Teacher’s end of year gift

So! It is that time of year when you have to run around like crazy because you put off getting your children’s teachers their end of the school year gift.
Now, before I go any further, I’m all for pooling your money together with the other moms and getting a gift card. I did that last year, but as it turns out I was in charge of the money. I didn’t terribly mind it, but if I was going to have to run errands, I wanted it to be for something I came up with on my own. So this year, I flew solo.
I had an inspiration when I saw something on Pinterest that was a little beach kit that included a magazine, sunscreen, a beach towel and sunglasses. Adorable! We live by the beach so I embraced the idea, but had to take it down a notch, money wise. You figure a new magazine is about 4 to 5 bucks, a beach towel around $10, sunscreen about $9 and sunglasses or flip flops you could probably get at dollar store.
I immediately ditched the idea of the magazine. I love magazines, but once you read it that’s it, to the garbage it goes. (I happen to always give mine to friends, that way it gets used one or two more times) so what I wanted to do instead, was a book. And here’s how I put together “A Day at the Beach” kit:
I decided on used books. Why? Because there’s nothing better than a used book! The history and mystery that comes with it.. So I went on Amazon and searched for specific books that I have read and loved in very good condition. To add an extra touch, a couple of these were a set of book 1 and 2, so I will give them to teachers in the same classroom and that way they can swap! Thanks to Amazon Prime they arrived in a couple of days.
Next I decided what I wanted to pair with the books, and settled for these reusable water bottles because they were affordable and came in a set of 5! I needed to get 1 more because I have 6 teachers to give gifts to.
Then I decided on the Alba Sunscreen which I found at Shop Rite for $6.99 each.
Then some ribbons, and that’s it!!
I am going to present them on Thursday so I am also very curious to find out if they will like it! – I know I would! What did you come up with for a teacher’s gift?

Fairy Garden

When my good friend said she was throwing a Fairy party for her daughter who’s turning 6, I knew exactly what I wanted to give her: a Fairy Garden.
I got the idea from Pinterest where there are pictures of very elaborate fairy gardens with tiny houses and clothes hanging from a clothesline, basically a garden within a garden!
I knew I wanted to give one to my daughter this Spring. I specially liked this one from Playful Learning
And decided that would be a good start and we could add to it slowly.
Here’s the one we got for our lil friend, soon to be 6 year old:

We got her a cute little annual Alyssum, a pot of perennial Moss, some river rocks, and some trinkets: a aluminum box with double windows that can be used as a house, a few small little bells, a little button jar, a few small clothes pins with flowers and birds on them, a small butterfly shaped “pool” and tiny little terracota flower pots.
She can add to it as time goes by, get a proper house if she so choses, and so on. I asked her mom beforehand if that was okay with her and if she had a small area in her yard for the garden to be planted.
Or she could do as some of the ones I had seen, like this one where you can keep it in a big flower pot.
All you need is to get creative and let the girls have fun with it!
I’m excited to put one together for my five year old next!