Giving a Graduation Money Cake as a graduation gift is a FANTASTIC way to give grads money! I gave one of these to my nephew for his graduation and it was the star of the gift table. It’s easy to make your own, and I’ve even included the printable decorations I used to make mine in this post for you to print as well!
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How to make a Graduation Money Cake
YOU WILL NEED:
(3) 10″ cardboard cake circles
White poster board
7-10 individually wrapped Reese’s candy (or other fun size candy bars)
Graduation Garland or ribbon
18″ of ribbon
Free Graduation Money Cake printables
Scotch tape
Glue Dots
(20) $1 bills (or other denomination if you want to give a bigger gift)
Piece of black construction paper
Hot glue gun
Step 1: Cut the circles to the right size.
I cut two of the circles to a smaller size, one 6″ and one 8″. You should end up with three circles total in the sizes 10″, 8″, and 6″. If you don’t want to use cake circles like I did, you can also just cut regular cardboard down to these three sizes.
WANT SOME MORE CLEVER WAYS TO GIVE CASH TO GRADS? CHECK OUT THIS LIST OF 37 IDEAS!
Step 2: Assemble the cake.
Next you’re going to cut 3″-4″ strips of poster board to glue around your cake circles to make the cake shape. The poster board is what you will attach the money and candy to. I cut mine to a 4″ height because I used a decorative garland and money/candy on each layer.
Once you do that, you will want to use hot glue to glue the cake tiers on top of each other.
Step 3: Attach the candy to your Graduation Money Cake.
I made this cake a little “sweeter” by not just making it out of money, but also out of candy as well. Seven of the fun size Reese’s fit perfectly for me. You could also use different kinds of fun size candy if you wanted as well. I used hot glue to attach the Reese’s to the cake, but you could also use glue dots.
Step 4: Roll the dollar bills.
Next you’re going to want to roll your money into semi-loose rolls and secure them with a piece of scotch tape. The tape won’t hurt the money, it will just hold it in place for the Graduation Money Cake. Attach them to the bottom tier of the money cake using glue dots. Don’t hot glue them, because it could tear your money in the process of trying to remove them from the cake.
Step 5: Attach the garland and printables.
I used a fun graduation garland I found at Walmart to add some filler and color to my Graduation Money Cake. I used hot glue to secure the garland underneath the Reese’s and underneath the rolled money.
Next, you will need to secure the printable “Congrats!” banner and the graduation cap. Print that sheet HERE on cardstock paper. Then cut out the hat and the banner. Cut a strip of black construction paper that’s between 7″-8″ long and about 2″ wide. Tape the strip to itself to make a circle. Hot glue the construction paper circle to the top of the money cake. Cut out the grad cap square and glue it to the top of the circle you just put on top of the cake.
To attach the “Congrats” banner, use scissors or a razor knife to slice the marked slits at the ends of the banner. Run the 18″ of ribbon you cut through the slits and tie it onto the Graduation Money Cake over the top of the candy as shown below.
When you’re finished with your Graduation Money Cake it should look something like this! It’s a super thoughtful and fun way to give money and is definitely more memorable than slipping a $20 into a card, right?
WANT SOME MORE CLEVER WAYS TO GIVE CASH TO GRADS? CHECK OUT THIS LIST OF 37 IDEAS!
Now that you know how to make this Graduation Money Cake, you can make similar ones for other holidays and occasions too! Check out this post on how to make a money cake to see more ideas for other gift giving ideas!
