Teacher gifts

What are some cute, creative, yet practical ideas for end of the year teacher gifts? My boys have the same Kinder teacher my DD had last year and we have really loved having her teach all three kiddos. We also love the teacher my DD has had for 1st grade. I don't want to break the bank, but I do want to do something nice for each teacher. Thanks!

 

I always do gift cards - plus a small keepsake type item ( a 31 bag to fill with goodies plus the gift card or something like that) at the end of the year.

 

We like to go pick out a nice looking pot, and plant a few herbs in it for the teachers. If we have time we paint the pot too, but that's not a necessity. Sometimes I'll hot glue a ribbon around the top of it. We usually get basic herbs, like oregano, basil, thyme...that sort of thing. So far every teacher has been pleased with it. I figure it's something a little different, but something they can use.

 

I do a gift card for each teacher. :good:

 

Ooooh, love the idea of a 31 bag! :Clap: I was thinking of a spa gift certificate. We have one teacher for both girls and we adore her so I thought this would be great.

 

what is a 31 bag?

 

So, the idea of getting one of these bags and filling it with goodies is precicely what I am talking about. I really am awful with this. Simply awful. When you say you would buy one of these bags and fill it with goodies and give a gift card, I need specifics! Like, what type of bag? What type of goodies? How much do you spend on a gift card? :gah:

I had to google "31 bag" to figure out what they were. :unknw:

http://www.thirtyonegifts.com/

 

I really like a lot of their bags.

After I posted above, I started thinking about getting a cosmetic bag. I have 2 of them (one for us for travel and one for all the girls' hair "stuff" for their recitals) and LOVE them. They are simply the best cosmetic bags I have ever owned. I figured it would go hand-in-hand with a spa gift certificate.


Jori - I too would love to know what sort of goodies you would toss in there. :good:

 

I'm a teacher and still have a hard time figuring out teacher gifts lol. Giftcards are great, but it is nice to get something else with it or have it as part of a theme gift. I figure that I should take the same approach for teacher gifts as I do for family. Perssonally, I hate to give just a giftcard and like to dress up the gift somehow.

For Valentine's Day, I kept is simple and got giftcards from Starbucks. I asked for cups while I was there since they had Valentine themed ones and then filled them with favorite chocolates and the gitcard. They were well received.

I am trying to do a little something each day during teacher appreciation week. Today, each of the teachers(library, music, PE, reading group, and their K teacher) got a sticky note pad in a school themed cover made with pretty scrapbooking paper. I got some great compliments on those.

This is a more complicated version of what I made: http://greetingarts.typepad.com/greetingarts/2008/06/sticky-notes-books-or-sticky-notebooks.html

My plans for the rest of the week-thanks to pinterest:
http://womenlivingwell.org/2010/05/inexpensive-teacher-gift-ideas/

http://frillsfluffandtrucks.blogspot.com/2010/05/teacher-appreciation-day-pocket-tag.html

Small bag made on my Cricut with hand sanitizer...staff in my building are REALLY into hand sanitizer

Target giftcard somehow packaged with school supplies will be the big gift on Friday. A lot of us are running low, so supplies are always appreciated. Small version of something like this: http://whatsscrapping.blogspot.com/2011/08/back-to-school-supply-cake.html

 

I am a teacher...gift cards are great~
Over the last couple of years I have done 31 lunch totes (w/teacher name) 31, Tervis Tumblers (cause they don't sweat water on the desk)tervis, we have also done plants/flowers and book donations. This year for the end of the year we are packing it full of garden veggies and putting it in a nice picnic tote.

 

Oh, I love the veggie basket idea! I found some great things on Pinterest for Teacher Appreciation this week. A jar of M&M's and a great little poem to go along with it. I also, took a glass Ball jar and put a solar light in the top. This makes a cute porch light! Since it was for the teachers, I put Starbursts inside (only about 1/2 full because I included the TA's) and made a tag that said "THANK YOU for being a STAR and helping our light to SHINE!"

 

My boys gave their teachers pots of flowers. J and his teacher are both on a mission to save the Monarch Butterflies so we searched and searched for Milkweed which we finally found at the last minute and he re-potted for her. N found out that his teachers favorite color is yellow so he went with Marigolds and re-potted those for her. They took them in today and the teachers absolutely loved them.

 

The girls teacher class theme was owls so I bought her some nice ceramic owl measuring cups. We also get $5 Starbucks cards for the 3 teachers out front.

 

Are you on Pintrest? If you are, do a search there for teacher gifts. My friends with school age kids have been pinning some really neat teacher gift ideas.

 

Check with your state. We are not allowed by law to give gifts to teachers in Massachusetts.