It’s getting treacherously near that time of year that strikes fear and elation into the hearts of Moms and Dads everywhere! THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! (dun dun dun!) It is almost laughable how every year at this time I cannot WAIT til school is out! And every year….fast forward a couple of weeks….I cannot WAIT til school starts! :-) It’s a LOVE/HATE thing for sure.
I also have a LOVE/HATE thing when it comes to end-of-the-year Teacher Gifts. I do LOVE to reward my kids’ teachers for putting up with teaching them for a whole year! But I hate (well maybe hate is a bit strong) trying to come up with something! (I’d actually be very curious to hear what teachers think about this whole tradition? Do you look forward to the myriad of little trinkets your students bring in…or would you rather just not be bothered? I think I know the answer.)
So this year I was doing my usual “research” to come up with a good teacher gift that fit all my personal requirements: Useful, easy and won’t break the bank!
That’s not too much to ask for is it? I don’t think so. And I think I found some good ones this year! I hope you think so!
First off….give the gift of colored pencils…in a cute and creative presentation.
Found this idea over at Happy Clippings and couldn’t wait to make one! It was so quick and easy but so cute! AND USEFUL! I mean what teacher can’t use more colored pencils? And they won’t have to pry these off either! They are held on with a cleverly-concealed rubber band. :-)
My second idea came from Chocolate On My Cranium (love that name!) and is one of the most clever things I’ve seen!
Take basic ball point pens like these with clear casings…and pretty them up with cute bits of scrap paper that you roll up and tuck inside! I just LOVE how these turned out! I want to keep them all for myself. :-) (I have a “thing” for pens!)
I just doesn’t get much easier than that folks.
Of course I found SCADS more great ideas….but didn’t have the time nor inclination to make them all. So here are a few more that caught my eye for your consideration.
Here is a cute idea from Skip To My Lou. A fun little gift tag all ready to print out and tie to a cute stack of notecards (or sticky notes, or whatever)! It says, “Take “NOTE”, you are one of my favorite teachers! Thanks for a great year!”
Useful? CHECK! Easy? CHECK! Won’t break the bank? CHECK! :-)
And finally….get ready to have some fun with this one! Take a little trip over to www.wordle.net and create your own one-of-a-kind “Subway Art” piece using you and your child’s own words to describe his or her teacher. Or really ANY words you want! You simply type the words into their “create” window and the site does the rest! You can change the colors, fonts, shape, direction, etc. Then just print it out and stick it in a frame (or some other presentation of your choice) and you’re done! It’s actually quite fun and would be a great gift for all SORTS of occasions!
Here are a couple I made up in about 5 minutes. :-)
<If I had more time I could have gone crazy on that site! It’s WAY fun!
OK…that’s MY contribution to the creative pool of teacher gifts this year! What’s yours??? :-)
Nice ideas that I can’t wait to try. I am a HS teacher and we don’t get these end of the year gifts but I have a kindergartener this year and am excited to create these. I use wordle with my students, but never thought about it as a gift. Thank you, thank you!
I’m also a high school teacher so I don’t get many gifts, but the ones I do are really meaningful and useful. I know my elementary teacher friends end up re-gifting a lot of the things they receive…
It sounds like a no-no, but a gift card for a local coffee shop, office supply store or book store is ALWAYS a great idea and appreciated by teachers. Even a $5 card helps out with purchases.
On this vein, I saw some cute gift card holders that said things like, “Thanks a LATTE” or, “Thanks for helping me hit the books”. Even tucking the gift card into a hand-written note card the child writes would be a cherished gift. My favorite ‘gifts’ from students are the senior portraits with hand-written notes from my students on the back.
I agree! After teaching for several years, it really is great to get something that a teacher can use outside of school. The colored pencils and pens I love and then just add a $5 or so -gift card to a coffee shop down in the jar :-)
I teach middle school, and for the most part the cute gifts never make it this far up the ladder. I love the pens though, cannot get enough of colored pens!!! I agree with the gift cards, and I also love getting heartfelt notes from students/parents. That does a tremendous job when you hit that one student that you can’t reach and you need a morale boost to get you going again! I taught primary for a long time, and trinkets come and go…but those notes are with me forever in a special file. Those are the treasures!
I wish I was still teaching and some lovely parent would make those pens for me! I would have gone bonkers for those pens! I’m an office-supply-a-holic so anytime I got/get office supplies I get all gooey inside! I’m definitely going to make them for my son’s 2nd grade teacher! FABULOUS!
Okay, you asked! As a former school librarian and the recipient of a number of ‘teacher gifts’…yours are cute and useful, but I think most teachers would far more appreciate something like a gift card. It doesn’t have to be much, but a $5 or $10 gift card at Trader Joe’s or JoAnn’s or Michael’s would have been something I’d have loved. I’m sure teachers appreciate the thought…but believe me, you can always tell when you are at a teacher’s garage sale, where she’s trying to get someone to take all those tokens away!
I echo the teachers that commented before. My husband is a high school teacher. He doesn’t get many gifts, but when a student takes the time to give him something (even if the parent bought/made/wrapped it) it’s really appreciated and special. He wears great ties, so students have gotten him those as gifts, and it’s really nice to have something he can use and remember what being a teacher can mean. The note cards always last longer than any gift.
LOVE the comments/insights from teachers! Keep ‘em coming! :-)
Such cute ideas! Last year, one of the mothers in my son’s preschool class took the initiative and organized a class gift. Everyone donated $5-$10 and the mom went out and bought gift cards to a local restaurant and movie tickets, plus some fun odds and ends. She put them in a large flower pot, using scrap-book paper to make flower shaped holders for the cards. It was SO cute, but what I liked best was the fact that it was cheaper for everyone than going it on their own, plus a much more substantial gift than the usual mugs and bric-a-brac.
I saw a cute idea last week. Get a beach towel, magazine, and sunscreen and attach a cute note saying to enjoy the summer!
I love these ideas. For the first one I would put in little dividers made out of cardboard and place in the jars in an X and put in little erasers, clips – bull and paper, and rubber bands. A little hidden surprise for the teacher.
Hugs!
Cat
This is perfect timing, as usual! For my oldest’s teacher, I did an idea I saw on Pinterest, a crayon wreath. But, I had no clue what to do for the assistant that helps. I think I know now. :)
Here is the link to the wreath I made:
http://assets5.pinimg.com/upload/118078821450372139_QyntWCjD_c.jpg
I should also add, my daughter is only in pre-school.
This is cute, but coming from a family of elementary school teachers I can tell you teachers usually appreciate a gift card (coffee, gas, bookstore, etc.) or unique homemade gift more. My sister once received a bottle of homemade chimichurri sauce that was fabulous!
I use the cheap glitter glue from the dollar store in the pens. Very cute! Downside is the glue never really dries.
I loved Starbucks or Michael’s gift cards, but I had some teacher friends who got sick of the Starbucks! I also always loved heartfelt notes or pictures, or books for the classroom. I even had a parent bring me a healthy salad for lunch one day and that was awesome!
As a teacher, I wish I could give all my parents a link to this post!!! I love your checklist (useful, easy, won’t break the bank) — my favorite being USEFUL. I really don’t want to sound ungrateful, I appreciate all my students/parents, but I can only use so many bottles of bath and body works and costume jewelry (I rarely wear jewelry other than my rings and a watch). I would love it if one of my students brought in any of the cute gifts you wrote about!!!
For my little ones teachers I have made a poem i found online and a cup of M&Ms to go with it! Its teacher appreciation week for us next week. For her bus driver i have another poem and his favorite candy bar in a hand written card!
Green is for the inspiration you give me each day.
Blue is for your patience in showing me the way.
Orange is for your warmth and caring style.
Yellow is for the way you always make me smile.
Red is for my life that you have touched this year.
You place knowledge in my hands
that melt into my heart and live forever!
You’re a “Magnificent” & “Marvelous” Teacher!
Thank you for being my M&M!
Here’s the poem for her bus driver!
There are heroes in our land today that never receive any recognition
some of these are a child’s first acquaintance of education.
Now a teacher might be the first one who comes to your mind,
but I speak of the bus driver for which the kids wait in line.
For a moment, put yourself in the bus driver’s shoes,
and I’m sure you will find that it’s a job you might not want to choose.
Just think what it would be like to baby sit for sixty kids or better,
and remember you must chauffeur this bus load of kids regardless of the weather.
I must admit, to be in front of a classroom with 20-30 kids wouldn’t be a picnic,
but to drive 60 kids over icy roads would set my nerves on edge and make my stomach sick.
A school bus driver is like the postman and must go regardless of rain, snow, gloom, and darkest of night,
but no postman ever had to have 60 kids, clean up their mess, or break up a fight.
A child can have a bad day at school without any warning,
But can be forgotten when a bus driver says, “Have a good evening; I’ll see you in the morning”.
Ask any student, what heroes of theirs never received any fame,
and I’ll bet a bus driver will be among those that they name.
I love this Samantha, and I hope you won’t mind but I am going to adapt of for all the teachers and give them small bags of candies for teacher appreciation week, its a great project for our student council!!!
Thanks for sharing!
That poem is adorable, I wish I’d had it way back when. My city only buses kids up through 8th grade, so when the youngest was near the end of the school year, she found out the driver’s favorite cookies. We baked up a batch. We then made him a t-shirt. Ironed on a decal of an image of a school bus with kids spilling out of the windows, and the heading “Three Cheers for the Bus Driver” at the top, and “The BEST of them ALL” at the bottom.
I teach at a Montessori school in the Childrens House.I don’t need mugs and photos of the children. I have received some lovely jewelry. But the best gift was a cash gift. I was traveling to New Mexico that summer and really appreciated the extra $.
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I am sooooo stealing that pen idea, and passing it on to my daughter! What a wonderful way to keep track of your pens! Pen thieves beware, I WILL know which ones are MY pens! ;)
Though, come to think of it, they might be even more tempted to steal them. *g*
haha…another great application. ;-)
I love the pen idea! Those are so cute, and useful too. I had an idea to make them even more awesome though. You could always print something on the paper before cutting it and sliding in the pen. You could completely customize it and do anything! You could do school colors, or a mascot or the teachers name. I’m definitely going to have to remember that one.
Nice!! I’m going to have to remember that too. :-)
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Hi Jillee,
As a teacher, the best gifts I’ve gotten from students have bene the hand made and untraditional ones. Some of the hand written notes, cards and hand drawn pictures I’ve gotten over the last 9 years are in a bright yellow folder-It’s my “HAPPY FOLDER”! It’s my go to place during a tough day or during tough times with kids. I sometimes need a moment to remind me why I teach-some days can be trying. Over the last 9 years, that folder has gotten pretty fat, and I might need to upgrade it to a binder with some plastic pages to keep those memories.
I love the idea of the pens. I am going to go the extra step and print her name on the paper to make them more personalized. What a cute idea-no more pen thieves! I am also planning on making these for their teachers-http://www.chiccheapnursery.com/2011/do-it-yourself/diy-how-to-make-a-crayon-monogram/
Thanks for all your great ideas!
I taught high school for years and hardly ever received gifts. Now I am homeschooling my kids, so I get gifts every day :o) As a crafty person, I would have appreciated anything homemade. It if is consumable then it is even better! Right now I am making homemade vanilla and vanilla sugar. How easy would that be to gift to a teacher??!! I saw this oven mitt for teacher appreciation on tip junkie http://go.tipjunkie.com/go/pr/8045/www.skiptomylou.org/2012/04/18/teacher-gift-idea-free-printable-teacher-appreciation/
Made them! They were so pretty I made some for myself. I even printed their names (and mine-of course) on the paper. My son helped me roll them and decided he wanted a few for himself too. They were irresistible! Thanks for another wonderful idea!!!
As a homeschooling mother, why don’t I ever get teacher appreciation gifts?? I should get onto my kids about that. :)
Glad you liked the “Pretty Pens.” I give them away ALL THE TIME with journals, planners, notebooks, stationary, etc. So simple and useful and personalizable.
hi! you are my favorite!! thank you so much for sharing your different recipes, etc.
i did read your note about your addiction. i hope the higher power you were referring to was Jesus! i figured that if you were at a place called the ark…He’s the very best!! don’t know where i’d (or we’d) be with out Him!! prayers for you and your family, jackie
I was looking for end of the year teacher gifts and started reading all the comments. I am also a teacher (High School English) and a mother of five. I have three in school right now. Two are in elementary and have two teachers each. My oldest is in Jr. High with a total of nine teachers including his coaches!
My comment is this: Yes, as a teacher, I love gift cards!! But it is the thought that really does count! I’m so tickled to get any gift no matter how much was spent. I would never sell any gift one of my students gave me or re-gift it! So thanks Jillee for the awesome affordable ideas!! I think I can actually give all of my children’s teachers (13) a gift thanks to these clever ideas.
My daughters teachers always appreciate board games. For those rainy and snow blistery days. Christmas time is a great to buy these items. I love the pen idea for myself. I have a pen obsession and only like blue ink; it is really hard to find pretty ones with blue ink.
2 years ago my oldest daughter was REALLY into comic books. She had tranitioned from homeschool & into a public brick & mortar school. Her teacher would tell stories about her family & her shoe obsession in class sometimes in a effort to keep things lighter on certian days. The kids enjoyed it. This teacher is the most popular teacher in the school.
Anyway at the end of the year my daughter wanted to make the teacher a comic book. I found printable blank comic book pages for free & my duaghter created a comic book about her teacher “Miss. Morrison VS The Snazzy Shoe”. The shoe was the villan, but my daughter also includedthe teachers family in the comci as well.
I don’t know if the teacher liked it, but I’m sure she appreciated the time & effort my daughter put into it.
I also take a picture of my kids teacher with their class at the end of the year & give it to the teacher. They all seem to really like that & sometimes use the picture in a craft project on the last day of school parties.
I LOVE the pens. As PTO President I often have a hard time coming up with ideas for Teacher Appreciation Week. We try to do a small gift each day for our entire staff. Which means 100 gifts times five days, it really adds up. I’m going to pick up the pens now while they are on sale for back to school. We may even make a few to put in our Santa Shop :) Thanks for the idea!
I’m glad you like Julie! I LOVE my pens! I have at least one or two in my purse at all times. They make me happy when I look at them. :-)
My daughter made “Crayon Picture Frames” for her daughters pre-school Head Start teachers and aides. This was very easy using 1$ store crayons and frames and pics of the kids and teachers. Just hot glue the crayons on the frame in whatever patterns you like–can even do some names if they are not too curvy! Easy to cut with a serrated knife.
The teachers seemed to love them!
This year for the end of K. my grand daughter and I made terrarium’s for her teachers, aides and bus driver. (My three kids–well grown now!–all had the SAME bus driver as my grandkid does—from K to 12!!!!!!!!) We used re-cycled thrift store glass fish bowls and large vases and did fish tank rocks on the bottom and cactus potting mix with small succulents from Lowes—these come in packs of 4-5 plants but if you have plants that would work that would be even more special. We then used sea shells we had collected and some rocks for landscaping.
For Christmas we gave a tin of home made pretzel /Hersheys kisses sandwiches—line a baking pan with foil, place the little waffle square pretzels on top, warm them in the oven and then place UNWRAPPED Hersheys kisses on them—you might have to pop back in oven to just melt a bit–and top with more pretzels. We have a long standing relationship with my grand daughters K teacher–she was ALSO the K teacher for TWO of my kids—her mother and her uncle! (People here are very loyal to our rural school!) She liked these SOOOO much we went home and made several more batches for her to take home over Winter break. Tins and pretzels were from Christmas Tree shop and were very cute and we were able to get all different ones. Of course you can save and re-use any you have or I have seen some really cute ones painted with funky designs that would make great gift tins–made from cookie tins etc.
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I just found your site from your hand scrub on pintrest and I just made some and LOVE it. So easy I can’t believe I never did this sooner. I am making several of you things for Christmas baskets for my kids teachers but I ran into one problem, my 11 year old has one male teacher! While I am sure his wife would love the bath bombs and stuff I was really trying to think of something for him. Any ideas? Please help :) Jeannie
Oh and he is the PE teacher if that helps with ideas :)
I know that a teacher would really appreciate the gift cards and such, because they are usable, but what about the supplies that the teachers pay out of pocket each year? Extra pencils for the students, crayons, tissues, Clorox wipes, dry erase markers, or disposable cameras or even a subscription to snapfish or some other photo printing site. I can only imagine how much a teacher finances for out beloved photograph hand made gifts.
Not sure if a teacher would rather have a gift they can keep for personal use or one for sharing with their future students, but I was just thinking, why not?