Gifts for All!

Looking for student gifts for the kids in your classroom? Maybe you need gifts for your team, students parents, or even your neighbors at home. This post has got you covered with lots of DIY Christmas gifts!
Ok, maybe not for EVERYONE on your list but this list of awesome DIY gifts is a great place to get started! There are even several free printables to cutesy up your gift in no time. :) 

I love giving gifts to people I care about, especially this time of year. Read on to find several inexpensive DIY gift ideas that are just as much fun to put together as they are to give! 

STUDENT GIFTS

This year I have over 400 students so I will not be doing student gifts (sorry kids) but I did want to share with you a few gifts that I have done in the past that the kids absolutely loved! 

First up is Gingerbread Play Dough! This is so easy to make and smells AMAZING!!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B23qy4Thx8-dQVVuc19vQlNDRnc/view?usp=sharing
I found a great no bake recipe here.
To make this play dough, you will need the following ingredients: 

  • ¼ cup Molasses
  • ¾ cup Cornstarch
  • 4 tsp. Baking Soda
  • 2 tsp. Water
  • 2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil 
  • ¼ tsp. Cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp. Ginger
  • ¼ tsp. Nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp. Cloves
  • 2 Tbsp. Flour
Directions
1. Mix the cornstarch, baking soda, and spices in a mixing bowl.
2. Mix in the water, oil, and molasses.
3. Add in the flour and mix well until the dough is all combined. The dough should be smooth and not sticky. You can add a teaspoon or two more of flour if necessary, just don’t add too much or it will get crumbly.
I bought the bags for the play dough in a pack at the dollar store and you can click here or click on the picture to snag these fun play dough labels that I created.

You could even add a fun and festive cookie cutter with each one. I like these for little hands and they are only about $1 per cookie cutter:
(click image to view cookie cutters - affiliate link)




Another student gift I have made that they students LOVED and used all winter long were No Sew Fleece Scarves. I bought 1 fleece pattern for the girls and a different pattern for the boys but you could always buy 1 cute print to use for the entire class.


To make the scarves, I first folded the fleece in half (length wise) and smoothed out any wrinkles. Next, I measured the width I wanted each scarf and marked a line with a marker.

 Then, I cut the fabric into strips. I will say that if you do not have a good pair of fabric scissors, I would highly recommend getting some for this project. These are the ones that I used.

You can stop there and have a warm, beautiful gift or to add a little extra pizazz, you can do these next 2 steps to add fringe to the ends. 

To make the fringe, fold your scarf in half length wise and cut strips a few inches into the scarf.




To finish it off, tie a knot a the top of each piece of fringe to really make the fringe stand out.



PARENT GIFTS 

I always like to do a gift from my students to their families as well. This is a gift that everyone loved and cost less than $1 per family!

Everything came from the Dollar Tree (except for the paint which I already had). The potholders came in a 2 pack and I believe the sparkly snowflake frames came in a pack of 4.



To decorate the pot holder, I painted students' hands green to make a Christmas Tree Hand print. Once the hand prints were dry, I helped students decorate their "tree". If you wanted to do something with more of a "winter" theme, you could always do a hand print snowman family or a hand print snowflake.

I then took a photo of each student wearing a Santa hat and added their picture to the snowflake fame ornament.

FACULTY GIFTS

My team situation is a little different than most. Because I work in an early childhood center, we all teach the same grade level. There are 19 pre-k classrooms in my school! We have "teams" but they switch every year so it is not the same as the team that most teachers' experience.

Because of this, I make a big batch of spicy pretzels each year and bag them up for my co-workers. After the 1st year, I had to give everyone the recipe too because they were such a hit!


You can find the recipe to make your own here

NEIGHBOR/TEAM GIFTS

If you have a team at school that you would like to do something special for or a few of your neighbors at home, here are a couple small things I was able to quickly put together that my neighbors really enjoyed. 


The first part of the gift is chocolate chip cookie mix in a jar. I have seen these a lot in stores lately but they are so easy to make yourself! (Not to mention less expensive!)

I found the recipe and cute printable here

The second part of this gift was hot coco cones. 

To make these, I scooped enough hot chocolate mix for 2 cups of hot chocolate into pipping bags. I then topped it off with a handful of marshmallows and tied the top with a pretty ribbon. You could always add a layer of crushed peppermint candies or any other "fixings" you like to add to hot coco!





I hope you found some of these gift ideas helpful. Please let me know if you decide to make some of these gifts to the people you care about.

If you are looking for some fun Christmas themed activities to keep students engaged these next few weeks, be sure to check these out by clicking on the cover!

 Christmas Literacy Activities

 Christmas CVC Puzzles

 Christmas Counting

 Christmas Non-Standard Measurement








2 comments

  1. Buying Christmas gifts for wife or Christmas present for girlfriend can be frequently a difficult and stressful experience. diy ideas for dad

    ReplyDelete
  2. Corporations often give out corporate gifts to clients, customers, employees, contractors, vendors and others who they find integral to their businesses' success. Here are some must-know guidelines and facts that you need to consider when choosing corporate gifts for your business to distribute. learn

    ReplyDelete

Back to Top