Funny Christmas money gift idea: Cash in a can

In today’s post: Looking for a fun way to give money as a gift? Hide a roll of cash inside a pop top can for a gift that will make anyone smile.

The number one item on my teenagers’ Christmas lists is: money. Sure, they come up with other stuff to put on the list because they know I want to buy them actual presents that I can wrap and tuck under the tree, but what they really want is cash. I get it, it’s fun head to the store or hop on Amazon and pick out your own presents, but giving someone money just isn’t that fun.

Until now. Check out this video to see what I mean:

Pretty cool, right? You can hide a roll of cash inside a can of pears, or green beans, or whatever canned good your teenager hates most, and then wrap it up like a Christmas present. Since the can looks completely normal, no one’s going to expect it has anything inside it other than what’s on the label.

Plus it’s worth the money you put inside to see your teenager’s face when he thinks you actually wrapped up a can of fruit to give him for Christmas!

But then he’ll read the tag on top that says “Open Me.” So he’ll pull open the pop top and see:

Another tag that says “Pull.” And when he does…

…out comes a big roll of cash! I only put $20 into this can and it made a nice, long, satisfying roll of money. FUN!

How to make Christmas cash in a can

To make this fun money gift, you will need:

• a pop top can (more info on that coming)
• a safety can opener (affiliate link)
• $1 bills
• Clear tape
• ribbon
• hot glue gun or superglue

Okay, let’s talk pop top cans for a moment. Look for a 15 oz can with a pop top lid. 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.

Step 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 carefully rinse out and dry the can without getting the label wet.

Step 2: Tape 20 dollar bills together in a long row. You have two options here. The first option is to use double sided REMOVEABLE tape and overlap each dollar bill as shown below. Use a piece of tape that is the entire height of each bill and press down firmly. The good thing about using removeable tape is that it’s very easy to remove later on. The bad thing about using removeable tape is that it’s just not as sticky as normal tape so the bills may not all stay taped together, which means when the gift is opened all the money may not come out in one long roll.

So your other option is to use normal Scotch brand tape. Butt the dollar bills up next to each other without overlapping and tape them together so they look like this:

This will ensure the bills stay taped together and don’t fall apart when the gift is being opened. However, this tape is a little harder to remove. I was able to get all the tape off the bills without ripping any of them, but you do have to be careful. This is the option I would use, but you can decide what seems best for your gift recipient.

Step 3: Cut a little strip of paper and write “Pull” on it. Tape the “pull” tag to the last dollar bill.

Starting from the tag, roll up the bills, so the tag will be inside the roll.

Step 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.

Step 5: Turn the entire roll over and place it inside the can, make sure that the “pull” tag is toward the pop top side of the can. Add a small bag of gravel or something else to give the can weight if desired.

Step 6: Place the bottom piece back on the can, and secure it with hot glue or superglue.

I made another little tag that says “Open Me” and tied it to the pop top lid. Now your fun cash in a can gift is all ready to go!