Last year my lovely brother in law reached 60 years of age. We didn't know quite what to do for a birthday present for him as he was very ill and we were really worried. The doctors didn't seem to know what to do to help him!. Tony didn't have the energy for any of his hobbies or anything else so all the usual gift ideas weren't right. Although money is always useful a cheque in the card didn't seem appropriate either, so we had to find a more novel way to mark his birthday AND it had to be posted!
I couldn't think of a way to stick so many £1 coins to a piece of card and make it good good enough to give as a gift and survive in the post. So I decided to use a piece of polyethylene foam packaging instead. It still didn't look good! There were too many coins to make a reasonable sized 60. Credit where it's due, my DH came up with this idea. I printed out another paper template and he used it & my craft knife to cut 60 slits in the foam and each coin was then wedged in upright so that when the box lid was closed they wouldn't shift in transit. A printed message and some 'fancy' drawing pins and we were good to go!
My BIL liked his present and I'm pleased to say that once the right part of the NHS made the correct diagnosis and started to treat him appropriately he made a great recovery and is enjoying life again!
I think this idea could be adapted for other birthdays or money prizes with a bit of novelty visual appeal.
Here's a closer look for you
Thank you for looking
Margaret x
