Teacher Gift Ideas

If y'all forgot last week was teacher appreciation week, have no fear...

there's always the end of the year! 

I'm constantly looking for gift ideas...when I find a good deal, I pick items up, stash them in my gift bin and then pull it all together as needed. PickYourPlum is a great site to find personalized, one of a kind items, such as the mouse pads & stamp. Etsy is also another go-to site and you can find super cute ideas on Pinterest. Let's not forget Target, which isn't in Germany, yet, boo.

Here are a few ideas to thank your children's teachers for helping grow your kiddos throughout the year.

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"Just BEEcause"

I found the bee towel on clearance and ran with the bee theme, adding honey & a box of tea. And who doesn't love bees? Your gifts don't need to cost crazy amounts of money. You can put a little bit of effort and a lot of love in your gifts and really, that's what counts.

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"You're just the sweetest"

A personalized apple mouse pad, paired with a small notepad for writing genius thoughts & writing utensils. I didn't have any plain gift bags, so covered the store writing with stamped images.

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"You're so AWESOME"

A floral personalized mouse pad paired nicely with this sweet cactus stamp set I had on hand. I switched up the color of the twine & washi tape to coordinate and made over the bag as well. The personalized stamp was a great find on Pick Your Plum. 

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 The little touches, like gift tags or cards really make a difference and my kids LOVE handing over the gifts to their teachers. Again, it's the thought that counts, not how much it cost you. 

Just have fun with it! 

Check out my other Teacher Gift Ideas HERE

Happy gifting!!

Teacher Appreciation Week - 2017

Another fun week of Teacher Appreciation has come and gone. Being in the middle of a move hasn't completely put the stop light on my creativity. This week of gifts wasn't as "put together" as I'd like...but in the end, you have to remember, it's the thought that counts!

--- DAY ONE ---

Although the winter is gone, it doesn't mean the germs are, 

a massive bottle of hand sanitizer and a small magnetic chalk 

board went into today's bag

--- DAY TWO ---

A small wooden sign from Target, reads 

"you make me HAPPY" and a set of blank notecards.

--- DAY THREE ---

A small post-it note pad, coordinating pen and 

light summer scarf went into today's bag

--- DAY FOUR ---

I finally tried my hand at chalk painting jars, it was rather

fun and I had the slotted lids set aside just for this kind

of a project, they make arranging flowers a breeze.

--- DAY FIVE ---

 I stole today's theme from the fun pencils, that read

"I like big books and I cannot lie" and 

"Read, Write, Draw and Repeat". I wanted to include

a Barnes and Noble gift card but settled on a Target gift

card, since we don't have a Barnes and Noble near us. 

I thought it'd be fun to include a book or two,

The Aviator's Wife and Chicken Soup for the Teacher's Soul, 

were the perfect find for $1 each!

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Looking for more Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas? 

Click on links below...

Teacher Appreciation Day 1

Teacher Appreciation Day 1

Teacher Appreciation Day 2

Teacher Appreciation Day 2

Teacher Appreciation Day 3

Teacher Appreciation Day 3

Teacher Appreciation Day 4

Teacher Appreciation Day 5

Teacher Appreciation Day 5

Holiday Teacher Gifts

A Week of Gifts

End of Year Teacher Gift

Valentine Printable Tag

Always on the search for cool teacher gifts, I came across some monogrammed koozies a few months ago and added them to my teacher gift crate of great! Now what to do for Valentine's Day?...

It's always hard to bypass all the sweets during Valentine's Day and every holiday, who am I kidding. As I was thinking of putting together a little something for my kiddos teachers, I remembered said koozies and ran to the store for a few bottles of sweet iced tea. 

A gift wouldn't be complete without a tag, so I've taken the guess work out of it all and added one you can print out and use as well! I'm sure your teachers will enjoy a sweet token of love and it's always nice to have something tasty to drink too! This would be sweet on a bottle of honey too, buzz, buzz!

(click on the image above to pull up printable version)

Gold Dipped Painted Letters - Teacher Gift

Looking for a golden way to thank your teachers this Christmas? These gold dipped painted letters are a great craft that your kids can paint in a jiffy!

I picked up the letters from a craft store, they are lightweight and made of hollow cardboard. The paint, I had on hand..just pulled out the colors and let my kids pick the ones they'd like to use. Paper plates made a great spot for paint, easy clean up and you only have brushes to clean.

The gold dipping is actually just a touch of spray paint, I waited a day to make sure the letters were completely dry before taping off the ends with green painter's tape and used a magazine to protect the rest of the letter from the gold spray. 

I thought they turned out super cute and my kids were very proud of their painting skills. 

You can't start thinking about Christmas gifts too early and if you start now, you won't be as frantic in December - happy painting!!

"anatomy of a gold dipped painted letter"

Back to School Printable Tag

School has started for us on the East Coast and this week has been absolutely AMAZING!! 

All three of my kiddos came home on the first day, excited, smiling, raving about their teachers, new friends and were happily exhausted.

Click on the photo above or HERE to take you to a printable file

With our oldest starting middle school this year, we have a few more teachers to include in our gift giving but alas have no fear, this project didn't break the bank. I found packs of animal printed notepads at the Dollar Store (4 for $1) and a pack of click pens (8 for $1). I already had paper and plenty of bakers twine, so I just needed a tag to complete my idea.

I took this photo of hippos when we were at Disneyland in December, uploaded it to picmonkey and added the phrase "Have a WILD School Year!!".  Backed each tag with a square of cardstock, punched a hole in each one and tied onto the notebooks with bakers twine, then   adding the pens. My kids wrote their names on the backs and toted them off for the first day of school.

I want to emphasize that you don't have to spend a ton to create something that is thoughtful or useful. If you keep your eyes out for bargains and use your free creativity, you are sure to come up with something wild that will put a smile on someone's face. These would also be great as a class gift for students, if you find a pack of animal print pencils or pens and want to jazz them up a bit with a gift tag.

End of Year Teacher Gift

Today marks the end of the school year here in Virginia. With that, an appreciation to all teachers for their love, dedication and grace in the classroom throughout the year. 

I love putting together themed gifts and this gift has a bit of summer flair going on.

Here's what was included:

1 - beach towel

1 - drink jar

1 - lemonade/ice tea mix

1 - ice cream scoop

1 - lemon

1 - spoon for stirring

2 - limes

1 - ice cream cone filled with bubbles

The ice cream cone was made with the Big Shot die cut machine and an XL die cut. The cone was then run through the Texture Boutique inside a dry embossing folder that resembled a waffle cone. A simple catchy note, "here's the SCOOP we hope you have a COOL summer", printed on cardstock and edged in ink with a sponge to pop off the white background made this large tag even cuter! 

My children all wrote a handwritten thank you on the back of the tag, including what they loved most about the year and their teacher. I'm so very proud of all of them and am very excited for summer!

May you all have a wonderful warm summer with your families and fill it with glorious memories to cherish forever. While you're at it, sip on some sweet iced tea!

Teacher Appreciation - Day 5

Happy Friday! Today marks the last day of this year's Teacher Appreciation Week of gifts, I hope you enjoyed the ideas and have either made them your own or pinned for future inspiration.

Didn't these tags turn out sweet? The little jar was stamped with Black Memento Ink, it dries super quick, so you don't have to worry about bleeding or smears. Then each one was individually hand cut. I know there is a jar punch that you can pick up online or from any local craft store, if you aren't one to cut out multiple items. It's my zen. The lemon slices were stamped in a bright yellow. I'm sure you could stamp them in orange or green depending on what kind of zest you enjoy in your drink. The phrase "you're just the sweetest" was perfect for this tag since sweet will be inside the jar.

The light pink jars were a fabulous find from Michael's and they were on sale! I picked up a large pack of individual Crystal Light packs from Sam's Club and tied a bundle together for each teacher. A little fruit leather was also placed inside the jar but I didn't photograph it.

I hope the teachers have enjoyed this week of pampering and you've enjoyed a bit of gift giving inspiration. 

Here's a recap of our week:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Teacher Appreciation - Day 4

Day 4 and we think our teachers are TEA-RIFFIC!

After a long day filled with talking, teaching, caring & growing their students, I'm sure every teacher needs a bit of calm. Hopefully this calm chamomile tea will do the trick! A few more fun tidbits from the Target $ section. Pretty pencils, magnets & a weekly planner notepad. 

 I just so happen to have a tea kettle XL Bigz Die, so I pulled out my Big Shot (who am I kidding, that thing lives on the top of my desk, I use it DAILY) and cut out four tea pots. I pulled out the perfect stamp from my ever growing stamp collection but didn't want to just stamp it on the pot since it seemed a bit small...looking around my craft room, my eye fell on one of my tag punches which looked like it would serve as the perfect sized tea bag. WIN. A smaller punch for the tag of the tea bag, a bit of bakers twine & a staple. My Mom thought they turned out pretty cute!

* TIP - Stamp on paper and then punch (turning your punch over) so that you can center your stamped image easily.

Check out the rest of the week below:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Teacher Appreciation - Day 3

Day 3 of this year's Teacher Appreciation week of Gifts.

Today is Paparazzi Day at our school, these large wooden clothespins fit the theme perfectly and I already had them on hand, just waiting to be jazzed up!

I let my kiddos pick out the color they wanted to paint them, removed the metal clasp holding the two wooden pieces together, for ease of painting and let them go to town.

Once the paint was dry, we added a few strips of red liner double sided sticky tape. It's a great non-messy way to add a bit of bling to your projects. We shook on a bit of glitter and added a foam letter for personalization and our photo holders were quickly complete!

For the tag, we used the Big Shot and XL Top Note Die to create a pretty shape that we stamped a camera and "remember to smile today" phrase and added a few glittery star stickers for our superstar teachers!

If you don't like messes or are impatient for glue to dry, this red liner double sided sticky tape should be in your craft supplies. We added a bit to the top of a small wooden clothespin and added a strip of coordinating designer paper that we also put behind our tag to close the brown paper lunch bag shut.

*note: this stuff is REALLY sticky, make sure that you keep a pair of scissors just for cutting this tape and make sure you have it where you want it to go on your project before sticking in place, once it's stuck down, it's STUCK!

My Kindergartner has two teachers and they both love the color purple. We switched up the direction of the stripes to give of their photo holders distinctive glamour.

This week's teacher gifts, in case you missed them:

Day 1

Day 2

Teacher Appreciation - Day 2

Day 2 of Teacher Appreciation Week - instead of a swag bag for our Hollywood Stars, we put together a Swag Bucket! 

A quick and easy glamorous filler was created from  a sheet of gold tissue paper, folded along the creases it came with and then cut every 1/2 inch or so to represent tassels. Don't cut all the way up the sheet, instead, leave about an inch, that isn't cut, so you can roll your paper tassel up and tie with a piece of string or bakers twine, like I used in the photo. 

The little magnetic notepads I picked up from Michael's, you can also find them at AC Moore. Mustache Washi Tape was also a Michael's find, I believe. The striped pen was from AC Moore. White pen from the $1 Target spot along with the tin bucket & gold glitter. It wouldn't be Hollywood without a bit of glitter, right?! The Expo white board markers were about $1 each, I broke up the pack I bought between my kiddos teachers. Mints are always well received, especially if teachers drink coffee!

I used my Sizzix Big Shot and a Framelits Die to create a quick tag, stuck my stamp letters onto a clear block and inked them up in Memento Black Ink. A few foam dots on the back of the tag attached it perfectly to the tin pail. In order to keep everything together, I stuck the buckets into a large cellophane bag and tied the tops with bakers twine.

In case you missed Day 1, you can view that HERE

Teacher Appreciation - Day 1

Teacher Appreciation Week doesn't have to break the bank, stress you out or make you feel obligated to put on your crafty pants but if you feel like you'd love to participate and make your child's teacher smile a little extra this week, then grab some paper, scissors and a marker and let's make them feel like SUPERSTARS!

Teacher Appreciation Week - Day 1

I have a plethora of crafting goodies but if you don't own a Big Shot or any other paper cutting machine, you can use a brown paper lunch bag to place your gifts in. Have a coloring session with your little ones and let them decorate the bags. Draw an apple, pick up a sheet of stickers, whatever you do, just remember, gift giving comes from the heart, not the bank!

I always keep my eye out for teacher gifts when at Target, Michael's, AC Moore, Tuesday Morning, Home Goods, TJ Max and sometimes even Walmart. These little stamp sets were $1 each and the little ink pad also $1. 

The way to make your gifts look a little more fancy is the presentation. I took off the plastic wrap from the stamps and tied them together with a piece of bakers twine for instant transformation. 

I used my Big Shot and one of my XL Box Dies to create the open topped boxes you see above. A piece of scrap white paper, a tag punch, ink and a stamp set was used to create a fun tag that I had my kids write their names on in the morning before school. 

 *tip - When stamping an image, don't rock your stamp - have a scrap piece of paper to use on top of your workspace in case your stamp will not fit on the paper you are stamping on and stamps off onto your workspace.

Stop by tomorrow to see Day #2

You can also week last years Week of Gifts HERE

Teacher Appreciation - A Week of Gifts

A Teacher Takes a Hand, Opens a Mind & Touches a Heart. 

I know my very first teacher did just that. My Great Aunt Marian taught me Kindergarten - 2nd Grade. It was she who taught me how to read, write and tackle arithmetic. She taught well, with flash cards, chalkboards, dominos and the simpler teacher habits. Each student had their own mini chalkboard in our desks with a box of chalk and felt eraser. There's just nothing like opening a new box of chalk or crayons at the beginning of a school year. Students aren't just opening a box, they are opening possibilities, hope and the future!

Teacher Appreciation is a way to give back to those who continuously fight for the future through our children. Here are a few gift ideas to help you celebrate them! Remember it doesn't have to break the bank, it just makes it extra special when it comes from the heart!

Day 1 - Watering Can & Gardening Supplies

Day 2 - Candle & Wooden Sign

Day 3 - Notepads & Pens

Day 4 - Notebook, Pens & Starbucks Gift Card

Day 5 - Homemade Banana Bread wrapped in a Kitchen Hand Towel

Teacher Appreciation makes the world of education go around - Helen Peters

Teach the children so that it will not be necessary to teach the adults - Abraham Lincoln

The job of an educator is to teach the students to see the vitality in themselves - Joseph Campbell