Tis the season for teacher appreciation (and more sneaks of the new lines)! ;) Though I homeschool, my boys actually have a number of teachers, primarily from the one-day-a-week school that they attend. They each have six different classes, though some of the teachers overlap. Faced with so many gifts, I’m always on the lookout for something unique, useful and (ahem) not too expensive. Having many friends who are public school teachers, themselves, I also know that the “typical” teacher mugs and tote bags and such aren’t really necessary (as they already have plenty, lol). So. I try to think in terms of things that will actually get used. I’ve done miniature terrariums, sets of personalized magnets, Amazon gift cards, shadow box décor with an educational quote, ninja-bread cookies and cutters (for the karate teachers), games, books, and more.
This year, I went for Summer Activity Jars. I’ve seen this online in a number of places but added my own little twist to make it a gift, rather than something just for yourself. Here’s what I came up with:
INSIDE THE JAR
- Print, cut and fold summer activity ideas. Because I love you, here’s the list I used, tweaked slightly to remove specific local outings that probably won’t work for you. ;) Feel free to add more!
Download Summeractivityjarlist
- Include a giftcard or two…with the accompanying activity idea stapled to it. I got small giftcards for ice cream (“Go out for ice cream.”) and to a local book store (“Read a good book.”). (I made my own little giftcard holder envelopes because the ones provided wouldn’t fit through the mouth of the jar…and because this way they color coordinated better, lol. I also liked that this way I could inconspicuously gift some teachers more than others.)
- Have your child write a personal thank you note to the teacher. I printed out some Ormolu digital tags for each boy, had them write a little note and dropped those tags into the appropriate jars. I also printed tags for myself and wrote a personal note to each teacher.
THE JAR, ITSELF
- Add letter stickers to one of the awesome new Bungalow little labels and attach everything to the jar. (I considered using the smooth mason jars to make this step easier, but found the openings to be too small for hands to easily reach into. Terrifically Tacky Tape works well, though, for attaching labels to regular mason jars.)
- Wrap twine around the top and tie.
- Make a little to/from label to hang from the twine. I used the fabulous Tag Sale "to/from" flair button attached to a fun little Tag Sale sale tag. (I mounted both on a slightly larger circle of cardstock so that I could punch a hole in that to string the twine through.)
And there you have it! So. What are you doing for teacher thank you's this year? (Seriously. I could use more ideas! I still have swim team coaches, karate instructors and archery coaches here, folks, lol!)
(New items should be up in the shop in the next couple days...watch for it! You're gonna want it ALL!)
