Some of you asked what I did for teacher gifts. This blog post is in response to that request. Luckily, I snapped a few photos…because I had a little suspicion someone just might ask. 🙂

Some things to keep in mind. Because of what I do for a living, I have an unusual perspective on gift-giving. I’ve seen many clients struggle with holding onto things they don’t use, need or love, simply because they were given to them as a gift. So my main goal in giving a teacher a gift is to say “thank you” without giving the teacher anything that could become an obligation for her. In other words, I avoid giving something she may feel like she has to hang onto. I err on the side of small and practical.

So here’s what we did this year. It’s a combination of something handmade, two somethings practical, and something heart-felt.

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The first something practical is the gift card to Target. (No surprise, right?) I figure with a gift card the teacher can pick up a little something for herself or use it for her class next year. The second something practical was a couple sets of bin labels. Both of my kiddo’s teachers are moving to new classrooms next year, so the bin labels will help them get their new classroom set up (and organized!) in style. We’ve had teachers purchase these in the past for their classrooms…so we thought with the move and all, this would be a useful gift for our teachers.

The something handmade was glass marble magnets. Collin and Kailea made their magnets (in hopes of starting a little magnet business on etsy.) So we gave some of their first magnets to their teachers. We packaged it all up into a little gift card tin from Michaels, and then put the labels and the tin in a gift bag. Simple.

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And here’s one for the bus driver. (We didn’t give him the labels, in case you were wondering.)

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The something heart-felt was hand written notes. We simply cut card-stock sized to fit inside the gift card tin. Then, I wrote a note to each teacher thanking her for all her time and effort this past year. My kids did the same thing. To me…that is the meat of the gift. A simple note saying “thank you.”

OK…so let’s generate some more ideas. If you happen to be a teacher, I’d love to hear from you. What is your favorite gift to receive from a student? And if you aren’t a teacher, I’d love to hear from you, too. What teacher gifts have you given in the past? Let’s put our heads together and create a wonderful list of ways to say thank you to the people who have, in my opinion, one of the most important jobs on the planet: teaching our children. I can’t wait to hear your ideas!