Offering gold leaves
At many Buddhist temples, including this picture of the Royal Palace Temple, local Thais offer food, flowers and paper thin gold leaves for prayers.This gold leaf is often applied to a Buddha statue. Although thin, when applied by many, the Buddha looks like a solid gold statue.At one of the major Buddhist meditation center that I visited, there was a life solid gold statue of the founding monk built from donations of many and wealthy donors. But I guess, it is depends on how much worldly wealth you have, gold leaves are good enough.
