You know how it goes, every year you jot down all of your family and friends’ birthdays on the calendar and just know that when the day arrives, you will have that perfect, unique gift. Nothing anybody has ever given before. Something your loved one will always remember you for and that you KNOW they will use……..No? Really? Well, this one I can guarantee you that no matter the recipient, they WILL use it and they will most DEFINITELY enjoy it. What is it? It’s a mason jar dollar bill birthday gift!
One recent birthday in particular was for my soon-to-be 12 year old nephew. I did what I typically do. I texted Terri and I asked her for gift ideas. She told me a couple random ideas and then said ‘OR money’. As kids get older, particularly 12 years old and older, they’re not as into toys as gifts. As a matter of fact, they’ll embarrass you in front of everybody when they open up that big puppy poster that you thought for sure they would embrace with joy. No joke. It happened. To Terri. From her own son.
So I thought, I’ll just write him a check and put it in a birthday card and that’ll be it. But one thing Terri ‘suggested’ to me was to give him the money in a ‘creative’ way. Oh crap! I’m really not the most creative person in the world. How do you give money creatively? So I decided to go to the creative wannabe’s heaven on the internet – Pinterest. I typed in the search box ‘dollar bill gift ideas’.
A plethora of dollar bill gift ideas popped up. Dollar bill origami, dollar bill toilet paper, a dollar bill tie, dollar bills taped together from end to end and stuffed in a tissue box saying ‘Don’t Blow it All in One Place!’, dollar bills hanging from an umbrella, a dollar bill lei, dollar bills in balloons. The list goes on and on. But nothing seemed to jump out at me that I thought my nephew would enjoy. Then I found a pin for dollar bills and candy in a mason jar. Bingo! Perfect! The only problem was that this particular pin on Pinterest was for college or high school graduates because it has a graduation cap on the top of the jar.
So I decided I’ll find a mason jar, fill it with my nephew’s favorite candies, which just so happen to be my favorite too. Very convenient. And then I rolled up 40 dollar bills and lined them around the bottom of the jar. Using an eraser of a pencil was an easy way to push the rolled up dollar bills down to the bottom.
I couldn’t find a birthday hat at the craft store where I found the mason jar. Luckily I have a very crafty friend who within an hour, made me the birthday hat to go on top of the jar. From what I can tell, she used scrapbook paper and folded it into a cone shape and then stapled it together. The curly ribbon on top and the ‘happy birthday’ label are adorable finishing touches.
So next time you’re baffled as to what to give somebody for their birthday – especially tweens and teens, give them a mason jar dollar bill birthday gift. I guarantee you, they will use it!
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What a cute idea; I bet he ate all that candy really fast in order to get to the dollar bills and start counting!!!!!
You know him well Cheryl!