Everyone enjoys getting free money, but around the holidays a gift card or just plain money can send the wrong message.

During gift exchanges, while everyone is getting boxes of presents and you just get an envelope, you feel a little disappointed. Not that money or a gift card is a bad gift, it’s just all in the way you present it.

Giving the gift of money can sometimes send off the message that you don’t really know the person well enough to get a gift or you weren’t even trying. To let them know you truly care and were trying, personalize it just a bit.

This is really a simple thing to do and allows you to be creative. If you are giving someone a gift card, don’t just hand them an envelope, spice it up a bit.

Grab a jar of some sort and fill it up with candy. Once the jar is full, place the gift card in the center of the candy. This way they will have a great surprise when you hand them what seems to simply be a jar of candy and find out there’s also a gift card inside.

Another way would be to make your own cardholder. By making the holder yourself you are able to personalize it to the person and also the card. If it’s an iTunes card you could make a music note, if it’s a Starbucks card you could use a Starbucks cup sleeve. The possibilities are endless.

When giving the gift of money, there are a few different ways to personalize the delivery. One common, fun way is to fold the bills into different shapes to add flavor and character to an otherwise rectangular piece of paper.

If you plan on giving a decent amount of money and want to have some fun in the giving, try this. First, transfer all the bills into one dollar bills and tape the ends of the dollars together to make a long line of dollar bills. Find an empty box and cut a small hole big enough to slide the dollars through. Place a note at the end of the dollar line saying, “pull me” and place the dollars in the box with the note coming out of the small hole you cut.

Wrap up the box to make it look nice, give it to whomever it’s going and watch their excitement as they see dollar after dollar come out of that box. Their reaction will be priceless.

Money and gift cards are great presents to give this time of year. By adding those personal touches to how you give them as gifts will go a long way and show that you really care.