Teacher gifts for Teacher Appreciation or End-of-Year

I really look forward to thanking our teachers during teacher appreciation week. I love thinking of and looking up fun ways to show how much we appreciate what they do for our children's lives. I'll just post some pics of what I did this year and add a little detail. I hope you find something here that inspires you to create something for your teachers. : )

Class gift. I like coordinating a class gift when I'm a room parent. I e-mailed parents for one class and sent letters home for the other asking for a $2 donation so we can purchase a class gift. I asked that they send their donation to me in an envelope via their child's homework folder. All the donations made it safely home to me and we were able to purchase a couple of really nice gift cards for each teacher.

Now onto the gifts from me and my family. For the "specials" teachers, such as the gym teacher, art, and music teacher, a couple other mothers and I pitched in and purchased $10 gift cards to Subway and one to Applebees. I couldn't afford to get everyone a gift card, but it helps to find other parents who are thinking the same way. A $2 or $3 dollar gift card doesn't look like much, but a $10 one does! : ) Teamwork! I packaged the gift cards with some packaging I designed. 

I also gave a $5 gift card to Subway to the school secretary and the principal. Along with the gift card, I designed personalized stationery for them and packaged with my polka dot design. I made a bag topper and mini chocolate bar wrappers to match.

Here's another picture of the gift card with chocolates. 

This one below was for our AR teacher. I get her something small each time a holiday comes around. Like I said, I can't afford a gift card for everyone, but I at least want them to know they're appreciated, so she got a few extra chocolates. 

Below are gifts for our "main" homeroom teachers who have our kids most of the day. I planned a break for our teachers and coordinated volunteers to take over their classroom for a half hour while they enjoyed a brief get together with their peers -- more on that later. The activity I had planned was to have the students write down why they love their teacher. I designed a cover label and pages for the kids to fill out and draw a picture on as well. Then put all the pages from the students in a binder for our teachers. I did this for my son's and daughter's teachers. 

This is the binder for my daughter's teacher:

A sample of the pages that went inside:

This is the binder for my son's teacher:

Then, I designed and printed stationery for each teacher: 

I also decorated a letter for each teacher. I painted the ends that would show and I used mod podge to glue the string all around. It was harder than I thought to go around a letter C. The rounded edges are tricky! : ) Once the string was on, I embellished with letters for her name and a couple of owls. 

back:

I made a card for each teacher, too. This one is for my daughter's teacher. If you haven't noticed, she likes owls. I had fun decorating with them. 

I also raided her Pinterest sayings board and found a quote she liked. I made it into a magnet and created a little pocket inside the card to hold it in. 

Here's the magnet. I printed the saying on my computer and used mod podge to adhere it to a small wooden block that I purchased at Hobby Lobby. I then attached a magnet to the back. I have to say, I just love that little pocket!! 

Here's the letter for my son's teacher: 

Here's the card I made for her. I really love how it turned out. 

Here's her quote magnet that I made. I also raided her Pinterest board for ideas -- that is a great way to find out what someone likes by the way! 

I tried to make each teacher feel appreciated without giving them the same  ol' apple-themed items. I like those as well, but I figured they probably already had enough of those things. 

How do you show your teachers you appreciate them?