Graduation Money Topiary

I don’t generally like to give money.  But sometimes, it is indeed the best gift to give, especially for a high school graduate leaving the nest for an out-of-state university.  After some searching for a crafty way to give, I decided on a money topiary.  Love, love, love how it turned out!

The best thing about this gift is you can start early and just add the $ as you have it available.  I do suggest keeping track of how many bills you have used.  It comes apparent very quickly the total adds up.

Money Topiary Supplies

• Flower pot or small pail
• Foam ball  (I used a 6 inch ball)
• Foam 1/2 ball  (whatever size fits snuggly in your pot or pail)
• Dowel
• Graduation cap
• Money (I used $1 and $5 bills + pennies)
• Glue Dots
• Floral pins
• Letters, stickers, etc. for decorating the cap (optional)

Step 1

I chose to hot glue the 1/2 foam ball into the pail plus the dowel into the both the top and bottom foam.  The topiary then was sturdy but as I pushed the bills into the foam it became less so overtime.  Not a lot, but enough that I noticed.

• TIP:  Goes without saying but, measure your dowel a couple of times before cutting.  I thought I did, but I overestimated how much the dowel would go into the foam.  Thankfully I realized before I glued the round foam on.

Step 2

Folding the bills.  I chose the below method but I think it is best to try a couple of different options to see what gets you the most coverage of the foam.  I specifically chose a green round foam so any that peaked through wouldn’t stand out as much.

Step 3

Decorate the round foam with bills.  As I mentioned previously, this is a great project to do over weeks.  I’d empty out of my wallet of $1’s and $5’s and put them all over the round foam every couple of days.  Taking the time to do this part helped even out the overall look of the topiary as well.  The 6 inch foam ball I used, took approximately 60 bills.  I did not have any under the graduation cap.

Step 4

Add graduation cap. I chose to decorate mine with a nod to a Harry Potter quote as those books are a favorite of the graduate, but I don’t think you must decorate the cap.  The finished product still looks great.  I did the same gluing of the dowel into one end first, then to the cap in an effort to best measure.

• TIP: If I were to do again, I’d glue more than one dowel to stabilize the cap better.

Step 5

Use glue dots to adhere the pennies to the bottom foam.  That was another one of those ‘save all the shiny pennies’ comments I kept making for weeks.  But the result was worth it.

Love how this money topiary turned out.  Would work for a great decoration on a table as well.  Perfect for those hard to buy for teens.

Congratulations Graduates!

Please Pin the picture below!

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