Today I have the neatest thing to share with you!!
I’ve been wanting to create this gift idea for the blog for quite some time, but I never got around to it because I always make these gifts at the last minute! Then I forget to take pics.
This year I got my act together and snapped pics of the entire process for you!
It’s pretty easy to make a pad of cash and they make the best gift!
THESE ARE REAL MONEY PADS!
Yes they are real. LOL
Someone just asked me where I got the fake money! hehe It’s not fake money – it’s real life money. 🙂
How to Make a Pad of Dollar Bills – DIY Money Notepad
This year I’m giving my niece a money note pad for Christmas.
Here are the exact steps so you can make your own real money pads!
They can tear off dollar bills as they need them to spend like a check from a checkbook, or save the pad for a rainy day.
I promise you will be your gift recipient’s favorite parent / grandparent / aunt / uncle / sibling / friend / neighbor if you give this as a DIY gift.
It’s ALWAYS a bit hit!!
What You’ll Need for One Tear Off Money Pad
- stack of crisp $1 bills (you can get these from the teller at your bank)
- a piece of cardboard for the backing (I cut mine out from an old box…I’ve used cereal boxes before…really any cardboard will work)
- padding compound
- small glue brush
- two small binder clips
- paper trimmer
**If you want the glue, padding compound, and chipboard backing all in one, then this money pad kit is a great option, too.
Step by Step Dollar Bill Notepad Instructions with Pics
It couldn’t be easier to make a tear-off pad of real money.
1) Start with the crisp bills
This is the most important step.
They must be crisp or the tear off money pad won’t lay flat or look nice. Trust me, I’ve tried to cheat on this one.
Look at this pic of the completed pad from the side and you can see why it matters – –
Just imagine if the bills were crumpled up or trying to roll up! LOL
I wouldn’t bother attempting this DIY project if you don’t have nice looking one dollar bills! 😀
If you wanna be a high roller, you could go with $2 bills. I wanted to keep the gift a reasonable price, so I stuck with one dollar bills.
2) Cut out the cardboard backing exactly to the size of the bills
Use one dollar bill as your template.
You can do this with scissors, but for nice clean edges, I recommend a paper trimmer like this.
The paper trimmer really makes a difference. No matter how careful I am, I cannot do this freehand with scissors!
3) Line the bills up precisely with the cardboard backing like this
This will take a minute or two to get just right. Make sure none of the bills are crooked or sticking out.
4) Clamp the left side of the stack of bills with small binder clips
The small binder clips work great.
5) Add a layer of padding compound to the edge of the tightly clamped stack of bills
This is the exact padding compound I used. As for the brush, any small brush will do – I just grabbed this one out of my kids’ craft supplies.
I will say that using a round brush is harder than a flat one, so go with flat if you can!
Your first coat will look thin like this:
6) Keep layering on the adhesive really thick
You want at least 5 layers all at once on your tear off money pad. It will start to set up pretty quickly, so it won’t run off as you add layers.
When you have enough that it’s still sticking but looks like it might start running off – that’s enough! 😀
Here’s a pic that better illustrates just how thick your layering should be. It will look a little lumpy! But that’s ok. It will dry flat!
7) Lay down the book of 1 dollar bills to dry
Let dry fully. I didn’t count the hours, but overnight did the trick. I’d say at least 8 if you’re doing this all in one day.
You don’t want the adhesive to be tacky at all because the bills need to tear off cleanly, like an office notepad.
If you put several layers of adhesive like I showed above, the notepad should be stuck together enough to pull a bill from the middle or top.
A cool idea would be to start with 1 extra bill at first so you can tear off the first one to check.
If, for some reason, your pads of cash seem to be falling apart, it’s because you didn’t use enough adhesive.
Try fixing the problem by clamping the dollar bill pads tightly once more and adding more layers to the original edge.
If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to scrape off the original adhesive and try again.
I’ve made several of these real money pads and only had one fall apart – it was the first one where I only used a single layer of adhesive.
I think you’re good to go if you used 5 or so as recommended!
8) Now show everyone your notepad!
It is sooooo cool. Everyone who sees one of these things wants one!
I love to give these real money notepads to all the older kids in our life – any kid over the age of 13 absolutely flips when they see one of these!
I just found out the adhesive I used for this notepad comes in many different colors! I think this could be so much cooler now!
UPDATE: They used to have green and purple but for right now I can only find red!
I’ll let you know if I find the other colors later on!
These pads of cash make great gifts for any occasion really.
I like to give them to the teens in our family for Christmas. Even if you’re only giving them $15, the coolness factor makes the gift seem so much bigger! 😀
Whether you make a bound book of 1 dollar or 2 dollar bills, you’ll have a great time making it and giving this as a gift.
You could also use this same notepad making method to make notepads out of anything paper – think: chore coupons, love notes for Valentine’s Day, an actual notepad you designed yourself.
The ideas are endless!
If you liked this tutorial, let me know in the comments below! I’d love to hear who you will be giving your money notepad to as a gift!
The Perfect Money Gift Idea!
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Full Time Finance says
When my wife left the workforce her coworkers gave her a wad of cash. They taped it together into a roll. Similar to your notebook my wife got a real kick out of it and will remember long after the cash is spent.
Lena Gott says
Ha that’s a good idea! I’ve actually done that before….and had it dispense out of a tissue box. It was way harder to do than the notepad, so I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’ve got a lot of free time on your hands! lol
Free to Pursue says
That is VERY cool. I can see how it gives extra flair to any monetary gift of less than $25. And I bet people like them so much they end up NOT wanting to use them!
Lena Gott says
I’ll have to ask my niece how she ended up using it! I kinda wanted to make a ton of them for myself but then I thought I would look silly pulling them out to pay all over town. lol
Avery Breyer says
That’s such a cool craft, and the thing I love most about it is that EVERYONE who gets it will use it. It’s not trinket that will end up in the trash. Thanks for sharing this – I’d like to try this one year!
sue kling says
I worked in a bank for many years. We made these up with new $2.00 bills. 25 per pack, which was $50.00.
Many of our customers used them when traveling, as they would tear one (or more) off for a tip!.
They were super popular.
Jen says
Love this idea. I’m making them with personalized covers for birthday or graduation with my cricut. So fun!
Julia Fussell says
Great idea. Thanks for sharing it. I am going to copy it for a friend’s 70 Birthday. 🎂
Maggie says
We did this for a end of the year teacher gift with money collected from the whole class! It turned out awesome and everyone loved it and wanted to know how it was made. Thanks for the tutorial!
Lynelle says
Lena, I absolutely love this money notepad. It’s perfect for my teenage daughter. It’s cute, easy to make, and I know that she will like it! Thanks so much for the idea!
Lena Gott says
I’m so glad you like it! It really IS the perfect gift for any teenager!
Rita says
Can you put a cover on top of the money notepad?
Lena Gott says
yes I don’t see why not!
Sharon says
This is awesome, I will be giving it to my grandson for graduation. I really love this creative idea. Thank you.
Lena Gott says
So glad you like it!
Jackie says
How many $1, $2, or $5 bills work best? Or I should ask you, what is the minimum amount of bills for the Money Pad?
Lena Gott says
I personally like to use 20 $1 bills. That ways it seems like a lot but it really isn’t. 🙂 You could also do 10 $2 bills. I’d say the most bills you’d want to include in a single pad is 25-30 or it could fall apart pretty easily seeing as how rough kids are on things like this.
Debra Huddleston says
I have three of these (pads of 25 ones) that a nursing home resident gave us for Christmas three years in a row. Her nephew owned a bank and the bank made them up for promotional purposes. I was the bookkeeper and had the privilege of visiting with her daily as well as providing transportation for her. One of our favorite things to do was drive around while she taught me the history of the town. The pads are among my most cherished possessions. I will never spend them. I take them out and hold them, knowing that she, too, held them. She was extremely generous with her fortune.
Lena Gott says
That’s so sweet!
Beth says
Where did you get the cute polka dot and stripe envelope/ card holder to put it in? It looks like the perfect size!
Lena Gott says
Oh boy – I bet I got that from Tuesday Morning! Sorry that’s not helpful at all!
Tina Simons says
Love this idea! Thank you for the instructions! Do you think you could glue the long end of the bills? I want to give to my granddaughter for graduation and put it in a checkbook cover! All the best!
Lena Gott says
You could definitely do that!
Cindy says
Regarding the money pad. Couldn’t you bind the dollar bills across the top of the bill instead of the side of the bill. This would tear off like a check then.
Lena Gott says
You could, but it just means more glue and chances to rip the bills. But I think it WOULD technically work!
Andrea says
I was able to color my padding compound with food coloring – worked great!!
Lena Gott says
Good to know!
Judy says
I love this idea. Would like to make for my grandchildren for Christmas since it is not a good idea to go to shopping malls with the Covid going around.
Where do you find the Padding compound?? Hobby Lobby??
Lena Gott says
I’ve only ever been able to find the padding compound on Amazon. The one little bottle lasts FOREVER. The link is above in the post!
Barbara LeFevre says
Dear Lena~
I love the money pad idea, and your instructions were very clear. What did you use for the packaging that is pictured with it?
Thank you~
Barbara
Lena Gott says
I gave this dollar notepad inside of a Christmas card! So easy and unexpected. 🙂
Pam Reid says
Thank you for the post! I will try to make one for my grandson. What is the largest number of bills you have put together? I was wondering if 100 would be too thick?
Lena Gott says
I think I would definitely keep it under 30, although 50 may be possible. I don’t think 100 would stay together very well unless you took an extra step of perhaps putting a hard binding on the edge once the glue dries. Hope that helps!
Roxanne says
Would $20 bills work?
Lena Gott says
They would but it would be an awfully valuable gift! It’s really up to you. I’ve only made this with one dollar bills before.
Ruthie says
On the money notepad can you put a top layer of cardboard and personalize it?
Lena Gott says
I was considering doing that next time. I probably wouldn’t put another layer of cardboard, but rather something thinner like cardstock. The only problem with that is you would have to rip off that personalize top sheet in order to tear off the bills, but it would look really cool in the meantime! If you try one of those options, let me know how it works!
Laurie says
I personalize these by buying clear vinyl checkbook covers and inserting monogrammed fabric or printed paper to make a cute “checkbook” cover. Always a big hit!
Lena Gott says
What a great idea!!
Julie says
Great idea! However, I went to three different banks and they each said they are not receiving new money these days. So, instead I cut a stack of paper in the size of money with the recipient’s name printed at the top. I slipped one $20 bill in the middle. It wasn’t at first noticeable until they fanned out the pad.
Lena Gott says
I cannot believe it! Well, I suppose in that case I would probably spend some time collecting the best bills I could find. I like your idea, too.
Bonnie Cordova says
This is a great gift for grads. I gave one to my niece last year. I did have to iron the bills and that worked fine. Low heat and a quick press. I have 2 grands graduating this and will be doing the same. Thank you for the great idea.
Lena Gott says
That’s a great idea to iron the dollar bills! I will keep this in mind if I can’t find flat ones for my next batch of money notepads.