Gifts for students from teachers are a common practice throughout the school year. There’s the back-to-school welcome gift, a holiday gift, a Valentine’s day gift, end of year gift, and something for each student’s birthday…
Wow! Writing all those out can make your budget cringe. Getting creative and figuring out what to get your students is fun! But you also don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for gifts. You also don’t want to spend hours creating a detailed DIY.
We can get caught up in wanting to make Pinterest-worthy gifts. Gifts with multiple items and/or elaborate gift tags. There can also be high expectations from students. Based on what other teachers in the building do.
In my first years of teaching I know I got caught up. One year my kindergartners got a water bottle, Kool-aid mix, a silly straw, and a fun notebook. Each gift had a cute label I designed and printed in color. I spent hours putting the gifts together. Do you know what the kids did with those gifts? They said “Thank You” and plopped them in their backpacks.
Updated 08/11/2022
Gifts for students from the teacher don’t need to take hours to create or break the bank.
Gifts for students can be a positive part of creating a welcoming classroom culture. At the beginning of the year, a gift welcomes each student. It shows that their teacher is excited to have them in her class. At Christmas, a gift from a teacher may be one of the few gifts some students receive. At the end of the year, gifts help celebrate all the memories and accomplishments.
Over the last ten years or so I’ve also learned that the gift doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive. An intern teacher made sticky note acrostic name poems listing each student’s positive qualities. She attached the sticky note to a pencil, but the gift that students treasured was the sticky note. Many carefully taped it to their desk for the rest of the school year.
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Tips to Make the Most of Student Gifts from Teachers
- Set a budget. There are many options that are less than $1 per student. $2 per student is a good max budget.
- Keep it SIMPLE. Focus more on the experience, not on the gift. Students aren’t going to notice if you spent hours creating a cute and clever gift tag. They also don’t need multiple gifts.
- Be conscious of other teachers in your grade level and building. If one teacher gets students a huge gift compared to others it can cause problems. Keep each other informed, so as not to blindside anyone.
- Choose a useful gift. Students are often just excited by the fact they are getting a gift, so why not make it one they can use more than one time? Bonus if they can use it daily at school.
- Make the gift part of a bigger experience. Too often gifts get thrown in a backpack and forgotten. Having a bubble-blowing or glow-in-the-dark party is more memorable.
If you’re a last-minute shopper, like me, Amazon is your best friend when it comes to shopping for student gifts. I use Amazon Prime, so I can get free shipping and it gets delivered fast. Sometimes I can even get it in one day. (If you’d like to try Amazon Prime out you can get a 30-day trial) When searching on Amazon add the words “bulk” or “for favors” to your query. It will help you find large quantities of the type of gift you’re looking for at a reasonable price.
Useful Gift Ideas for Students From Teachers
Pencils
Students go through pencils like it is their job. Plus having a fun pencil as a gift for the first day of the school ensures every student has one. You can add a cute note that says, “You’re just WRITE for third grade!”
For younger students, I’ve done fun pencils like these. **Bonus: They’re the best pencil brand ever – Ticonderoga!** With third graders and older, I like to do mechanical pencils. They save me a TON of pencil sharpening. I label the pencils with each student’s name using my label maker.
Water Bottles
To limit trips to the drinking fountain I allow students to bring in a water bottle. It’s important for kids to stay hydrated, but I like to avoid hallway behavior issues and time-wasters. Getting each student a water bottle solves this problem easily.
These water bottles come in bulk and are easy to customize. I like the pop-top style because they don’t tend to leak or spill as much as other styles.
Erasers
Elementary students are big fans of erasers. To make it more fun than the typical pink eraser I found these rainbow-striped erasers. There are tons of different-shaped erasers that are a big hit with kids. But they’re not super effective and cause distractions.
Erasers can also be a great metaphor for your students. Add a note to the eraser or have a class discussion to make it mean even more. Note ideas include: “Remember you can start each day with a clean slate” (☺Day Made Fresh♥), “Erase your fears, you’re meant to be here!”, OR “The impact you made can never be erased.”
Sunglasses
Sunglasses are a fun gift for the end of the year. At one school I taught at we had an end of the year outdoor party and these sunglasses came in handy. They helped me easily spot my students, protected their eyes, and made for an awesome class picture! It would also be great if you take an end of the year field trip.
Crayons
For younger students, a pack of crayons is a perfect gift. Pair them with a fun craft or coloring page to keep students busy. This can be super helpful during a class party. Plus extra packs of crayons can be used as backup supplies.
Halfway through the year everyone only has 3 crayons left and no one has blue or red. Of course, all the worksheets ask them to do EVERYTHING in blue or red. One year to solve this problem I gave students crayons for Valentine’s day… Valentine- You COLOR my world☺.
Notebooks
Encourage writing, observing, or drawing with a notebook gift. There’s something about a mini notebook that can get kids to write. It’s also a gift for students from teachers that is easy to customize for a theme, holiday, or activity.
Have students journal about their holiday or summer break using the notebook. Like the water bottles, you can have your students decorate the notebook and make it their own.
Gifts for Students That Create Experiences
One way to enhance the gift and make it more memorable is to make it a part of a whole class experience. This is not only fun for students, but the shared experience helps build class camaraderie.
Puzzles
A fun “educational” gift is to give students a puzzle toy and then allow them time to try and solve it in class. This can help build students’ growth mindset as they work to solve the puzzle. It’s also a great STEM connection. Puzzle toy Ideas:
- Brain Teaser Metal Wire Puzzles
- Cube Puzzles (This is also an eraser.)
- Puzzle Balls
Giving students a puzzle to solve creates excitement and provides them with a challenge. As they compete with one another and cheer each other on the excitement grows. Students can also take the puzzle home and share the experience with their families.
Building Blocks (Legos)
Another great experience is giving students something they need to build. The time it takes to build can keep students busy during a class party. Allowing you or class parents to set things up.
Normally Legos would not be an inexpensive gift idea for an entire class of students. There are off-brand party favors that give students the same experience. With this animal building block set you could connect to science or writing. Students could create a habitat or write a story for their animals.
Wikki Stix OR Play-Dough
Give your students something like play-dough or Wikki Stix and let them just create. There are so many high expectations put on elementary students and sometimes they just need time to create and be a kid.
I did this last Christmas. I gave my third graders these Wikki Stix. I worried the gift would be too simple. They loved it. They spent 20-30 minutes creating things. They proudly showed off their creations and had fun trying to create Christmas-related objects.
Glow Sticks
Have a fun glow-in-the-dark-themed day or activity and give students glow stick favors. This experience is on my list of activities to try with students.
There are so many different inexpensive glow-in-the-dark and glow stick products that this could be memorable but budget-friendly.
Gifts for Students You Can Send In the Mail
Due to many schools doing virtual or distance learning it’s hard to do typical student gifts. One way to still give gifts to students is to send a gift in the mail. To save on postage make sure the gift can be sent in a regular envelope. A forever stamp is good for sending an envelope that weighs one ounce. (Stamps.com)
Vinyl Stickers
Vinyl stickers can be stuck to water bottles or other hard smooth surfaces. You can get a ton of stickers to send as gifts throughout the year. Since you will be sending them in the mail it won’t matter as much if students get different styles.
They also come in a variety of styles to meet a lot of student’s interests. They’re also great for older and younger students.
Bookmarks
Another great flat gift idea for students are bookmarks. This gift is useful and encourages reading. There is such a large variety of bookmarks you can find a set that fits any theme. To save time and money you can purchase this set of bookmarks from Teachers pay Teachers that you can use year after year. The set includes a variety of styles to fit a variety of events.
Key Chains
Key chains are another great option. You’ll just have to be careful what kind of key chain you get as some are more 3D versus flat. Another thing to be careful about is the weight of the keychain. But if you find the right key chain it would be a great gift for students.
There are multitudes of ideas out there when it comes to gifts for students from teachers. If you keep it simple and within your budget, it can be a lot less stressful. If you look for gifts that are useful or part of a bigger experience the gift will be more impactful and memorable.
What are your favorite gifts for students? Check out some of the gifts above and find the perfect gift for your class!
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