Money, Money, Money

 Of course, not everyone in the family wants to go down the multiple present route and for them there's always the gift of cash to do as they please or to put together with other gifts to buy one big present.

Here's one or two of the ideas we've used to make this entertaining too...

Month 7 - Bite 7

On one or two occasions I've managed to collect coins with particular years on them. One year I got 30 one pound coins - every one of them had a different date representing each year of the recipient's life. It became a bit more difficult to to this once the coins changed with the older ones then not being spend-able. But at the time it was fun collecting them - it took some advanced planning and collecting as you can imagine.

I also made a purse for the coins to go in!

Month 7 - Bite 8

On another occasion I somehow got a complete set of coins with the year of the birthday person's birth on them and mounted them in a frame to go with a cash gift. As this has become a bit more difficult as our currency changes and some coinage passes out of circulation I've had to settle for mounting just one coin with a birthdate on it.

Month 7 - Bite 9

When my nieces, their children, other friends' offspring were small I also used to buy a money box and fill it with change. It was a great game for them to open the box and then count up how much they had - it's amazing long that can last with £5 worth of small coins!!!

Month 7 - Bite 10

Now this one does take patience and planning. When I was born my mum's boss began buying me a Premium Bond every year to build up a little fund and give a slight chance of a windfall. Sadly he died when I was four and although I've never won a penny the fact that he bothered and planned was very special to me. I still have the Premium Bonds and can't part with them, of course, you never know I might still win and his plan could come to fruition!

I wanted to do something like that for my nieces when they were born, but decided money might be safer. It had to be something I could commit to long term so I opened a savings account for them and put £1 a week in each. I added an extra £5 for each birthday and Christmas. I knew I could always find these smaller amounts and it was amazing how it mounted up, along with the growing interest. By the time I handed them the accounts on their eighteenth birthdays they had a really nice windfall to buy a good present each.