Original ways to give money as a gift

Money is the present everyone can use and that still falls flat when it comes out of an envelope. The amount is rarely the problem; the handing over is. Giving money is really giving a choice: buy what you actually want. What is missing is the moment. Everything below is about putting the moment back without making it contrived.

Fold it. A banknote folds into a shirt with a collar, a heart, a butterfly or a fan. It takes a quarter of an hour with a video beside you, and the result is instantly recognisable as effort. Do not fold too tightly: the recipient has to unfold it again without tearing, and a battered note is not accepted everywhere without a sigh. The shape may say something about the occasion: a shirt for somebody who just started a first job, a butterfly for a new baby.

Let it grow. The money tree: bare branches in a vase, with notes rolled up or folded into flowers hanging from them. It works especially well when several people give together, because everyone fills their own branch and the tree grows during the party. If you would rather not have a vase: a real plant with roots, with the money tucked between the leaves. Then something is still standing when the money is gone.

Turn it into a hunt. An envelope is open in thirty seconds. A trail of clues through the house or the neighbourhood stretches that into half an hour everyone remembers. It need not be elaborate: five notes, each with a riddle pointing to the next place, and the money at the last one. For children a real treasure map with a cross works; for adults, a series of photographs of places that mean something. Do not hide the money where somebody else will find it first.

Give it a purpose, but leave the choice. A jar with a label, "for the trip", "for the first month in the new flat", "for the driving licence", says you know what somebody is working towards. The money stays theirs to spend; the label is a gesture, not a condition. Avoid labels that sound like criticism ("for a decent coat"). If you do not know the purpose, ask, or look at the recipient's wish list: it often says exactly what somebody is saving for.

Hide it. Money in a balloon that has to be popped, a note frozen in a block of ice (inside a freezer bag, or the money is wet and so is the carpet), a box inside a box inside a box. This works for people who enjoy the fuss. For those who do not, the fuss is a present for the giver rather than the recipient.

Add something that stays. Money disappears into the general pile; a card saying what you hope happens with it does not. Write down what you would buy with it, or ask for a photo later of what it became. That last one turns an envelope into a conversation afterwards, and the conversation is usually the part people remember.

What not to do. No money the recipient cannot get rid of without effort: foreign currency left over from your last trip, or vouchers for shops they never visit. A gift card looks like money but is not: it expires, it works in one shop, and if that shop closes the card is gone. If you give one anyway, pick a shop the recipient actually uses and write the expiry date on the card.

For larger sums. An amount beyond a birthday, for a first home say, is a gift in the tax sense, and the rules on what is exempt and what has to be declared differ by country and change from year to year. For a sum like that, a look at your tax authority's website is worth more than a neat fold.