Do you give Christmas gifts?

[trooney]

Wondering - do you give gifts to each of your students? I did when I taught preschool and only 12 kiddos. Now I have 23! I'm trying to be resourceful and use my $$$ wisely. I've thought of pencils, bookmarks - any other ideas?

Thanks!

 

[Carrie in WV]

I do...

I have 21 kids, but I do give gifts. I have made calendars for them and marked their birthdays (that took forever) and it was kind of costly. I have made stockings with their names and put pencils, candy cane and stickers inside. This year I bought very small jars (at Walmart for 40 cents or so) and I am going to fill it with wrapped candy. Someone listed a website not too long ago where you can get pencils in a little pouch with the kids' names on them for a very small price. Maybe you could do a search.

 

[Gloria]

ideas

I have given books, dictionaries, markers, crayons, etc. I usually get things that I know that they need anyway. Candy canes are always a favorite too.

 

[mab]

Xmas gifts

I usually give them pencils with their names on them. 3 in a pouch for 79 cents each. You get them from the Atlas Pencil Co, but it's probably too late this year. I also give them a book from the book orders, ordered with points, A Hershey bar, Christmas pencils from WalMart, or Christams erasers, stampers from Oriental Trading, candy canes of many flavors, blueberry being a favorite, etc. I don't do this all in one year, but pick and choose. One year I had a small class and so I bought them each a Christmas mug from WalMart for 50 cents, made some hot chocolate mix and made a snowman soup label for it, along with a candy cane.-|--

 

[NightOwl]

inexpensive gifts

The kids always like those little pocket size journals. You can get bundles of them at an office supply store. They also like coupons, like a no homework pass, lunch with the teacher, sit with a friend, etc. You could also make the candy cane reindeer. Do you have a dollar store nearby? Those stores are filled with things kids love!

 

[Bonnie gr. 2]

Personal stationery

I make each child personal stationery. I use a graphics program and make eah child stationery. I make one sheet on my color printer then take it to school and print it some on green and some on gold paper. Each child gets a diffrent graphic. The paper says either, "A Note from ..." or "A Message from ..." with their names. I put it in a pocket folder (purchased in the summer for about 7 cents each), with a pencil and eraser. They love them! They're personal and they encourage literacy! Kids love stationery and things with their names!

 

[stephanie]

Ornaments

This year I bought 2 boxes of ornaments at Wal-Mart ($1.88 each). I used a Sharpie and wrote Merry Christmas "Johnny" From Mrs. -- 2005. I ahve on occasion given books from book orders, pencils, notepads, small bags of candy... I think they just like getting something from the teacher - no matter what it is.

 

[Becca4]

Yes we do

We do. Third grade ordered a snowman book from Scholastic (95 cents each). We got a snowman cup and put the ingredients to Snowman Soup in the cup (with the poem) .

 

[Laura]

Class Party

Another teacher and I are giving our children a swim party at the YMCA. It is a bit costly $2-4 per child but they will love it! Everyone will come with their swim suits on and then we will go. It will be a blast!

 

[M.]

Re

How much do you want to spend? At Wal*Mart I have seen these beautiful ornaments with different designs. They are 97 cents apiece and they will even engrave it for free. You could get an ornament and have each student's name engraved on it for 97 cents per ornament. I'm not sure how much you are wanting to spend though. The price is near $1.00 for each one, so that would put you near $23.00. I know that's a lot! They are really nice though.

 

[imacacher]

I do...

I don't have children of my own yet, so my 21 second graders are my kids. Some of them have great families, and celebrate Christmas in special ways, but many of them don't have nearly what I had when I was growing up. I do what I can for them.

After Christmas last year, I bought full sized stockings for 25 cents a piece. I used the corrugated brick paper in the hallway, and wrote each student's name in glitter glue and hung them up. I started with yesterday (12 days before Christmas) and gave them a candy cane. Today they got a snowman or a Santa ring (again, bought last year after Christmas) in the stocking. I will continue adding little stuff each day.

For our Christmas party I am giving them each a 34 piece art set that I got at the local craft store for $1.00 a piece (they are REALLY nice--normally $4.00!), and a Junie B. book that I bought at the Scholastic warehouse sale for .95.

So, I ended up spending about $50.00 all told, but for me, its worth it. For some of my kids these are the only gifts they will get.

 

[TLC]

My 3rd graders

I get them all a book with my points from Scholastic, so free, and then watch for the giant Hershey candy bars to go on sale. I can find them for a dollar at a pharmacy like CVS or Walgreens. They are always thrilled to get such a giant bar all to themselves. I am also going to add a classroom movie ticket/pass to use on a Friday afternoon in January or February when we have the cooped up winter blahs. To go with it I can do micro popcorn and juiceboxes for the whole class for less than $5.

 

[Carolyn]

how about ornaments with their pictures?

One of the new teachers I work with decided that her gift to her students was going to be a handmade paper decoration with the class's picture on it. She will give one to each child. I am sure the kids will love it.

 

[Newbie]

Student Gifts

In the past I taught middle school and had too many students, so I just gave them each a candy cane or something. This year I teach 4th, and I copied the idea of making personal stationery (I saw it on another message board here). I'm also going to give them some candy and a pencil to make it more festive.

 

[teacher2]

yes

I always give a gift. I usually spend about $1.00 per child. I have been fortunate to find a plush animal the last couple of years that the students have loved. One year I got lots of plastic Christmas cups at Walmart, and filled them with a tiny plush animal and some candy, tied them up in a Christmas cellophane bag. I noticed similar plastic cups at the Dollar Tree this year. You can find lots of workable ideas at the .99 store, Dollar Tree, big Lots, WalMart, etc.
For future reference, you can plan ahead next August/September, and stock up on crayons, markers, or paints, and use those for gifts come Christmas. If you have more time than $ you could bake cookies and give each child a home baked cookie in a ziploick style bag, or a cellophane bag. If you can afford it, you could order the cookies from your local bakery and do the same thing.
Students always love getting something special from the teacher.
I give a book at the end of the of the year, and I use my bonus points from scholastic to order them.
Merry Christmas. -|--

 

[LauraTeach]

I am a student teacher in 3 classrooms so needed to find something cheap and easy to give to my 60 students!! I decided to make them each a packet of "snowman soup." I found the idea on the internet. I took a ziploc bag and in each one put a packet of hot chocolate, candy cane, 2 hershey kisses and about 10 marshmellows. I stapled a cute label on the top that I made on the computer with a poem and some pictures of snowmen. They turned out so cute and I hope the kids like them!!

Laura

 

[hoptech]

Laura, what a great idea! I team teach and I had purchased engraved pencils with my students names on them; they come 3 in a red pouch. Unfortunately, the other teacher I teach with had also gotten our students candy cane pencils. So I decided to give them to the students on Valentines Day. I found really cute mugs at Wal Mart for 50 cents each, I planned to serve hot chocolate in the mugs and then the students could keep the mugs. I really love your idea of "Snowman soup" I am going to make the plastic bags up tonight. I love this site for getting such wonderful ideas and help. THANKS!

 

[elmolisa]

re: wal-mart engraved ornament

I know it is after Christmas now, but the school I went to in 4th and 5th grades gave those out to each student at Christmas. They had just the school name and the year engraved on each one. I think every student got the same ornament. I still have mine; one is from 1990 and 1991!

Lisa