How to Make a Reindeer Money Cake

Are you looking for a unique gift this holiday season? Money cakes are hugely popular right now. You insert rolled dollar bills into the openings designed around adorable characters. They're easy to make and can be used as money gifts or Christmas ornaments.

In this article, I'll show you how to make this cute reindeer money cake.

Materials Needed for this Project

30cm x 30cm cardstock, 160gsm or higher in the following colors:

2x Dark Brown

1x Light Brown or Fawn

1x Black

1x Baby Pink

Design - I am using this Christmas Money Cake SVG but you are welcome to check out the collection of Money Cake SVGs on offer

Glue - this can also be glue dots or double sided tape

Cutting machine - Cricut, Silhouette or any other cutting machine, even your Cricut Joy

During this tutorial, I will be using my Cricut Maker and Cricut Design Space. You can use any cutting machine and software that you have.

Step 1 - Upload and Cut the Reindeer Money Cake SVG

Download and unzip your purchased file, then open your cutting software. After opening my Cricut Design Space, I clicked on New Project in the top right corner of the screen. From there I quickly uploaded the SVG and then clicked Add to Canvas.

Once added to your canvas, you will see the design split up into layers on the right. You don’t need to do anything further with the design. Just simply click on the Make It button top right. See how easy it is to use this SVG cut file for your Christmas project?

In the new window, I chose to use a 30cm x 30cm mat, then clicked on Continue.

Cricut Design Space will color code your mats according to the colors in the design. This is very intuitive in knowing what to cut next. With the topmost mat selected, pink in this case, click on the Continue button bottom right of the screen.

In this new window you will get to choose your material. I prefer to use the setting Cardstock (for intricate cuts) as this usually gives the cleanest cuts. To locate the setting, click on Browse Materials and click on the setting.

You can adjust the pressure with the drop down menu, but in this case I left mine as Default. Load your mat with the cardstock and install the Fine point blade as indicated. Then, when prompted, press the “C” logo button on the machine to begin cutting.

Follow the prompts for each mat until all of your pieces have been cut. Choose any type of paper glue you prefer. I chose to use a glue stick to assemble my layered design.

Step 2 - Assemble the Reindeer Money Cake

Assembling the layers of the reindeer money cake is quite easy. First, we need to set aside one of each color of the reindeer cut out (black, dark brown, pink, and light brown). This will be the back of the money cake.

With the remaining reindeer cutout pieces, begin by lining up (without glue) the pink and black cutouts. You want to double check that everything lines up correctly. If not, just flip the pink cutout around. Apply glue to the back of the pink cutout and place on the black cutout.

Next, check that the light brown cardstock does align correctly, then apply the glue. Place this down on top of the pink cutout. Do the same with the dark brown card cutout. Now, repeat the entire process with the cutout pieces that you put aside.

The end result will be two layered reindeer designs. In the image below, I have also glued the round corresponding pieces together.

Glue the one reindeer layered set to the back of the other one.

Refer back to the image above for reference that clearly shows the base with slot, base cover and money holder. Select the money holder (circle with slot and multiple openings). Slide this onto the reindeer cutout to about shoulder height. We will secure this in a moment.

At the bottom of the dark brown reindeer cutout you will notice two flaps. These will secure the base to the money cake. So, slide on the base with a slot just to where the flaps bend.

Bend over these flaps and glue them flat against the base. You can use the image below as a guide.

Next, glue the base cover (just a plain round circle) over the flaps to give our design a neat finish.

There should be two small oblong pieces left over. These will act as stopper guides for the money holder.

Measure out the length of your note so you know how high to place the money holder. Now, apply glue to the oblong shape and fold over the edge of the reindeer design, just under the money holder. Repeat this step for the other side.

Insert some twine or ribbon through the hole at the top so you can hang it as a Christmas tree decoration. Don't forget to fill the openings in the money holder with moola! The money cake bundle comes with a reindeer and snowman SVG cut file. So why not make both?

Your unique reindeer SVG money holder is now ready for gifting! These Christmas SVG money cakes are awesome gift ideas as creative ways to give money. It’s a fantastically festive surprise when you don’t know what to give this Christmas.