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End-of-the-School-Year Thank You Notes and Gifts

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End-of-the-School-Year Thank You Notes and GiftsAccepting a teacher’s offer today to allow my girls to join her class’s movie afternoon, we stayed at school until pickup.

With the movie running for about 2 hours, I brought in a few projects. While watching my girls and listening to the movie, I wrote out thank you notes.

Since I typically seize these types of opportunities, I usually come prepared with a few different projects.

Today, I had my stack of thank you notes along with my blogging notebook and curriculum catalogs. Needing to get the thank you notes written, I consulted my list and started writing.

Before the movie ended, I had all my thank notes complete which freed up time this evening to prepare the gifts of homemade sourdough bread. Yum!

My bread starter needs 3 ingredients each week. I store the liquid starter in my refrigerator until I need to feed it the three ingredients. With a 4-step process, my sourdough bread takes 2 days to make, but I only spend around 10-15 minutes in those two days actually making the bread.

End-of-the-School-Year Thank You Notes and GiftsThis morning when I entered the kitchen, I was met by this overflowing bowl of dough ready for the next step in the process.

After dividing the dough into 6 bread pans, I left the dough to rise. This evening, I baked the bread and packaged the gifts for a couple special friends and my children’s teachers.

In planning our end-of-the-school-year thank you notes and gifts, I chose to hand write notes and bake loaves of bread.

If you have a signature cookie, bread, or snack, then you have the makings of an end-of-the-school-year gift. Pair your specialty with a thank you note and dote on your favorite teachers and friends. Happy planning!

Question: How do you prepare for the end-of-the-school-year thank you notes and gifts? 

Back-to-School: Teacher Gifts

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Back-to-school Teacher Gifts After receiving a postcard in the mail this afternoon from her teacher, my daughter is getting excited about school. Finally! 😉

With the last few school supplies still needing purchased, I am gearing up for our start next week. One item crossed off my list is Back-to-School Teacher Gifts.

Last week in the Back-to-School free printables post, I promised a show and tell of our teacher gifts. With almost all of these gifts found in the $1 section of Target, I scored two gifts under $25.

In stretching our dollars, I loved the price and the Lorax and Cat in the Hat themes since both my children have Dr. Seuss books on their reading list.

With my son entering 2nd grade and my daughter starting K5, I chose the following items for their teacher gifts:

Dr. Seuss' the Lorax teacher gifts

Dr. Seuss theme for 2nd Grade Teacher Gift

2nd Grade Teacher Gifts – $8

    1. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax project magnetic notepad
    2. Box of fruit snacks – free after coupon from Bi-Lo survey
    3. Dr. Seuss container
    4. Washable sidewalk chalk
    5. Red ink pad
    6. Blue ink pad
    7. 4-Count rubber stamps: Wow!, Great job!, super star!, and 100%
    8. 1 Rubber stamp: Awesome!
    9. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax bag
The Cat in the Hat theme for K5

The Cat in the Hat theme for K5 Teacher Gift

K5 Teacher Gifts – $12

    1. 2 Packages of Dr. Seuss certificates
    2. 2 Packages of The Cat in the Hat certificates
    3. 3 Packages double-sided word strips for writing practice
    4. 3 Packages dry-erase markers
    5. Box of fruit snacks – free after coupon from Bi-Lo survey
    6. Dr. Seuss Flash Cards: numbers 1-20
    7. The Cat in the Hat bag

As we continue preparing for a great school year, these teacher gifts show our appreciation while stretching our dollars. My children are looking forward to delivering these goodies to their new teachers.

If school is already in progress, consider a survival kit for the 2nd week of school or the 2nd month of school. My son’s kindergarten teacher loved banana bread, so I would surprise her periodically with a fresh loaf.

Remembering your children’s teachers throughout the year with little appreciative notes or gifts brightens their day. Encouraging your teachers is a great use of your time. Happy new school year!

Question: When did or does school start in your area?

Stretching your Dollars: Creating Special Gifts

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Photograph Credit: Flickr (Stephanie McKern)

Only 8 more shopping days until Christmas! Are you still searching for ideas for someone on your list? In using time wisely and stretching your dollars, you might consider making a gift. If you are saying, “I’m not crafty.”

I get it.

However, all the creativity is done. All you need is your printer with ink, scissors, a few supplies, and your time. Really, you can make these gifts. Enlist some help if you need the extra encouragement. 🙂

Edible Gifts

Download a free e-book for Gifts in a Jar. These options are great for making gifts for groups of individuals. One year, I made cookie mixes for each of my family members. By adding the ingredients in the order supplied, these simple-to-construct gifts were warmly received.

Make one or all four of these snacks in a jar. Mix up a huge batch of your favorite snack and add them to jars, place a tag on it, and ready to give.

Sparkling Gift

Glittering Candles made with Epsom salt. These festive candles would make great gifts for anyone on your list. You can choose masculine or feminine colors depending on your receiver.

Scrapbooker’s Gift

Download 12 months of digital scrapbook pages. Though I have not scrapbooked this year, I do love it, and getting a gift with the pages already designed would be fantastic.

With this download, you can either burn a disc to present or have the 12 pages printed onto cardstock and place them in a nice scrapbook. Either way, your scrapbook enthusiast will have a year-in-review album available for all those pictures.

Family Conversation Gift

Download this free family dinner conversation starter kit. With your printer, a pair of scissors, and a jar, you can give this creative gift to families with children. This gift would be great throughout the year as well as at Christmas.

These gift ideas are special in that using time wisely you will create a present especially for your recipient. The personalized gift does not need a huge price tag. Remember, it’s the thought that counts.

I love to receive personalized gifts since the sender exerts thought, effort, and sacrifice for me. May you continue finding creative ways to stretching your dollars while gifting to your family and friends.

Question: Did you gift 40 individuals a $10 eGift card today? The Feed It Forward program continues until Christmas Day. Keep on giving!