Teacher Mug

School is finally out! No more winter parties or birthday party to plan and prep for - finally! After a week of getting about 3 hours of sleep each night, I actually slept in this weekend. Oh, by the way, sleeping in for me means waking up at 5 in the morning).

I usually give gift cards to teachers each year just because I know they appreciate getting exactly what they want. However, this year, I decided to think a little more personally. Along with the traditional, I know, not that personal gift card, I made them a mug with the class picture on it.

It all started with a picture that I found too cute. I took it during their Thanksgiving feast so all the kids had their pilgrim's hat on. R. is in the front right in the center so it was perfect.

I needed some pictures of R.'s friends (to personalize their goodie bags, I'll blog about that later), so I was cutting and cropping this picture what seemed like a million times when I thought it would be cute to give Mrs. Allen a class picture and why not on a mug. Sure, everyone has a mug, but not with their class picture on it.

She can use it in her class during the year and since I actually do believe that Mrs. Allen is the best, I thought it would be fitting to remind her of that.

Sure, teachers, always say thank you very much for the gift and tell you how much they appreciate it, but you, in the end, really don't know if they truly love the gift. However, it's another thing when your son tells you his teacher went around to the other teachers and showed them her mug. Then, on top of that, what gave me the warm and fuzzy feeling was when another teacher came up to me (completely out of the blue) and tells me how much she loved it as well. So that made my day. This year, my gifts are all about personalization and I'm SO happy I took the time to do it. Have you ever made something that was so appreciated?