I know it's only October, but I was just thinking about Christmas gifts for parent helpers. I have 6 moms in total that assist my class (mostly lunch moms because we do not have a cafeteria). With that being said, I am paying for my own wedding this year and have a lot of money being put into my crappy car, so I cannot afford great gifts for them. Any creative ideas that are cheap and don't involve a lot of time and effort? Thanks!
Here's my favorite teacher gift: a fleece throw. I got some for this year's teachers (actually chenille this year instead of fleece) at Linens 'n' Things for $9.99. There are always coupons out, but I didn't have one with me. Who doesn't LOVE a warm blanket on a cold night? You can write a short note about the warmth they bring to the class or something.
I agree! Those blankets would be great. They are even easy to make. I made it for my kids last month to match their rooms. I found great prints at http://www.fleecelady.com/ Takes 20 minutes to make them
last year I gave my volunteers oven mits with recipe cards and the dry ingredients for cookies inside them. I got them at wal-mart for about $6. They were a big hit.
A friend of mine gives her parent helpers a bottle of nail polish, a nail file, remover, etc. and then attached a hand die cut that reads "Thanks for lending me a helping hand."
I'm giving the other teachers on my team socks with one sock shoved in the toe of the other and than candy filling it up the rest of the way. If you get the socks and candy at the dollar store shouldn't cost you more than 10 bucks total for all six of them.
I have tons of parent helpers (15 or so each year) and it would be too expensive to spend a lot since I also do a gift to give mom and dad (an ornament handmade by kids) and then I give a gift to each kid (crayons and a free book from Scholastic). So I've done several things. One year I gave out microwave popcorn (the kettle corn style) I happened to get on a dollar deal. I attached a note that said "Thanks for poppin' in to help our class". Another year I bought Knotts Berry Farm Raspberry jelly at the dollar store and I had the note say "Thanks Berry Much for giving your time to us!" One year I bought Hershey's giant chocolate bars from grocery store for 1 dollar and another year I gave a 2 liter bottle of Sprite with "May Your Days be Merry and Sprite!" and I attached some Xmas cookie cutters in red and green to each bottle. Parents don't care what the actual gift is, just that you appreciate them. Don't spend a ton expecially if you are going to have wedding expenses. They know teachers don't make much. :wub:
wow! All great ideas! I am glad this was posted! I have 10 classroom volunteers and 8 home volunteers. (This is an unusual amount for my school district) Do you send things home for the home volunteers too? Mine usually only do something once every other month. I use one home volunteer per week. hmmm....
Nope I don't. It is hard when the student whose mom cut out a few things for you once says, "But my mom helped too!" But I just limit it to the real die hards who come in every week or every 2 weeks for an hour.
Last year when I had many parent helpers, I bought $1 lottery scratch off tickets and put them in cards with a note that read "I hope that you are as lucky as I was to have you as a room parent this year. I appreciate all that you have done to help the children and me." I actually used it at the end of the year.
I think this is an idea I will try this year. I've seen these nail kits at the dollar store in little velvet envelopes that look real cute. And the "lending a hand" is a cute sentiment to add to the card! Great idea. :woot:
i bought a pack of thank you cards from walmart last year (10 pack) and tied a bow on them and wrote something along the lines of "just a note to say thanks!" who can't use more thank you cards? how about thank yous for men? any masculine ideas?
