cash in a can gift for dads, grads, and birthdays

My older kids are all to the age where they just want money for their birthdays. I know it’s more fun for them to be able to go pick out their own gifts, but it’s a little boring for me to just hand over a wad of cash. Today’s project solves that problem! I’m going to show you how to hide a roll of cash in a pop top can for a really fun to way to give money as a gift. It’s perfect for birthdays, graduation gifts, and Father’s Day gifts!

So you get to hand someone a tin can for their gift. After the give you a strange look they’ll pull open the pop top lid and find ribbons and a tag that says “pull”:

And when they start pulling, the money comes out in one long roll!

Here’s a video so you can see what it looks like in real life:

The money just keeps coming! I used 20 one dollar bills in this video, and pulling that many ones out of a can makes it feel like a lot of money. I found this fun idea at Craftibilities – you should click over and see her teacher appreciation version. I tweaked it a bit to make it work for birthdays, graduation, and Father’s Day, and you can find free printable can labels for each occasion at the end of this post!

To make cash in a can, you will need:

• a pop top can (more info on that coming)
• a safety can opener (affiliate link)
• $1 bills
• removeable tape
• ribbon/confetti/tissue paper
• printable can labels (found below)

Okay, let’s talk pop top cans for a moment. I used 15oz peach cans, which are the standard canned good size. You can use a different size, but my printable labels are sized to fit these ones. When purchasing pop top cans to use for this, you need to look at the bottom of the can. Some pop top cans have bottoms with curved edges (below, left), and these WILL NOT work. You need a can with a bottom that looks the same as the top of most cans, like the one on the right below.

You also might want to find a can that doesn’t have words printed on the top of it. If there is writing it’s not really that big of a deal, but I wanted a plain top so I sorted through the canned goods at the store and found that the store brand cans were less likely to have printing on the top than other brands.

Putting the gift together is easy.

1 – Start by opening one of your pop top cans from the bottom, using a safety can opener (this is the one I like) which doesn’t leave any sharp edges. Pour the food into another container to save for later and wash and dry the can. 2 – Tape dollar bills together in a long row using REMOVEABLE tape. Use a piece of tape that is the entire height of each bill and press down firmly to make sure the bills stay stuck together. The tape is very easy to remove later on. 3 – Tape the “pull” tag to the last dollar bill, and then roll up the bills, making sure the “pull” tag is attach to the bill on the inside of the roll. 4 – Place some ribbon or tissue paper on top of the roll of bills, and then fold over the “pull” tag so you can see it on top of the ribbon. 5 – Place the entire roll inside the can, make sure that the “pull” tag is toward the pop top side of the can. Add a little more ribbon if desired to fill up the can. 6 – Place the bottom piece back on the can, and secure it with hot glue or superglue.

Now you can add a label and extra ribbon (if desired) and your gift is all ready to go!

Download the “Congrats Grad” graduation gift label by clicking here

Download the “Happy Happy Birthday” birthday gift label by clicking here

Download the Father’s Day gift label by clicking here

When you print your labels, be sure to print them at 100% or full size. I just printed them on plain paper and they worked great!

  

Here’s another pop top can gift idea – with notes in it for your anniversary!