Personalized Teachers Christmas Gifts

My kids have been in school for decades it seems so there have been a lot of different types of gifts given to their teachers.  I've given anything from gift cards to gift baskets, candies to lotions, but I've realized, that the biggest reactions came from gifts that were personalized and hand-made.  I was walking down the school hallway to my child's teacher's class room and noticed in a previous teacher's classroom was the crayola art picture I made for her.  I won't lie, that kind of tugged at my heart strings a bit seeing something I made 3 years ago hanging on the wall.

That got me thinking to the reaction that I got when I made a mug for another teacher with the classroom picture on one side and on the other side, it wrote, "Mrs. Allen, you are the best."

This year, I thought I would combine the two.  Being the yearbook coordinator last year brought on a lot of photo ideas so my plan was to make classroom books for my kids' teachers this year for an end of the year memento.  I went to the school and photographed all the kids.  As I was editing pictures, I was playing around and came up with this:

 

I decided to make a cup, but of course, it didn't turn out as I had hoped the first go at it.  I had to make a few modifications, like changing the orientation to landscape for one of them.

 

The result was a really adorable cup.

Next, I decided to wrap the gift and stick it in an insulated lunch bag with the teacher's initial embroidered on it.  I had read a lot of teachers liking gifts that are created from their students, especially ornaments so off my kids went to create their own masterpiece. 

  

It was the perfect gift tag.  One side had a little piece of artwork, while the other side had their name.

   

Then I decided to frame the picture I created as well because I just simply loved the way it turned out. Hopefully, it will be a nice addition to the classroom ;)

 

I was planning on doing this for teacher appreciation week, but I've always been a little impatient and just couldn't wait so I'm gifting it as well.

 

For a finishing touch, on the back of the portrait, I printed a picture of my son with a little note.

When thinking of the things that I want for Christmas, I really love receiving hand-made gifts.  I'm hoping the teachers love the gifts as much as I did creating them.  What do you think?  What were some of your most favorite hand-made gifts you have given?

Update:  What's the reaction verdict?  I got a handful of teary-eyed teachers and plenty of hugs.  Hearing that I gave them the best gift they have ever received, made all the hours of editing worth it.  That's the least I could do for all the hours they have given my kiddos, right?  Now, I have to figure out how to top that for teacher appreciation week.   I'm so out of ideas at the moment.  Anyone make anything unique that you would like to share?

Candy Bar Bouquet

I like to give gifts to my kids' teachers on their birthday.  Generally, I have time to get to know the teacher so that I can pick a gift that they will like.  It just so happens that A.'s teacher's birthday was the first day of school.  I frantically had to figure out what his likes were.  Reading the list of things that were his favorites the only thing that came up was candy bars.  He didn't drink coffee so no starbucks, so I ran with the candy bar theme and decided to make a candy bar bouquet complete with a Kit Kat vase. 

First I went to my stash of styrofoam and I cut out a piece that was the length and width of a Kit Kat bar.  You can use floral styrofoam as well.  I just used what I had.  I taped the Kit Kat bar to each side of the styrofoam.

Voila! I get an instant vase!  It looks cute already, huh?

I used skewers and taped them underneath the candy bar wrapper flap so they wouldn't be seen.

Only the bottom of the skewer is shown.

 

Once all my candy bars were skewered, I stuck them into the styrofoam to make my bouquet.  Easy Peesy!

 

I thought it turned out pretty yummy myself.  One birthday down, a couple more to go!

Teacher Appreciation Gift - First Day of School

Every year, I like to make a little gift to give the teachers the first time we meet them.  It just so happens to be apple oriented in some way.  I remember a friend of mine making chocolate covered oreos at her daughter's birthday one time and I loved that idea so much I knew I wanted to copy it in the future, but was always unable to find the cookie molds.  The ones that I normally spot have a theme or picture on it, and I wanted plain molds.

Fortunately, on the 11th hour, I found the mold at a local bake shop in town.  I decided to make these little apple pops made from chocolate covered oreos.  Aren't they cute?

First I filled the cookie mold half way up with red melted candy melts.

 

Next, I placed my oreos on top.  Do not use the double-stuffed oreos as they are too high for the mold.

Next pour more candy melt on top of the oreos and scrape the top with a knife so that it is level.

Place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes and then pop them out when they harden.  I love the way they look already.  It may look a little marbly in the picture, but that's just because of the condensation.  Once they dry up, the color is perfectly uniform! 

 

I placed it on a skewer and added a piece of a pretzel stick on top for the stem.  Green tootsie roll was used to make the leaf.  Instructions on how to make the leaf can be found here.  I used a little bit of the candy melt to adhere the leaf. 

I wrapped the apple with a small cellophane bag I bought at Michael's and tied it with a green ribbon. I found a little note template online that said, "Roses are red, and apples are too.  I can't wait to spend the school year with you."  Total project I thought was pretty easy and it turned out pretty adorable if I say so myself.

My kiddos handed out their apple bouquets on Meet and Greet the Teacher night.  The apples were a success.  E. said they were delicious to eat as well!  He got to eat the not so perfect ones ;)