I love the look of a lei on graduation but I knew my boys wouldn’t want one or appreciate it. I decided to make my oldest son a money lei. It serves as an awesome gift because who doesn’t love money? I decided to it would be good idea to post about how to make one for anyone else who would to give this gift. It is a labor of love but pop on a show on Netflix and you are good.

Basic Supplies:
- dollar bills
- string
- tape
Pick the amount of money that works for your budget. You could go crazy and use 5, 10, or 20’s. I used ** ones. That give you an idea of the length. Also, I like to used cheap off brand tape so that it is easy to come off when someone wants to use the money later.
I started by folding the side down 1/4 of an inch which is about the size of the border on the back.
Fold it like a fan.
Bend it in half and tape two side together.
Tape the other side to make a wheel shape.
Tie a knot on the end of two long pieces of string. String both pieces of string through each hole. Tie a basic knot after each wheel to secure it.
Totally optional but if you want to add color to your lei, trace a dollar sized piece of paper and make a wheel.
Incorporate them into you lei in any pattern.
I tie a ribbon to both ends for more comfort around the neck.
Make sure to trim and excess strings or ribbon. I like to hot glue the knots so that it doesn’t come loose. This is not something you want to lose!!
In case you noticed, my daughter modeling this lei is definitely too young to be graduating anything but she’s the best for the job. My boys would not be cool with standing there for a picture.
How many dollar bills did you use for the lei?
Pretty sure it was around $50. I picked an amount and then added colors to supplemented and make it full. If you didn’t want to do that much you could added more color.