If you are looking for a unique and super simple idea to give money to a traveler, this is the perfect tutorial for you! Today I will share two creative money origami gifts for travelers. And the best part? These DIY travel-themed money origami cards are extremely easy to make.
I mean, even I could make them. And I am your least crafty person. If there’s one thing I am not good at, it’s designing things. But even I managed to make two really cool travel-themed money origami cards (if I can say so myself).
And because I am not really great at these DIY projects myself, I guarantee that your card will look even better! (And if you think mine doesn’t look that pretty, it’s nice to know that yours will probably not look like mine).
Table of Contents
So what are we making today?
Generally speaking, giving money is not the most exciting gift to give or receive. This is kind of sad, because money is actually one of the most practical gifts, especially for travelers. Because boy, traveling is an expensive hobby.
So I am hundred percent sure travelers will appreciate money gifts. But if you want to make a money gift a bit more exciting, check out these two DIY money origami gifts for travelers; a card with a suitcase and a card with an airplane.
Of course, you could also use both origamis on the same card. It’s all up to you.
Basically, the process of making these cards is the same. The only difference is how you fold the money into a suitcase or onto an airplane. So I’ve only made one tutorial here and described how to make the suitcase and airplane separately.
Save these origami money gifts for travelers
How to make travel-themed money origami cards?
What do you need?
For the card
- Cardboard or an empty greeting card (my cardboard was 5 by 7 inches or 12.7 by 17.8 cm)
- Colorful paper about 4-8 inches larger than your cardboard (only if you use cardboard instead of an empty greeting card)
- Double-sided adhesive tape (or regular transparent sticky tape)
- Glue
- Scissors
- Anything for decoration (colorful pens, glitter, stickers, other prints)
For the suitcase money origami
- 1 bill (could be dollars, euros, or the currency I used, Turkish Lira)
- Matchbox (empty, because you won’t get it back)
- 2 paper strips of 4,7 by 0,3 inches (12 by 0,75 cm)
- 1 paper strip of 3 by 0,3 inches ( 7.6 by 0,75 cm)
- Transparent sticky tape
For the airplane money origami
- 1 bill (could be dollars, euros, or the currency I used, Turkish Lira)
Quick instructions for the travel-themed money origami cards
If you’re in a hurry and you don’t feel like reading everything, here are the quick and easy instructions to make your money origami gift right away.
- Get a greeting card or cardboard
- Fold the money origami (check out the instructions videos in the detailed Step 2)
- Decorate your card
- Stick the origami to the card
- Make a cardholder.
- Wrap it up and you’re finished
Step 1: Make the base for your card
In the examples, I used cardboard as the base of my card. On the cardboard, I glued a colorful piece of paper because it looks prettier than the brown cardboard color. Plus sticky tape sticks better to paper than cardboard.
Alternatively, you could also just use paper and fold it, to make it look like a regular greeting card. You can write something on the inside and decorate the outside with origami.
It doesn’t really matter which base you chose. I would just go with whatever you have available at home. The size doesn’t really matter either. It depends on how much you want to write on the front, or how many origamis you want to add.
The suitcase and airplane are about 3 inches (7.5 cm) wide and 2 inches (5 cm) high. To give you an idea of much space you need.
My cardboard was about 5 by 7 inches or 12.7 by 17.8 cm (regular greeting card size).
Step 2: Fold the money origami
Suitcase origami
First, gather all the things you need, as I listed above.
Make sure you’ve precut the 3 paper strips. It doesn’t really matter if they’re too long, because you can cut them to the right size when you’re making the suitcase. But do make sure they’re all the same width, this will make the suitcase look better.
Next, pre-cut pieces of tape because this will make it easier as you’re folding the suitcase. You will need about 9 small pieces (about 1 inch or 2,5 cm) of transparent tape for the entire suitcase.
Once you’re finished with the preparations, follow the steps of the tutorial below.
I actually used a Dutch tutorial myself (which is why the sizes I recommend differ slightly), but this one is easy to follow as well.
Airplane money origami
I used the tutorial below for my airplane and I thought it was super easy. The airplane you see in the photo was my first attempt. The video is also only a few minutes and I only needed to pause and replay it a few times to make sure I got the folding right.
Though if you consider yourself a pro or you just like a challenge, there are plenty of advanced airplane money origami videos on YouTube.
Step 3: Design the front of your card
Now, I am not the most creative person out here. I mean. Have you checked out my handwriting? It’s as if a 9-year-old wrote this card.
And that’s my neat handwriting!
So I am 100% sure that the front of your card will look way better than mine.
You can get completely creative here and use glitters, colorful pens, stickers, ribbons, and whatnot to make the front of your card stand out. Whether it’s for a birthday, Christmas, graduation, or goodbye, you can just design this card for any occasion.
But in case your handwriting is as bad as mine, here is an alternative idea. You can also print these beautiful quotes and glue them to your front. Download here.
Step 4: Stick the origami to the card
If you have double-sided adhesive tape, perfect! You just need to cut a piece and place the airplane or suitcase where you want to see it on your card.
If you don’t have double-sided sticky tape, no problem.
Just take a longer piece of regular sticky tape, wrap it around one or two fingers with the none-sticky side to your skin, and make a circle until the tape sticks to itself.
Check out the photo below if my explanation is not helpful.
Step 5: Make a cardholder
If you want your travel-themed money origami card to stand straight (as in my photo), you can add a simple cardholder.
I used a carton cardholder because I had already made it for another project, but you can also make one from paper. I think the paper cardholder is actually prettier because you can use a colorful piece of paper instead of the brown carton. But both will work and I’ve explained how to make them below.
Carton
- Get a piece of carton that is at least half the height of your card and about three forth of its width.
- Fold it in half (on the long side)
- While it’s still folded together, cut something like the below shape out. (It doesn’t have to be exact, it’s only the card holder).
Paper
You will need a square piece of paper that’s at least twice the size of the bottom of your card.
E.g. If you’re using a card in portrait orientation and it measures 5 by 7 inches, the paper for the holder needs to be 10 by 10 inches.
If you want to place it in landscape orientation, you will need 14 by 14 inches.
I think a colorful piece of paper is the most beautiful, but plain white works too. Remember, this is just the holder, it doesn’t need to be perfect.
Now that you have the right size paper, follow these instructions in the video below and ignore the part about the size, because we need a bigger one than the one in the tutorial.
Step 6: Finished
That’s it, this is your homemade travel-themed money origami card. You can wrap it up nicely in cellophane or in an envelope. Though make sure the suitcase or airplane stays on if you do that.
And enjoy giving this awesome money gift to a traveler.
Save these money origami gifts for travelers
Final note on DIY travel-themed money origami card
Alright, I hope you felt inspired by this tutorial and it helped you to create a beautiful money gift for a traveler! If you want, you can share your final design with me through my contact page, I love seeing my reader’s projects!
And if you would like more creative projects, check out these 29 creative ways to give gift cards!
