How to Print Money Legally for Fun

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By Shari L
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Print Money Legally

Everyone knows that it is illegal to print your own money for use as real money. That’s called counterfeiting. But you can print your own money for games and crafts if you follow certain guidelines established by the United States Code of Federal Regulations, Section 411 of Title 31. You won’t be able to use your funny money for your debt consolidation or to buy a fancy new car but you can still have a lot of fun with it. Just be careful to follow the guidelines detailed on the Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s website. See the link in the Resources section below for the specific details. Printing your own money can be lots of fun. Read below for more information.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Flatbed scanner
Printer

Step 1

To start printing your own money images, take a fresh dollar bill in the amount of currency you want. Scan the bill using a flat bed color scanner. Save the image to a location on your computer.
Step 2

Paste the image into a text editor or a photo editor and adjust the size of the image so that it meets the following Federal Guidelines for color or black and white printing:

The image must be re-sized so that it is either three fourths less than the original size or one and a half times larger than the original size.

The image must be one sided and the original scan must be destroyed when you are done with it.
Step 3

Now you can use your re-sized bucks to make play money, game money, or other fun stuff. You can make fun money for card games, teaching children how to count or use money, or other crafts such as the Money Box template that can be found in the Resources section below.

Tips & Warnings

Use heavy paper if you are going to print your own game money. It will be easier to play with and will last longer.
Make sure your children know it's funny money so they don't embarrass you or themselves at the candy counter!
It can be lots of fun to print your own money – just keep those government regulations in mind before you start!

Resources