Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Valentine's Day Gifts for Teachers

It has been quite a while since I have participated in "Works for Me Wednesday" over at Rocks in My Dryer.  I'm not sure why... time just gets away from me, I guess.  But, you can check out lots of great tips right HERE.  Go check it out and see what is working for other folks!

What is working for me today is making easy, inexpensive gifts for all my kids' teachers.  ***SPOILER ALERT***  IF you are reading this and you ARE one of my kids' teachers, STOP READING NOW, or you WILL find out what you are getting for Valentine's Day on Friday!! :-)  Between my 3 daughters, they have 9 teachers, so no gift idea can be TOO pricy!

I made "Valentine Cookie Making" Gift bags, and here's how what they look like.  
They include Valentine Cookie cutters, which I found on the "Dollar Aisle" at Target (except they weren't a dollar... they were $2.50.  False Advertising, Target!!)  Anyway, after I got them, I saw Valentine Cookie Cutters at HEB yesterday for 99 cents, so they are everywhere right now, and they are not expensive.  They also had cute rubber Valentine spatulas at Target, but they were almost sold out.  So some of my bags have those, and some don't.  However, you could add any baking related items you might find - I have done this before and added measuring spoons or colored sugar or sprinkles.   

You'll also need a package of sugar cookie mix.  I got mine for $1.67 at Wal-Mart.
Then, to wrap up your gift, you'll need clear cellophane.  I got his at Target for $2.99 a roll, and it wrapped 5 teacher gifts per roll.  I also got some shredded paper to put in the bottom for 99 cents.
I added curling ribbon (which I already had at my house), and attached a Valentine card to the bag.  There you go!  An inexpensive, unique gift!  As a former teacher, I was always glad to receive unusual gifts (that weren't apple-themed).  The cookie mix is consumable, and if they don't like cookies, they caould donate it to the food bank, because it is shelf safe!  As for the cookie cutters, even if they don't make cookies, they could use the cutters in their classroom with play-doh, or in an art center as stencils.

Hope this "Works" for you!

6 comments:

Sarah said...

What a great idea, I'm sure the teachers will love it! About Target - I agree about the Dollar Spot - don't call it that unless you are going to keep everything $1.

kristi said...

You're teachers are lucky and you are very creative. I always like the Work for Me Wednesday theme and would always try to think of something really neat. Super Job this week. Thanks for the tip.

Shelley said...

You are SO crafty :)

Anonymous said...

Great gift idea. Thanks for sharing! I may steal it; I'm a little last minute coming up with a gift for my son's teacher!

Amy said...

SO cute! How creative of you!!:)

Unknown said...

I love it. I didn't do a blessed thing for Kaishon's teachers this year since I didn't remember until 12:45 this morning that I had to actually give cards to the kids in his class. I always thought I would be a cool Mommy. Not so much this year. You are clearly a VERY cool Mom : ).