2013 Teacher Christmas Gift

For the past four years, I've been the head room parents for my son's classrooms. With the help of other parents, I've had a good time coming up with Christmas gifts that are a bit sentimental and something the teacher might actually use. This year we once again collected gift cards or money for a communal gift card. With some of the money collected, we purchased a metallic tree, in the teacher's favorite color. Then that tree was decorated with "ornaments" made by the students. The ornaments were big enough to hold a gift card on the inside.

Minecraft Inspired Party

Of course the kid wanted a Minecraft birthday party. Of course there are zero available items. So, I searched Pinterest and begged friends for ideas. Here is where I settled.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the letters and the Creeper type faces. Then I glued them all together. Black letters, green background and dark brown for the faces. Next I had to come up with party supplies and favors. All Creeper type faces are either vinyl or sharpie from a stencil.

The kids were allowed to take home their personalized water bottles and plates. In addition, each child received wristbands (the party was near St. Patty's Day and the wristbands were $1 at Target). The gift bags also included Pop Rocks. For drinks, we had "Creeper Juice" also known as green PowerAde. The cake was super simple with the Creeper type face (whipped up by Hy-Vee). The boys loved it.

For table décor, I used a green tablecloth. The centerpiece was a "Steve" head and sword that I purchased at "Wally World" at the last minute. In the game room, the kids played Minecraft amid lots of black and green balloons.

A Special Blanket

When the boy no longer needed his baby blankets, I had a decision to make. Instead of storing, donating, or tossing the blankets, I decided to use them. I took six blankets and sewed them together. Then on the other side, I sewed three blankets and two large pieces of flannel together. This blanket is about the size of a twin sized blanket. It is a nice medium weight.

The pictures were from when it was finished. The boy decided to get in the pictures of his finished blanket.

The Teacher's Christmas Gift 2011

Each year teachers receive very thoughtful gifts from their students. Sometimes the student really knows what the teacher will like. Other times, they gift a gift that is sweet but not something the teacher can really use. This year we gave the teacher gift cards from the class. Students could purchase their own cards or donate money towards a group card.

In addition, I asked each student for their cut out hand prints. They were to write their name on each hand. They could use construction paper, or white paper and paint or color it. I used plain poster board and glued down the hand prints. It was a bit of a challenge to make sure each name was visible at least once. It was super easy and the different colored paper added dimension to the tree. For the base of the tree, I traced my son's footprints on brown construction paper.

Finally, I simply taped the gift cards to the tree as the ornaments.

What I'd do differently in the future? I would have used mini tinsel garland instead of ribbon. I would also specify that student names were on the palm of each hand.