I want to give my kindergarteners a little gift for winter and also becasue i'm only there until the winterbreak as I'm filling in for a maternity leave. i was thinking just little gift bags with some randome stuff in them but i think i'd rather give them somehting, like a book maybe, instead. Any ideas? I'd prefer to spend as little as possible of course. I have 19 students.
I saw the cutest thing that I want to do for my kids if I can figure out how to do it. My nephew's teacher made everyone in her first grade class little fleece pom pom hats. She made them out of different fleece patterns so the kids got to pick which one they wanted. I wish I could get a pattern so I could make these for my kids. It was such a cute and original gift. I think my parents would appreciate the hats more than the goodie bags that I usually give at Christmas time.
I did some searching on the internet and I found this pattern that looks pretty similar. It's the blue and white hat pattern that's midway down the page. I wouldn't use two different colors, I would just use the same material for both pieces. http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/fabulous-fleece.asp
I've made scarves before out of fleece that are VERY easy!! All you have to do is find some fleece that you like for your kids. Take it and cut it into scarves...no sewing required!! You can even cut little slits into the bottom of them like real scarves. Depending on what age it is, they don't really have to be very big at all. They are very easy and my kids LOVED them!! And, you can get some really cute fleece!!
The ideas above are really neat! Otherwise, you could do the book thing. Just order a bunch of the $1 books from scholastic. If you order them this week they should arrive in plenty of time. Write a little message to each student inside the front cover.
Does the teacher you're subbing for do scholastic book orders? If not, I'm not sure how you could get them...Maybe check to see if another teacher in the school does book orders? I'm sure they would love to have you order from them because they would get a lot of bonus points.
I am in the same situations as you. I plan to give a goodie bag with non-candy items in it along with a book from the dollar store. I ordered pencils from Oriental Trading mostly b/c I was ordering some other things, and I'll grab the books soon. Good luck!