How to Make a Penny Lei

Whether you are trying to come up with a creative graduation gift or an easy birthday present for a loved one, a penny lei is an excellent way to go. Penny lei's are a fantastic way to incorporate a financial gift along with candy and sweets in a convenient and fun package.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Plastic Food Wrap
• Curling Ribbon
• Scissors
• Coins
• Candy
• String or Yarn (optional)

1. The first step to creating a penny lei is deciding the length of your lei or necklace. You can guesstimate or you can get a length of string or yarn and put around your neck to find your desired length. A few things to consider are the items you want to include in the lei and the recipients size and age. If using a string, cut the string to length and stretch it out. If guesstimating, move on to step 2.

2. Using your guide or by 'eye-balling' it, stretch out your plastic wrap to about half your desired length. Cut off the plastic wrap and lay it out flat on your work surface. Take your scissors and cut down the middle of the plastic wrap. You should now have two equal lengths of plastic wrap that, when placed end to end, equal the length of your desired penny lei.

3. Now comes the fun part! Take your coins and candy and start loading them into the plastic wrap. Take your first coin and place it about one inch from the edge of the plastic wrap. Wrap the coin up in the plastic wrap and tie a length of curling ribbon around each end of the coin. Repeat this process as many times as you need to until you reach the end of the first length of plastic wrap. To attach the next sheet of plastic wrap simply tie it in when you use your curling ribbon near the end of the first sheet.

4. To complete the penny lei, simply take your two ends, after all the candy and coins have been tied in, and tie them together with the curling ribbon. You may need to untie the original curling ribbon knot to make room for attachment. There is no limit to the creativity you can have making this lei and the recipient will be thrilled to count through the money and eat the yummy goodies!

Tips & Warnings

• You can make this as long as you'd like, even long enough to double the necklace around the recipients neck!
• If you'd like to give more than just a few dollars, try getting a roll of dollar coins from the bank and wrap each dollar coin up in the lei!
• Always be sure to give this gift to appropriately aged recipients, small parts and the necklace may cause choking hazards.

[MommyBear]

on 1/7/2009 Cool! This sounds like a lot of fun to make & something that would be so awesome to receive. Will definitely try it. :) 5*****

[ReuseItAll]

on 1/6/2009 What a neat gift idea! I love it!! Thank you for the terrific instructions!