Back To School Teacher Gifts

So I really didn't plan well this year and was down to the wire trying to come up with a little gift for the kids to give their teachers on "Open Door Day".  The kids always enjoy giving their new teachers a little something to welcome them back and wish them a great year ahead.  This is what I came up with this year.  I had a few of these little post-it books that I picked up on Pick Your Plum which is a great site that runs specials each day that you can pick up at great prices.  I had a cut file for the apple but wanted to add the little worm so I quickly designed that and added it to the apples that I cut out, put it all together and then added the little eye balls.  I think they came out pretty cute and the teachers seemed to like them as well.

Back to School Already?

Wow...it's hard to believe it's already time for back to school.  I haven't posted anything since Teacher Appreciation Day last year so I thought I would post pictures of the teachers gifts I did for the end of the year.  I'm always looking for cute ideas so I had come across these cute red metal boxes that had an apple on them at one doing during the year and saved them.  I was rushed at the end of the year so I quickly threw together these quick gifts which I think came out pretty cute.  Teachers can always use anti-bacterial hand soap and anti-bacterial gel, right?

Once I got these done I wanted to be sure the kids could deliver them to the teachers easily so I figured the easiest thing to do was to to decorate plain brown lunch bags.  I had these cute school tags that I had purchased at one point and attached those to make a cute gift bag.

Teacher Appreciation Week

So I'm trying to figure out if this is something that people still recognize or am I just crazy.  It may be that I have a child with special needs and am grateful for the work that teachers do with him but at the same time, I'm grateful for the hard work that the teachers put forth with both my kids.  I love to see them coming home happy after a good day at school.  I think a good day is one where the kids have not only been challenged but that it was done in a fun and engaging manner....this I think is probably a hard task when dealing with 20 kids, all with different personalities.  So...for doing this I think it's important to let the teachers and aides know how much you appreciate their hard work.  This year I pulled these together.  For the teachers I did these vases.  I had seen something similar awhile back so I thought I would give it a try.  The teachers loved them and enjoyed their special "school themed" tree card that I made using Stamps by Judith. If you like to stamp and have never seen her before, she has a great line of stamps and shows you how you can whip up some really cute cards.

And for the teachers aides I printed out these cute free tags that I saw on Lisa Storms blog.  This was a quick and simple thing to pull together with a nice cup and few packets for Raspberry Lemonade mixes. I had originally planned to decorate the cups with some vinyl but it was getting late and I ran out of energy.

Apple for the Teacher - Back to School

When I was out at Staples one day I saw these cute Apple Post-It note holders and immediately thought they would be great for the teachers.  Luckily a few weeks later I saw them on sale in the weekly flyer and knew that I had to get a few as back to school gifts.  I found a cute back to school graphic that I printed and put on the card sticking out of the apple and then added their names cut from vinyl.  It was a fun for the kids to take "an apple" to the teacher for back to school.

To finish it off I stamped plain wrapping paper with some cute school images and wrapped them with some red and green twine, topped with a note tag.

Thank You to the Teachers

So here it is "back to school" and I'm just getting around to posting gifts that I did for the end of last year!.   My youngest son had so many teachers so I had to try and find gifts that I could do quick but wanted them to still be personal.  I had seen these great clocks on Attempting Aloha and thought they would great.  Here is what I came up with for his teachers.

I had also done some cups using outdoor vinyl.  Since these were my first try  I hope they hold up after cleaning.  It's hard to see the names on the sides since I filled them with the pink grass and a gift card.  

I also did some cards and hand sanitizer boxes using teacher subway art from Today's Fabulous Finds.  She has a lot of different designs for many different occasions....they really are great!  So if you're looking for something to pull together quickly, it's worth looking at the different designs/colors she has!

The Wheels on the Bus

I'm finally getting a chance to post a gift that I made for my sons bus driver.  He's been taking the bus since he turned 3 so we were thrilled to have a bus driver that we not only felt our son was safe with but that truly loved the kids and worked with us to make special arrangements for pick ups and drop offs.  I decided to make a special bucket filled with goodies that made up a "bus drivers survival kit".