Beach Themed Money Tree

Who says money doesn’t grow on trees?

Last weekend we celebrated the wedding of my cousin and her new hubby. They tied the knot in Reno a few months ago and then threw a small reception/party for close friends and family back home in Washington. The happy couple already had everything they needed so we wanted to give them some extra moula for their upcoming honeymoon! BUT we wanted to do something creative with the gift.

Someone threw out the idea of doing a money tree and I took the idea and RAN with it! The reception was going to be at the beach cabin, so I knew right away that I wanted to make a beach themed money tree. I LOVE how it turned out, in fact I almost wanted to keep it for myself (including the money hehe).

Here is what I started with: a basic ceramic pot, acrylic paint, jute, decorative branches and scrap booking paper.

I started by spray painting the branches white to give it a more beachy feel. I found branches that were flexible so it was easy to form them into the arrangement that we wanted.

Next, my mom and my 89 year old grandpa (love him) drilled holes into clam shells that we found on the beach and tied them onto the branches with white string. A little decorative element that adds so much!

I didn’t want to tie the money directly onto the branches, so we cut the beach themed scrap booking paper into the size of dollar bills and rolled the money up into the paper. Then we tied the rolled cash onto the branches with the jute and gave it a little bow to top it off.

We secured the branches into the pot using rocks from the beach and then laid clam shells from the beach on top. I love using natural elements, not only are they FREE but they look beautiful!

To give the pot that beach cottage feel, I painted it a chambray blue and hot glued jute around the rim.

We placed the tree on the gift table at the party and placed this instructional basket along side so other guests could take part in the fun.

By the end of the night the tree was filled with gifts to the newlyweds! The Money Tree was a success :)