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May 7, 2012 by: Shell

Teacher Appreciation Gift Idea

My boys’ teachers this year have been absolutely amazing.  And let’s face it, even if they hadn’t been, I’d still want to get them something for Teacher Appreciation Day… because all teachers are hard-working… and if you have my kids, you’re definitely working hard!

Last year, I put together picnic baskets for the teachers, with plates, cups, plasticware, a thermos, sunscreen and a few other goodies: Target usually starts putting out this sort of thing in their seasonal aisles at this time of year. Another year, I put together movie buckets. I also have a few last minute Teacher Appreciation gift suggestions.

Your school might choose to celebrate at another time or do gifts the last week of school. Though National Teacher Appreciation Week is this week, with Teacher Appreciation Day being May 8th.

Between my first grader, kindergartener, and preschooler, we have 7 teachers that they see every day they are at school. If I get creative before the week is up, I’ll come up with something for their “specials” teachers, but I wanted to be sure their regular teachers got a little something on Teacher Appreciation Day.

Inspired by pinterest*, this is what we came up with:

teacher appreciation gift ideas

I adore Tervis tumblers: they keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold. I bought them, along with lids and straws, at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  You can find similar cups at Walmart for under $4 each, but they are made in China(this lead-poisoning mama prefers the made in the USA claim on the Tervis cups) and aren’t as good of quality, but that’s certainly an option. I know not everyone has my lead paranoia. 

teacher gift idea

I then bought a few different kinds of individual powdered drink mixes, like lemonade, iced tea, and Crystal Light and put about 10 in each cup. I thought about putting airplane bottles of some “grown up” drinks in there instead since hey, teachers can use a break, but I figured that my kids probably don’t need to get in trouble for that.

Then I wrote little tags that said “A cup of thanks for all you do!” on one side and the teacher’s name and my child’s on the other side. Someone craftier than I would have made these fancier, but I figure they do the job!

What are you doing for your children’s teachers for Teacher Appreciation/End of the Year gifts? 

*Usually, I would link to the source if I got an idea from pinterest. This time, the source of the pic was a spam site and I really don’t want to spam you! 

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Pour Your Heart Out: This Is My Home

Comments

  1. Katie says

    May 7, 2012 at 10:12 pm

    This is too cute! I am sure their teachers will love it!

  2. Jill (Lady Lazarus) says

    May 7, 2012 at 10:15 pm

    What a clever idea! My mom did something similar for the women at my dad’s office at Christmas: she bought each of them a cute lunch bag from My Thirty One, then got one of those reusable warm coffee thermoses that had a band in a coordinating color and she put tea and K-cups inside each cup. 

    My mom’s also a preschool teacher and growing up I always loved seeing all the cute gifts she got at Christmas and end of the year.

  3. Ashley says

    May 7, 2012 at 10:34 pm

    Oh I was just looking for some good ideas.  Pinterest rescued me last year for sure!  We did little mason jar gifts.  Can’t go wrong with cups and mason jars.  =)

  4. The Mommy Therapy says

    May 7, 2012 at 10:40 pm

    Those are adorable! Fantastic idea.
    Our preschool class stuck with the gift card option and I still haven’t figured out anything for the kindergarten teacher yet. I just might have to copy you!

    • Shell says

      May 8, 2012 at 9:24 am

      Gift cards are always a great way to go! 

  5. Kimberly says

    May 8, 2012 at 12:44 am

    I love that idea! They are so cute!

  6. momof12 says

    May 8, 2012 at 3:00 am

    Those are awesome! I bought them each a bag of gummy Lifesavers and thanked them for being a lifesaver. Does that mean I’m cheap? We also give them much nicer gifts on the last day of school.
    Sandy

    • Shell says

      May 8, 2012 at 9:24 am

      That’s such a cute idea! 

      Most only do either teacher appreciation or last day gifts. 

  7. Oka says

    May 8, 2012 at 6:14 am

    Cute, I have several ideas, but I have decided yet.

  8. JDaniel4's Mom says

    May 8, 2012 at 6:25 am

    I love the idea of putting drink mixes in the cup! I so need to so this.

  9. Leigh Powell Hines (@Hinessightblog) says

    May 8, 2012 at 7:04 am

    Those are great ideas, Shell!

  10. mrs.monica says

    May 8, 2012 at 7:22 am

    I wish you were one of my parents! As a teacher of high school aged kids, I am lucky to get a gift card…and I do mean 1 gift card.

    • Shell says

      May 8, 2012 at 9:25 am

      I taught both elementary and middle school- elementary: lots of gifts. Middle: this week was barely acknowledged! 

  11. Vinobaby says

    May 8, 2012 at 7:40 am

    Ha–I pinned this idea too! I don’t have it together enough to send one to school today, but I probably will do it for the end of the year. We stick to inexpensive but thoughtful gifts. Some of the schools around me (not ours, TG) give $50 gift cards (to even the specials teachers) to say “thanks.” Yikes.

    • Shell says

      May 8, 2012 at 9:26 am

      Yikes is right! If I did that for all of the teachers they see, we’re talking close to $1,000!!!

  12. Nellie says

    May 8, 2012 at 8:04 am

    Thats so awesome what a great idea!!

  13. LADY GOO GOO GAGA says

    May 8, 2012 at 9:19 am

    Such a cute idea!!!

  14. Cindi says

    May 8, 2012 at 9:24 am

    What a great idea! Thanks for sharing.

  15. Melinda@LookWhatMomFoundandDadtoo! says

    May 8, 2012 at 9:57 am

    love this idea, also love the Tervis tumblers, bought them for my kids last week.  Wish they weren’t so pricey though.

    • Shell says

      May 8, 2012 at 7:42 pm

      They are a little pricey, but mine have lasted a long time at least! 

      • Kimberlie says

        May 16, 2012 at 9:31 pm

        I’ve used Tervis cups for over 20 years now. They have a lifetime warranty, so anytime one gets cracked or just looks scratched up, I send it back and they send me a brand new one!! I love it! I don’t always get the same design, especially years later, but we have so many that it’s fun to get new ones anyway.

  16. Kelli @ Momma Needs a Beer says

    May 8, 2012 at 10:15 am

    5 minutes before my kids were walking out the door, I remembered that today was “bring a flower to your teacher” day. I like this idea better. Pinning it for next year! Thanks for sharing! 

    • Shell says

      May 8, 2012 at 7:42 pm

      I could see my kids picking dandelions for that! 

  17. Becky says

    May 8, 2012 at 10:16 am

    Wow!  You’re brilliant!  As a former teacher (left last year to be home with my kids), I know I would have loved this.  A little bit of appreciation can do so much good.  Simple and useful gifts are always the best.  Thank you for taking the time to do something special for your sons’ teachers and for inspiring other moms as well!

    • Shell says

      May 8, 2012 at 7:43 pm

      I’m a former teacher as well, so I try to go for the practical gifts that I would have liked back then! 

  18. Kim says

    May 8, 2012 at 10:19 am

    What a great idea. I got a photo I took of a John Deere enlarged for my son’s teacher. She is a HUGE John Deere fan. I also bought her a book introducing her to digital photography. She has told me over and over that she wants to learn photography. The pre-k teachers get gift cars for pedicures. 🙂

    • Shell says

      May 8, 2012 at 12:37 pm

      I would love the pedicure one!!!

  19. Leigh Ann says

    May 8, 2012 at 11:11 am

    These are adorable!I have been wracking my brain for an end of the year idea!

  20. Greta says

    May 8, 2012 at 11:20 am

    I LOVE this idea! So cute, and easy. And I have several cups like this of my own and love them!

  21. Jennifer says

    May 8, 2012 at 11:45 am

    I did this same thing, but I’m just doing it for one teacher so I’m also going to put in a $10 Target gift card with a note, “Thanks for keeping me on ‘target’ this year!” For Christmas I did $5 Starbuck cards for all of the teachers.

    • Shell says

      May 8, 2012 at 12:37 pm

      Oh, that’s so cute! We had so many to buy for that I couldn’t add anything else to ours. 

  22. Alexis AKA MOM says

    May 8, 2012 at 12:24 pm

    LOVE it girlie, pinned it to do soon 🙂

    • Shell says

      May 8, 2012 at 12:36 pm

      Thanks! 🙂 

  23. angela says

    May 8, 2012 at 12:51 pm

    This is great! I have dragged my feet and procrastinated on this, and I think I have time to pull this off. And I would have LOVED it as a teacher.

  24. By Word of Mouth Musings says

    May 8, 2012 at 2:58 pm

    You always claim to not be crafty and then come up with these brainwaves!

    • Shell says

      May 8, 2012 at 7:43 pm

      Pinterest-inspired. If I were craftier, I would have made a prettier tag. 

  25. MiMi says

    May 8, 2012 at 3:22 pm

    I looked up teacher appreciation stuff on pinterest yesterday and got spammed 3 times. 🙁

    • Shell says

      May 8, 2012 at 7:44 pm

      It seems like there’s been a lot of it lately. Ugh.

  26. Marta says

    May 8, 2012 at 4:44 pm

    That is a super adorable idea. I love it. 

  27. Carol says

    May 8, 2012 at 7:03 pm

    Wonderful idea!. I love this. Thanks for this post. 🙂

  28. MasteringMommyBrain says

    May 8, 2012 at 9:24 pm

    Love this post! Such a cute idea. I think the teachers would love airplane bottles, but I agree, the kids probably don’t need to get in trouble for that one =) 

  29. Kristen says

    May 8, 2012 at 9:32 pm

    Ash’s teacher would’ve swooned over this! Wow! I can’t believe spam pulled it out for once!

  30. Michelle says

    May 8, 2012 at 10:05 pm

    Great ideas! Thanks!
    Michelle
    http://www.normalchaosforamultitaskmom.com

    • Shell says

      May 10, 2012 at 7:00 pm

      Hey- you keep showing up in my spam folder- I think b/c you are adding a link in your comment. When you go to comment, just add your link in the spot for your website and your latest post should show up in comment luv. 🙂 I sometimes don’t get around to checking my spam for several day and I don’t want you to be sitting in there! 🙂

  31. AnnMarie says

    May 8, 2012 at 11:57 pm

    I love this idea! This year, the school told us that the teachers made a wish list at Target and we are supposed to get gifts from there. I am sure this is to make it easier but it doesn’t really feel right to do that. I’ll probably compromise and get them gift cards. I like your idea better!

  32. Emmy says

    May 9, 2012 at 10:36 am

    Hate that some of the pinterest links are starting to be bad and spam now. Always have to check before repinning.

    And those are totally cute gifts! Our PTA gave us a list of ideas for the week- I followed the idea, which was mostly supplies until the last day when I made my Pencil art decor which I showed on my blog yesterday

    • Shell says

      May 9, 2012 at 9:20 pm

      Guess it wasn’t going to take long for it to be another place we have to watch for spam.

      I need to go check out what you did! 

  33. Jessica says

    May 9, 2012 at 12:58 pm

    What a fun gift idea for teachers. I’m sure they will love it. 

  34. Johnny says

    May 10, 2012 at 2:44 pm

    Those are a great idea! I come from a family of teachers, and I can tell you the best presents they get from students are ones they can use. The drinks and cup fit the bill (as would the airplane bottles if your child is extra rambunctious). Simple things like gift cards or money are good too, but they dont have that personal touch.

  35. Galit Breen says

    May 16, 2012 at 8:13 am

    Ooh, I love these ideas (i clicked through to the others, too). I was just looking for a creative idea!

Trackbacks

  1. Last Minute Teacher Appreciation Gifts says:
    May 28, 2012 at 8:54 am

    […] CLICK HERE for more ideas! […]

  2. Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas (No Crafting Ability Required) says:
    April 29, 2014 at 9:53 am

    […] as well(I didn’t because we had so many teachers to buy for). You can see more detail on that Teacher Appreciation Gifts […]

Welcome to Things I Can't Say: Tips and Tales from an Introverted Mom. I'm Shell. Boy mom, beach girl, bookworm, ball games, baker, brand ambassador, Thinking yoga, food, and travel should start with "b," too. Finding the easiest way to do some things while overthinking so many others. Read More…

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