Giving money, but not cash - creative ways?

[Tamfs]

My DD is at uni and coming back for Christmas. I will get her the usual useful stocking stuff and a couple of presents but as she is travelling on public transport, understandably she doesn't want lots of stuff to transport. So I will give her some money to treat herself with she is back at Uni.

But she doesn't want cash these days and to be honest it's a faff for me too, going to get it, giving it, then I don't really want her carrying it on the journey back and she would much rather have it in her bank account to spend. All makes sense. But here's a bank transfer doesn't seem very christmassy! Does anyone have any ways of making it even just a little bit more like a present?

I have the same dilemma. I was thinking of a hello fresh gift voucher but am otherwise drawing a blank.

How about giving her the main bit in cash then a couple of fun vouchers that she can only spend in fun ways? My teens love it when they get Greggs or Costa vouchers.

Christmas card with Monopoly money in to represent the bank transfer.

How about a scratch off voucher you can write something in then transfer the money when she opens it.

TBH I just do bank transfers.

My 19yo and I were talking about similar last night and a voucher which his dad had given to his brother last Christmas.
Ds1 tends not to want anything and doesn't like spending, so money just goes into his savings & investments.
The voucher was for a business he used and for things he could do with and appreciated having, but probably wouldn't have spent on if given the cash.
I said to ds2 that those vouchers had been a good idea (but I'd never have thought of them), and ds2 (who will spend) said "yeah, but money is just so much more sensible".

I made a paper "fortune teller" from childhood, you know the square of paper you fold a lot and then use your fingers to open and close it. They pick a colour and you spell the colour with your fingers.

Under each reveal it had "try again" unless it was the one with cash but you could easily just have X amount of money from me. It was just a bit of fun.

I do bank transfers and it is just so boring so I always try to come up with stuff, toilet roll tube with tissue paper over the end that you punch through, wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper but the tissue paper end revealed ready to pop a finger through.

For my uni children I did Just Eat vouchers as a treat for them.

So many good ideas here, thanks all! DD is obsessed with board games so I think the monopoly money suggestion for Christmas will work for her! But now I have a list in my phone of different ways to do it to cover the next few birthday and Christmases!

There are lots of "cash gift" ideas on Pinterest which is where I got my ideas from. Some involve making things but I do have a Cricut machine so it is easy for me to do stuff. The ones above require little craft skills.

I know you want it to be nice for her but I would just balance transfer her an amount with a reference merry Christmas .and then maybe give the rest in cinema vouchers or just eat something like that,

What about some chocolate coins and a fake cheque?

I’ve seen boxes to put cash/vouchers in that are like a ball maze and you can only get to it by completing the maze.

instead of actually putting the cash in there you could write the amount in paper or put Monopoly money in there as others have suggested.

coffee shop, greggs, cinema vouchers
tickets to a concert or show
"bank of mum" vouchers (not actual vouchers, just a bank transfer when she books it or needs it) for:
a bunch of flowers
a massage
hair cut
nails done
a takeaway delivery
a mealbox delivery if she's self catering (Gusto, Hello Fresh etc)
train fare home for the weekend

I write the amount I’m going to transfer my 3 DC in a card and give it to them on Christmas morning, they always seem happy with this, plus they get some chocolate coins.

I saw something online where you get a gift box and basically you cut each corner so without a lid it falls open and what you do is you stick a gift card to each piece of the box.

instead of giving a gift card, if you want to transfer the money, you could do a little poem or a clue for them to guess what the money is for so if you’re doing HelloFresh you could do somebody waving…

At my garden center they sell chocolate bars that are wrapped like high value notes. One year I bought my DS one and his face lit up, then he realised it was a chocolate bar and I saw the disappointment. He said thank you and that it was a cool present but I felt terrible.

I've just been looking at this. I can't decide if it's fun or tacky!