Another creative way to gift money as a birthday gift

A while back one of my daughters was invited to a birthday party where the birthday girl asked for money that she could donate to a cause of her choosing. Rather than just sticking some bills in a birthday card we created a unique paper puppet with the money. You can see a blogpost about here.
Recently the same daughter was invited to another birthday party where the birthday girls are twins who wanted to get only money as gifts so that they could buy accessories for dolls at the dollar store. Hmmmm......do I create some more puppets? Instead I folded up their money gifts as shirts and pinned them to some pretty ribbon so that they would look like doll clothes on the laundry line. $15 each thank you. The second picture is of an origami shirt I tried with a tie. Nice silver accent don't you think?

What about you? What creative ways have you given money as a gift?

Origami Christmas Ornaments

A while back, one Christmas saw my husband and I with a large fresh tree and not very many ornaments to decorate it with. I wasn't able to buy a whole bunch of ornaments so I decided to make them instead. I'm known as a pack rat and I had accumulated years worth of used wrapping paper that I either liked the print or color of. ( I almost like getting nice wrapping paper more than the actual gift) So I set out to create a whole slew of origami ornaments to decorate my tree. I researched and taught myself some rather basic folding patterns and was able to create a glittery and festive tree at no cost other than my time.

Over the years I have kept those ornaments and created more. Each one is gently folded down and put away for the next year, those that are showing wear are thrown away . My daughter has learned to make some too and makes like a kitten with a new found ball every time we create a "water-bomb".

Below are photos of the designs I have made for my tree. I've linked each one with a site that gives directions on making the ornament. I used to thread string into each one to hang on the tree but I find them so light that I just place them into the tree instead. So if you're looking for something a little different and low cost to hang on the tree, save that wrapping paper and re-use it for next years tree trimming.

Clockwise: Peace Crane, Waterbomb, Elf Boots, Fan