Get Crafty

If you’re lucky, there are several people at school who work closely with your child each week. My Saturday Suggestion is a kind, yet affordable, way to recognize all that they do for your child.  Have your child do a craft to give as teacher gifts. Although it is the thought that counts (and this may be my love of caffeine talking), I also think it is nice to include a small gift card for coffee or a book shop. Check your school’s guidelines on what is acceptable for teacher gifts.

As You May Know

I am not super crafty. That said, over the years, I have come across several ridiculously easy crafts that we have used. 

1. Small terra cotta plant pots with a flower planted by your child.
2. Paint your own ornaments. They sell clay kits, wooden ornaments and even have paper printables online that are free (although I’d laminate those if you’re giving them as a gift).
3. Cookie recipes in jelly jars.  Have your kiddo help you measure and then tie a ribbon with a card and the recipe. You can just google recipes for each specific jar size.
4. Popsicle stick ornaments.  Literally glue popsicle sticks together to make a snowflake and then let your child put glitter on them. So easy!
5. Bake cookies and put them in a little gift bag for each teacher.
6. Not into crafting at all? One year I bought canvas tote bags from a charity for each teacher. No crafting and the charity benefits…win, win!
7. Holiday sticker puzzles. Have your child complete them and then print a thank you note to attach to the back.
8. Kits with ‘suncatcher’ ornaments – they are plastic ornaments that come with special paints or markers for your child to add color.

My Absolute Favorite

One year, I bought clear plastic balls on Oriental Trading Company. I had some things around the house that we used to fill them. Think buttons, pom poms, etc…I think I even got red, green and gold bells to put in some of them.  We tied a ribbon on them with a little holiday charm.  Once he was done, I used a hot glue gun to stick both sides of the ball together so they would stay put. Mikey loved making these and really got on a tear, so we even put out a basket of the ornaments at home for visitors to take with them.  Mikey’s teachers, friends and family loved them! We still put a few on our tree each year.

Even if you just send each teacher a card thanking them for their efforts, I think some gesture of thanks is important. If you can make the time, it’s a thoughtful thing to do.

Pro Tip

Your child may only see some of these folks once or twice a week, so send the holiday gifts in the week before break. That also helps the teachers if they want to send thank you notes because they can just pop a note in your child’s backpack before break.