Happy Friday: Emergency Teacher Kit

Hip2Save may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you via trusted partners and affiliate links in this post. Prices and availability are accurate as of time posted. Read our full disclosure policy here.

Sent from reader, Tawny:

I have a one year old and am a teacher so I love saving money when I can. With this school year getting close to starting, I wanted to do something special for a few of my closest teacher friends but thought it could be a great idea for any profession. I love my job but always feel better when I am not worried about sweating through my shirt or if there is lunch stuck in my teeth. As a result, I created a small stash of necessary items that would greatly help when a quick personal fix was needed. I decided to do the same for my friends.

I first went to Michael’s and purchased four cute, glittery pencil boxes at $1 each minus the 20% coupon you posted (so they ended up only being $.80 each!). Then I began filling them with the Reach toothbrushes I got free, free samples of toothpaste, dental floss, mouth rinse, deodorant, Tide to go samples, panty liners, tampons and tissues. After seeing two more of your posts tonight, I plan to add headache medicine and clear nail polish (for those annoying runs in knee-highs and panty hose). In the end, I feel so happy I will be able to pass along a nice little gift to some great teachers ~ for hardly anything! Thanks Collin!

HAPPY FRIDAY!


Do you have a funny, “Hip”, or unique photo to share?! Email us at happyfriday@hip2save(dot)com. Every Friday, I will post one photo, submitted by you and/or another Hip2Save reader, that gives us a glimpse into your frugal lifestyle or simply makes us smile. If your photo is published on Hip2Save, we’ll email you a $10 Amazon e-card!

** Check out all of the previous Happy Friday pictures here.

Join The Discussion

Comments 28

  1. Laurie M.

    What a great idea!

  2. Mel

    this is very thoughtful! this emergency kit would be a good gift for anyone to keep in the car or at their desk!

  3. Erin

    Great idea! I kept all that stuff at my desk at work anyway. Shoulda kept it in a cute box rather than scattered in the drawer!

  4. Amanda

    Awesome! I suggest adding in a nail file!

  5. Laura

    I love this idea – also what a great idea for a travel case for toiletries, so much easier to clean and find things than bags!

  6. Carrie

    Super cute! Thanks for sharing! I may whip up a few of these for our awesome teacher pals!

  7. Debbie Fisher

    Love this!

  8. Debbie Fisher

    Staples Teacher Appreciation Day tomorrow

  9. Christine H.

    Great idea, my daughter is a teacher. Another suggestion…lip salve – for those teachers that have to stand outside in all weathers for Car-riders!

  10. Willa

    Adding a small sewing kit, chap stick, etc is always an option. Great idea—thanks for sharing.

    • llc

      yes!! those travel sewing kits that the hotels give out. They have different colored threads and a needle.

  11. kim

    Cute idea, gum and crackers would be nice to add also….Just keep in mind that towards the middle of October Target will be having all of their school supplies super cheap and you could at least get the pencil boxes 1/2 off and you can do twice as many for next year.

  12. nikki

    little bottle of hand sanitizer and lotion too

  13. nikki

    oh and maybe some chocolate!

  14. Steps

    you are so thoughtful!!!

  15. Jodi

    I work in an office and when we hired someone internally who’d never had a “desk” job before, her former coworkers put together a similar kit for her. Love it!

  16. Peaches

    Also might add wet wipes for those unexpectedly sticky moments.

  17. Karen

    Have to say some teacher gifts make me roll my eyes (coffee mug?! No thanks! Give the tchr a $5 Starbucks Card instead!) but this is fantastic!!! I may copy this and make one for myself too! (I’m a hs tchr)

  18. Catie

    I am a high school teacher too and love this idea! As someone else said, I keep all my stuff scattered in a drawer and this is a much more efficient idea! 🙂

  19. maflies1

    Love the idea! And very useful for other occasions as well-you are so crafty. 🙂

  20. marlene

    we re back to school already and we purchased a $15 starbucks card for my sons previous teacher just a little thanks for last year and a little treat to start of the school yr. she like it alot

  21. llc

    What about double sided fabric tape? My personal fav is Hollywood fashion tape. It comes in precut 3″ pieces (36 count for 4.99 at Steinmart) You could buy a pack and split them up (never see any deals on these but they go a long way). You can tape together a shirt that’s too revealing. I use it on shirts that are button up and wont lay flat around my boobs. Also, great for a hem fix on a skirt or pants. Put on bra straps if your shirt falls off your shoulder. They even stick to skin (all day in humid weather!) They fix everything!

  22. mckeeversmom

    These kits are a great idea and if every hip2save-er could make just one and donate it to a school district, that would be even better. I recently found out that in our rural school district we had 91 homeless students. I was told that this was middle school and high school aged students, and that our district does have someone who collects donations for them. I am sure I’m not alone when I say I have lots of samples that I can donate. I used to send everything to a women’s shelter, but now I plan to divide my freebies and samples between the two.

  23. daltonjsmom

    Fantastic job! Michaels offers a 10% teachers discount and the last time I was there, I got it on top of my 40% discount coupon I was already using. On a side note, if you want to help out your hs teachers, my students are always asking me for gum, bandaids and tampons… Now that I have started couponing I am going to be prepared for the last 2. They are on their own for the gum…

  24. Sue

    Awesome gift idea! I love that it’s so practical too.

  25. KRJ

    Like everyone else…I love this idea! I went to Staples today and purchased some blue and some white pencil boxes…on sale of course! and plan on giving them out at Christmas to the girls in my dept. This will give me time to collect the items by using my couponing skills! I just love the idea of looking for items on sale and giving such a practical gift! Thank you!

  26. markiesluv

    LOVE IT!!

  27. LisaR.

    Fantastic idea! Thanks for sharing!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

It's not your Grandma's coupon site!

Sign up for a Hip2Save account (it's free) to access all of the awesome features!

Forgot Password?

Don't have an account? Register

Forgot Password

Don't have an account? Register

Become a Hip2Save Insider

Don't Miss Out! Join our large community of insiders - it's totally free! Once you join, you'll be able to save & share your favorite deals, rate posts and recipes and add items to your HipList and Cookbook! What are ya waiting for?!



Already have an account? Login

Thank you for rating!

Would you also like to leave us a comment?