My nieces and nephews also just wanted cash. Some things I've done:

1) Get a bunch of play money and get your cash all in ones. Find a nice box, and crumple up all of the money - play and real in the box together. Make 'em sort through it ;-)

2) Write three checks for slightly different amounts, say $60, $50 and $40. Then find a great game you think they might enjoy playing. Put the checks inside the game and the winner gets the largest check. Second place player gets the next largest, and so on.

3) Find some miniature photo frames and fold the bill so that the president's head is the picture in the frame.

4) Buy uncut money by the sheet. There's an upcharge for this, but it's a great novelty item.

I mentioned this here before I think, but one year I rolled up bills and stuffed them in the toes of toe socks for my niece. You could do the same thing with cute knit gloves.

I was interested in this myself as I may be giving money gifts this year as well. The link below has some interesting and funny ideas.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thrifty Fun Creative Ways to Give Money as a Gift.

Thanks for all the ideas. Teens are just so hard to impress. I love all of the ideas, and with LOTS of nieces, I am saving them to my Christmas card file so I can remember them in the future.

Personalization is a great idea. At least there would be something to remember us by after the money is spent! I completely forgot that money can be sold in sheets. That sounds very cool.

Roobear, thanks for the link. I have found a couple of possible ideas there. :OD

DLM, the toe sock idea is so CUTE! I know exactly which niece I'll save that one for. She is a little shy so I don't want to do anything too crazy that could embarrass her.

About 10 years ago I used money puzzles. I had forgotten about them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Money puzzle

If it was me, I would send a gift card to their favorite store. They usually have cute holders.

Last year we got my son's GF a Victoria's card, they packed it in a really pretty box.

There is a store in Cambridge, MA called Black Ink. It is a wonderland of small interesting things. I never leave empty-handed....always gifts. They will take anything you buy there, if it is the right size, and seal it in a tin can for you. It is very cool. You literally need a can opener to get to it! If I lived nearby and had to give a cash gift, that's what I would do...

Here is a link that might be useful: Black Ink

You could get several different denominations (5, 10, etc,) and wrap the money in different size gift boxes. You could wrap each box separately and arrange them in a little stack with a fanciful ribbon. That would make a cute little presentation.

I've also bought the little gift boxes that resemble Chinese food take out containers and used them- the little boxes with the metal handle.

I have done different things with money as gifts, such as folding it origami style into stars. One year I took empty 2 liter soda bottles and cut a slit in them. I filled them with star garland and a couple of small items and the money, then taped the slit closed with clear tape.

I've used the little knit "magic gloves" you can get at the dollar store, with crisp new bills rolled up and inserted into the fingers. The fingers are just the right length and the gloves (at least at the dollar stores around here) come in some kooky patterns and colors. I used $2 bills (so few of the "young'uns" know about $2 bills, they think it's fake money!) and it made a $20 gift look pretty nifty, but you can even get away with singles for things like office gifts or teacher gifts. For instance, if you have a strict $10 limit, deduct the $1 for the gloves and roll up a note reading "just gotta HAND it to ya, you're a great person!" or something dopey like that for one of the fingers, with $1 bills in the other 9 fingers. These are also fun to hang on Christmas trees or used to decorate another gift. (Wouldn't it be fun to find these tucked into the pockets of a new coat?)

Ohhh, just thought of something... I see those prepackaged gift boxes of hat, scarf, and gloves go on sale after Christmas for next to nothing - I think it would be a hoot to take the gloves out of that, slip rolled bills into the fingers, and put them back into the gift box. Recipient opens up this rather boring gift (you could make it a joke gift by getting really, really ugly ones, or giving sets that are totally inappropriate for the recipient like pink butterflies for a teenaged boy) but it has a hidden surprise. Would take preplanning, of course, but it's a thought for the future and you could get some mileage out of it.

Or those of you with bigger budgets can make the gloves part of the gift, using nice cashmere or leather gloves with whatever amount of money rolled up into the fingers, or $1 bills in all the fingers except one which has a $100 (for example) bill rolled up inside the $1, so they have to unroll all the bills to find the "jackpot".

I have a "regift box" of things I have received and can't use or don't want (lots of the "WHAT on EARTH were they thinking?!" items... LOL Perfectly nice items, just totally inappropriate for me), but keep around for stuff like office gift exchange and the semi-obligatory "I don't really know you but apparently I'm supposed to give you a gift" situations. I also always give my mother a gift card to the grocery store for Christmas (although we don't celebrate it, she does, and it's a big deal for her so we go along with it). Usually I get her a new book and tape the card to a page about 3/4 of the way in but I think I might dig something really gawdawful out of the regift box, something that'll make her scrunch up her face and think "oh, UGH!", and tape the gift card to the bottom of it. :-)

Also, Google "duct tape wallet" and "duct tape purse" for instructions on how to make a wallet or purse out of duct tape (there are even video instructions on YouTube, but my computer hates YouTube).

Not to be a party pooper, but my daughter got money folded into origami shapes and nearly tore the stuff into bits, trying to unfold it. I think teens don't care about the extras--put the bills in a book or a CD and call it good.

I've tried gift cards to a book store. That went over like a lead balloon. :O( So now, it is cash. I thought about a money puzzle, but they seem a little expensive. The gloves idea will be great when they hit driving age. A pair of driving gloves with cash for gas would probably be very welcome.

Sealed in a can?! That is the coolest thing. My nieces would be tearing through my SIL's kitchen to find a can opener. :O)

I made the mistake of sharing a few ideas with my husband. I like several ideas, but dh has become fixated on freezing it in a *giant* block of ice. Do men ever grow up? LOL

Chinese take-out boxes would make adorable gift boxes! Maybe I could slide the cash into fortune cookies. I think they can be steamed open. I really like this one. If I could only get my husband off of the block of ice idea... If you met one particular niece, you would be trying to see how BIG you could make a block of ice too. :O)

For the kids under 12, we give the parents cash/gift cards so we can make sure they have a proper Christmas. All of my nieces are on my husband's side and these families don't have much money. Right now, the kids think that we don't give presents. We do, but they will never know. It is more important to us that they all feel like their parents can provide for them. At 13 and up, we give cash to the child to spend.

I'm just hoping that when it is all said and done, our nieces walk away with some nice memories of Christmas.

I put the cards into cute cheap bag- like a cosmetic bag or a vintage beaded bag from thrift shop..
You are already cool aunt and uncle for giving the cards I know teens love these so much!

Great ideas so far. I have one idea, but it might not work well if you are giving gifts to several teens at once. **** Scavenger Hunt! ****