Graduation Gifts

This time of year I get lots of graduation announcements - especially this year with my son graduating himself.  Money is always a crowd pleasing gift for teenagers but I don’t like sticking some cash in a card and handing it to the recipient.  Don’t get me wrong….doing a card with cash is fine….it’s just not me.  Like for Christmas when I gave something a little “corny.”  I like being creative when giving cash. 

So what did I do this year for graduation gifts? 

 

This was the only money lei I saw at graduation Friday night.  It was super easy to make.  I bought a lei with navy flowers (school color) at the Dollar Tree.  Using white curling ribbon (other school color) I attached fan folded bills in between each flower.  I left a little extra ribbon on each so I could use my scissors to curl each side.  

I had seen these made before where multiple leis were completely disassembled and restrung on curling ribbon.  Because I was able to fan out the bills to fill in empty space I went the easy route and left my lei intact. 

Note:  Using crisp bills works much better when making this item.  

I also gave out several of these Break Glass In Emergency gifts. 

The frames I picked up at the Dollar Tree.  Using Word, I printed and trimmed out the letters.  Since these were floating frames, I sandwiched the letters and cash between the glass so nothing moved around. 

I even got creative with the wrapping.  Using the blue and white crinkle shreds (this particular recipient’s school colors) I cushioned the frame in the box.  The box was wrapped using part of a table cloth from my son’s graduation party.  I also used some of the circles I got punch happy with from the party to frame the card.  The card was glued to a piece of cardstock on top of the package.  

So that's what the 2012 graduates in my life got as gifts.  So what is everyone else giving?  I can't wait to discover more unique gift giving ideas.


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