I find myself telling my kids, "sure I'll just go out back and pick some money off of the money tree".  Or, "what do you think, that I have a money tree growing in the backyard"?  Well, I started to think - what if I made a money tree for my nephews and put some real money or a gift card on it?  Wouldn't that be so cute?

I set off to find a REALLY inexpensive tree.  I found one at Target that was 2 feet tall.  It was regularly $9.00 and I got it for 50% off.   Not as cheap as I would have liked but hey sometimes you take what you can get.  Next I went to the dollar store in search of play money.  I found some but it was pretty small.  On to the teacher's supply store.  Bingo!  Nice big sized dollar bills and coins.  All set!


Grab your glue gun and I 'll show you how to make your own money tree.  I promise you will be the hit of Christmas.  No more boring boxes from you!

Here's what you'll need:

• hot glue gun
• play money (coin and bills)
• a small Christmas tree
• gift card or cash for recipient

Start by separating and fluffing out your tree branches.

Next, get your play money laid out by denomination.  It just makes it easier when you are trying to randomly (but not so randomly) place the money on the tree.  Play money can be found at the dollar store or teacher

supply stores.  I purchased mine at the teacher supply store for about $6.00.  That sounds like a lot but I got three huge stacks of money and three large bags of coins.  I have enough left over play money to make two more trees!

 I started with the "star" for my tree.  I took two gold coins that I already had and glued them together at the top of the tree.  I know that's backwards from the way you usually decorate a tree but I just couldn't help myself.  A dollar sign would be a cute tree topper too or maybe a star made out of paper money.  Just use your imagination and you will come up with something awesome.

Once you have the tree just the way you want it and your money laid out, start by randomly (but not so randomly) gluing the dollar bills to the tree branches mixing up the denominations as you go.  You don't want one side of your tree to be all $1's.  I used both sides of the dollar bills.  You want to glue them very close to the trunk of the tree.  The bill can either follow the shape of the branch or your can kind of curl them.  Continue gluing dollar bills on the tree until you have it to the desired fullness or you run out of bills.

Now start to glue on the coins.  The play money that I bought had half dollars, quarters, dimes, nickles and pennies.  I glued each coin to the tip of the branches that did not already have money glued to them.  Again feel free to use both sides of the coins.  I like the different textures it gives the tree.  This is what it will look like.  

Continue gluing until you are satisfied with the way your tree looks.  This is what mine looked like.  

Once you are happy with your tree it is time to make the tree skirt.  I took extra one dollar bills that I had and fanned them out into a circle.  I glued each bill to the one below it.  Continue your way around the circle.  When you get to the last dollar bill do not glue it.  This will become your opening to put the tree skirt around the bottom of the tree.  

I took the rest of the change I had left over and sprinkled it on to the tree skirt. Then I glued each coin to the skirt.  This is what looked like.  

Once you are finished gluing you are ready to put your tree skirt around your tree.  Next, take your gift card or money and tuck it into the tree for the recipient.  Or you can wrap it like a package and place it under the tree.  Now isn't that more fun than just giving a gift card or cash?  Plus, it's a conversation starter.

Hope your holidays are happy!

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