frugal year-end teacher gifts?

[CdnMom2]

These are not WDW gifts -- other than giving them the precious link to these pages -- LOL!

We have several teachers (some male) & several Guiding leaders & Jr Leaders to thank. I'm having idea burn-out. Any inexpensive (note I said, SEVERAL) yet, thoughtful suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Tash_From_Cnd]

I don't know if this would work but bringing in Tim Hortin Ice Caps and maybe some sort of cookie might work. My friend did this last year for the teachers and they really appreciated it (no a/c in the school).

 

[SandraC]

Last year I threw a BEACH PARTY for my dd's grade 3 class. I made hot dogs at home and brought them to school. I brought in juice boxes, my friend brought in leis and the teacher brought in ice cream cones. We played beach music and had a party all afternoon. During the year I took pictures (class trips, important assemblies etc.,.) and made a scrapbook for the teacher as her gift. I photocopied the scrapbook and gave one to each kid in the class as a year book. All the kids had a great time signing each others year book. I spent more time than money on this gift.

This year I am making a more formal scrapbook and year book for the kids. We will do the BEACH PARTY again this year. The kids love that!

S

 

[bev r.]

We usually do this for Christmas gifts, but the kids make the rolled bees wax candles. We wrapped them up in clear wrap with ribbon. One sheet of beeswax will make a nice pair of candles. We even roll the candles, which gives a little extra touch of elegance. They a quick and simple to make.

The other thing I like to do is search the clearance tables at the book stores, for the stationary packages. Last summer I found box sets at Chapters and Walmart for $5.

 

[CdnMom2]

Wow SandraC -- as your posts always show me -- you are FAR more organized than I will ever be! Sounds like a fun school year-end though. Lucky class.

 

[marli]

hi,
One thing that I'm doing for my daughter's teachers this year is to give them a plant with a note from my daughter saying "thanks for helping me grow!" . I bought some very cute tin buckets at the dollar store and I'm having my daughter paint them with the glue pens ( all different colors and they come out raised) and I went to the nursery and bought some beautiful flats of plants which I then tranplanted so they will fit into the tin buckets. All in all a very inexpensive gift, but a thoughtful one that will also last all summer. Another idea is to buy a coffee mug at the dollar store and to fill it with different packages of gourmet coffees or teas or even chocolates.

 

[DisneyLisa]

marli...I don't have any young kids but what a great idea.

 

[CdnMom2]

We've done terra cotta pots before with paint-marker designs. They also worked well. I like the tin idea for something different. So the glue pen markings adhere OK to the tin buckets?

Off to the $ Store tonight to see if we have any tin buckets...

 

[Rebecca P.]

I purchase Tim Horton gift certificates and send a note of thanks inside.

 

[MikeJ]

Although our daughter's grade 6 teacher has been a gem, our DS' grade 8 class has been the year from h3ll. For the first time ever, we're considering not getting a teacher gift - maybe a card which states something like "thank you for showing the kids how the real world works - that life isn't always fair and people tend to be biased regardless of what they might say".

Did I really type that? Oooh, [slap] bad Mike, [slap] baaaad Mike.....

 

[CdnMom2]

Yes, a great learning experience for your DS! I think we all get them sometime -- a teacher, a professor, a boss... Gr 8 -- I think you can be pretty sure he won't have him again!

 

[MikeJ]

Actually, painful though it was, it was a great learning experience for him. The (female) teacher continues to show a strong bias against the boys in the class - a bias that the parents of the girls comment on frequently. The boys tend to be disciplined more severely for lesser transgressions that the girls, and it got so bad that DS' marks were starting to suffer as he adopted the attitude "why should I put in any sort of effort when I know I'm not going to get a good mark anyway."

Since Christmas we've been able to instill in him the concept that you don't perform the work for others, you do it to the best of your ability so that you can proud of your accomplishment - regardless of the mark given. It has given him a window on the real world, though - DW's boss has no respect for anyone and it is a frequent topic of conversation at home - and I think he now has a little insight into how the world of adults works. Or doesn't.

- Mike