Marilyn's Photos - Feb 16 2026 - Playing with Money

 

The news recently covered Valentine’s bouquets that were unlike our North American versions.  Not red roses gathered by the dozens into a bouquet.  The flowers were replaced with paper money in decorative shapes.  With the different colours of bills, these are most attractive.  They are named “cash blooms.” East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, South Africa and Eastern Europe all have this tradition.  Each culture uses different techniques.  They are popular gifts at weddings, and now growing in popularity for Valentines.  It doesn’t appear to be a long-time tradition, but a recent surge with younger generations.  Countries with high inflation or cash dominant economies are the hot spots.  Zimbabwe keeps coming up in the news as one of the African countries that has issued warnings against defacing banknotes to make bouquets.   The ones below look very spendable to me. Origami shapes are most popular in Japan.  The roses look so realistic.  There are many tutorials on YouTube to get one started.  European countries, including Britain have a growing interest in the bouquets. Our North American cultural tradition remains with flowers and cards. Sentiment, personalization and the aesthetic beauty of traditional flowers - these are our calling.  We consider gift cards, digital transfers and cash in a card as superior.  And perhaps we are less inclined in Canada with no more one or two dollar bills.  Starting at 5 dollars might make for an expensive bouquet.   There are many origami choices below -  butterflies, unicorns, a tulip bouquet.  I was thinking of St. Patrick’s Day four-leafed clovers.  That would astonish people. Isn’t this what we’d like every snow fall to look like. There’s nothing like the sun to make those little flakes dance and shine.

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