Happy Friday: Teacher’s Survival Kits
Sent from reader, April:
I did Teacher Survival Kits for my son’s teachers for Back to School Night. I used coupons for most of the items and made the baskets for around $5 each! They included:
* Bic Pens (free after $1 coupon)
* Paper Clips ($0.29 at Walgreens)
* Revlon Nail File ($0.69 after coupon)
* Deodorant (free after CVS coupon)
* Lint Brush ( Dollar Tree Item)
* Nivea Hand Creme ($0.99 at Ulta)
* Hand Sanitizer ($0.25 at Office Depot)
* Candy (free after CVS coupon)
* Gum ($0.50 after coupon)
* Basket (Dollar Tree Item)
* I also included some Post It Product Coupons that I snipped from last weeks paper 🙂
HAPPY FRIDAY! 😀
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wow!!! so awesome! thanks for sharing this creative idea!
Cute!
that’s a neat idea.
I love this! Open house is coming up and creating something like this would be fabulous for my sons’ teachers. Especially after all the stuff I’ve gotten at Rite Aid this week…nail polish, pens, sanitizer, candy, post its, etc. Great idea!
So thoughtful and generous!
I’m a third grade teacher and would love to receive a gift like that. You are so nice and thoughtful 🙂
thas s funny ,cute and thoughtful
That is such a good idea. I feel that I need to bring something for the kindergarten teachers and school staff who have been helping my daughter with her difficult transition.
This is a great idea, only I wouldn’t probably include a deodorant.
Great basket idea! I just put a reausable bag of nice, handy goodies together for a new mom.
It’s probably 50/50 whether a teacher would find the deodorant insulting, but I think it’s a nice thing to include anyway – deodorant’s not cheap. Ever run out the door forgetting to put on deodorant – handy to have waiting at your desk. For teachers of older students, it could actually come in handy to pass on to a student in need. 🙂
When I worked in an office setting I found it useful to keep deorderant in my desk for those times when I would forget to apply it in the morning. So, I think it is a great idea!
I thought the same thing, I know the deodorant might be useful, but I don’t want to offend the teacher. I can just imagine my kid trying to explain: “No ma’am, my mom wasn’t trying to imply that you smell!” lol
I would include 29 deodarants. Nothing smells like the 5th/6th grade hall on a hot afternoon!
I vote yes on the deodorant! I’m a teacher, and I have always kept one in my desk for particularly hot days or days I’ve forgotten in the morning. I don’t think it is insulting since it’s in a basket with other things…just handing her deodorant would be insulting!
What a cute idea. My daughter is a first year teacher and I know something like this would make her day !
I’m a teacher and this is sooooo thoughtful! I know that any one that gets your children will be pleased and thankful!
I just did ones for my daughters’ teachers as well. They included free boxes of Advil, small size lotions from B&Body Works (free), free gum, free Hershey’s candy from Target this week, free Bic pens, cheap Post-it notes, free hand sanitizer, cheap Kleenex, free Tums, free Sharpies and put it all in nice little free Totes that I got from purchasing the post-it notes. They LOVED them and I spent about $3 total for all 3 of them. 🙂
I love your idea of including Advil and Tums.
Sarah, could you tell us more about the deal with the free Totes from purchasing the post-it notes? Thanks!
It was a couple of weeks ago at Staples. They had Post-it notes as one of their big deals for 25 cents. They were also running a special where you got a free bag if you purchased two Post-it items. I was buying 6 Post-it notes so I got 3 bags. They were really pretty and just said Post-it very small at the bottom. They might still have them.
Being a former teacher I think that this is a great idea. being a parent of a 4 year old rambunctious boy I look forward to starting this as an annual tradition. Thank you April.
What a thoughtful gift, I’m sure the teachers will love it!!
Great idea, but I would not include the deodorant. I am a teacher and I think if someone gave me deodorant, I would think they are trying to tell me something. I always keep a travel size deodorant in my desk incase I leave the house without it.
I’m a middle school teacher. I’d LOVE it if someone gave me that. One more idea…Add in air fresheners. Kids get sweaty and stinky. I try to keep plug-ins, and non-plug in air fresheners in my supply closet, as well as sprays.
I gave my kids’ teachers organic home grown plums from our backyard tree! I think the deodorant was the best part of you gift!
What a nice thing to do!
Where is the advil?????
I’m planning on giving a reusable bag full of things to my son’s teacher too, I work as a yard supervisor at his school, today a little accident happend and I had to ask the Office for a pad, they did not have any and said that the district wearhouse use to have those but not any more. They said they will need to buy some because lots of girls ask for them, my point is if any of you have xtras you can ask your school if is ok to donate them. I took 4 Stayfree packages that I got free at RiteAid.
I hope you understood what I tried to say, my first language is Spanish and sometimes is difficult to write in English 🙂
You did excellent. I couldn’t tell your first language was anything different! =)
I agree with Sarah; I had couldn’t tell English isn’t your first language at all. (I have some lovely friends in Argentina, and although they’re very understandable, their word usage makes it very obvious English is their 2nd language.) You sounded great, better than a lot of English-only people! 😛
That’s a great tip about the pads. 🙂
I’m a teacher an I received a similar gift an it had a toothbrush, mouthwash an a lip balm in it also.
I was not offended at all. I thought the mom was super thoughtful to even put those awesome (needed items) goodies in the basket. I actually keep that stuff at school for parent teacher confrence night (or the meeting after school. Thank you for sharing this wonderful idea. It reminds me (I need to get my girls teacher’s baskets together).
Would you do this on top of all the back to school supplies that I am suppose to give to the school? I live in Arizona (major education cuts) and this is my first child in Kindergarten. So I am not sure if this is normal or not but we had a ton of stuff to donate to the school supply list.
Here in Indiana the students pay a fee and give items to the classroom which are then divided up and used througout the year. I like it better than buying a list of items.
I am in AZ also, and those lists were extreme.
I think the school supply list items are totally separate. These baskets are for the teachers themselves, not the students.
Great idea! I can imagine that back-to-school night is at the least, very busy and at the most, a little stressful for teachers – I bet they sure appreciated these!!
I do something similar, and it sounds like a few other hip2savers do too, but at the holidays. I keep my eyes peeled for a large milk crate (that can be used for storage, organization, or to file folders in) on clearance, and then I fill it with all the free-or-cheap-after-rebate things we get from office supply stores (not just during school supply sale time, but all year long), loss-leaders that were part of the school supply sales, and any other deals I get that I think will be helpful (hand sanitizer, *unscented* hand lotion, liquid hand soap (our kinder classes have their own bathrooms and sinks in them and they go through a lot more soap than the older kids), surface wipes, snacks for when kiddos forget theirs at home, cough drops, etc.). I think it helps to reference the supply sheet for the grade, and try to put in things they ask for at the beginning of the year, because those things can start to run out about halfway through the year.
I use some festive paper shred and/or tissue paper inside, as well as those great peely-glue-dots and bamboo skewers to help little things stand up/out from the bigger things, and then I wrap the crate in clear cellophane-type paper and tie it at the top with a big bow. It looks so nice I think!
You’d be surprised how much you can get for way less than $10 for sure over the course of a year! I feel it is important to thank *every* staff member my child interacts with, from the principal to the janitor, and in order to do that we have to be creative and on-budget with our gifts! I know our teacher last year used what all we had in there for sure – and I hope our teacher this year likes her basket just as much! I hope it helps them to keep their paycheck for themselves … I’ve heard over and over again how many teachers spend their own money on things for the classroom and for the kids because the budget cuts have left them with really no other choice. 🙁 This time I’m including a gift card for the teacher to Starbucks as well (I’ve been able to save so much on things we need for ourselves this year, that I have more wiggle room to spend on others! **Thanks Collin!!**).
This is an awesome idea! I just started couponing this year and my little girl just started preschool also. I don’t have any other little ones around me so I’m just learning what I’m supposed to be doing as I go. But I guess I do need to get all those free things at the stores for gifts just like this one! Thanks.
What a neat idea! I love it!
I did something similar this year as well, but for my sisiters who have 8 children going back to school. i only have one in school, so I am able to gather a lot of free or cheap suplies and have more than enough to share and still have a stock at home. They LOVED their boxes of supplies.
I wanted to do a “back to school cake” kind of like a diaper cake. I just wasn’t creative enough to figure out how to neatly get it all together in the shape of a cake. Being crafty is not my specialty by any means. This is a much neater, simpler idea. I have an over abundance of school supplies, some of which will be donated, and extra little items a teacher would love to have. We do have a teacher appreciation night, so I will have to come up with something between now and then.
Love this idea. I am going to do this as well. thanks for the idea.
If your school district is on hardtimes, as our district is with severe budget cuts due to our sucky economy, an additional item to add is a ream of paper. Our schools only get a limited amount of money for even necessities such as paper. Most teachers are having to “BYOP” to meet the news of the entire school year.
edit of above: Most teachers are having to “BYOP” to meet the needs of the entire school year.
That sounds great. I have a bunch of reams from staples that I get every time they are on sale for $1!
As a teacher I know I would LOVE the thought that went into this! I also vote yes on the deodorant. I have an entire drawer of that type of stuff, especially for those days that I am there all day (like Back to School Night). AWESOME!!!
Very sweet! I am a third grade teacher. Most teachers have to have very tough skin. Some parents can be very brutal! A deodorant would not be offensive!