Gifts to Buy or Make for a Male Teacher

My middle child is a spirited one. And as well as he did in kindergarten with two, lovely ladies, I felt that he needed a male teacher to reign him in. Lucky me, the only other male teacher left in the school was a 1st grade teacher. So I made petition to get No. 2 into that class, and HE MADE IT IN! 

No. 2 had a wonderful year with lots of growing and learning on all our parts. Then Christmas came along...and then Teacher Appreciation Week...and, finally, End of the Year. Those are all typical times students bring in gifts to their teachers showing them the love and appreciation they so much deserve. 

The problem is when you have a male teacher, getting a gift card to Target or buying a potted plant may not necessarily be something a male teacher would want. And not all male teachers are in to gardening or tools, either. 

So if you have been or are going to be in the same boat that I was in the past year, let me share a few things I did for No. 2's teacher this year. 

First thing, find out what the teacher likes. 

One thing I really love to do at the beginning of each year is have the teachers, male or female, fill out a little survey. I give this at the end of the first week with a "You Made It Through the First Week" care package {complete with sticky notes, pens, tissues, tylenol, glue sticks, tape, and a small gift card to Starbucks or Sonics}. I use this information all year long for ideas on gifts for the teachers. And, if I happen to have the emails or contact information of the other parents in the class, I share that information with them as well. 

This is one of my favorites to use for teachers. Find it HERE

For the male teacher, I actually gave him a longer list, since I was sure I was going to need more information to pull from through the year. Here are the questions I sent him. I used the survey above to get me started on this list. It's not in any cute format, but you get the gist. 

When is your birthday? 

Where do you like to get a quick lunch? 

What is your favorite restaurant? 

Where are your favorite shopping spots? 

What is your favorite soda? 

What is your favorite candy? 

What is your favorite color? 

What is your favorite place to get a gift card from? 

What is your favorite meal? 

What is your favorite Starbucks, DD, or hot drink? 

What is your favorite sport and team? 

What is your favorite music? 
Who is your favorite musician? 
What is your favorite scent?
Do you collect anything? 
Name one place you would like to visit. 
Breakfast, lunch, or dinner? 
What is your favorite type of book? 
Who is your favorite author? 
What are your hobbies? 
If you could choose 3 gifts at or under $25 each, what would they be?

Second, Share with Others and Enlist Help 

At this point, you should have a decent amount of information to choose from. I would recommend smaller gifts for holidays such as Christmas and Valentines, and larger gifts for Teacher Appreciation and End of the Year. For the larger gifts, join in with a couple of parents. OR, if you have access to all/most of the parents' emails in the class, share the list above and make a large gift basket {or bag or bucket or cooler} for your teacher. This does two things: 

1. Helps cut down the cost for YOU on getting a large gift for the teacher

2. Can make everyone in the class feel like they can contribute to a gift. 

As a former teacher, I know that there are so many students that can't afford to buy cute little gifts for the teachers. I normally ask if parents can send in 1.00 to go to a gift from the class. If you have 30 kids, you can get all kinds of things to fill up a bag for the teacher. 

Third, Choose When You Want to Give a Large/Small Gift 

During the school year, there are quite a few times when your child may want to bring a gift for his/her teacher. It is important for you to know ahead of time when you are going to give a gift. I like to check out the survey at the beginning of the year and start planning immediately so we can budget AND so I don't have duplicates. It can get expensive if you get a large gift for each event during the year. Here are some days you may want to give a gift to a teacher: 

1. The first day of school

2. Christmas

3. The 100th day of school

4.Valentine's Day

5. Teacher Appreciation Week

6. End of the Year

Gift Ideas for Male Teachers

Here are some of gifts I got for my son's teacher this year and some ideas that I picked up from other parents along the way: 

1. Classroom Supplies
2. Basic supplies for teacher-use only {sticky notes, bathroom passes, etc}
3. Books, books, books {OR a gift card to a bookstore}. If your teacher sends home those Scholastic book order forms, see if your teacher is registered on the Scholastic website. You can actually buy books for teachers there as well. If he makes a wish list, you can actually purchase books, many times at a discounted rate, any time of the year. 
4. Snacks. 
1. Teachers need snacks through the day. For my son's teacher, I gave "manly" snacks, such as beef jerky or cans of nuts {check for allergies first}. 
2. Many times teachers may have snacks for students who forget to bring snacks {if their class has one}. A teacher would definitely love if you got one of those LARGE containers of snacks for the class, such as animal crackers or pretzels. 
5. "Handy" tools, such as flashlights or a small "fix it" box that has small screwdrivers in it. I actually used those in my classroom quite a bit...you would be surprised at what suddenly needs to be unscrewed or tightened up. 
6. Gift cards
1. Food
2. Entertainment, such as movies
3. Sports gift card. I got a NFL.com gift card one year for a male teacher who LOVES Green Bay. 
4. Retail stores such as Outdoor stores {REI} or Sports stores {Dicks} 
5. Education stores 
6. Book stores 
7. Meat Rubs. This is my most popular gift to get a guy, ANY guy, for ANY special events. Here's a great website to find some meat rubs. Get those really small {4 oz} mason jars, fill 3 or 4 of them, wrap some twine around them, and give those in a "rustic" looking bag or container. 
8. "Themed" Gifts {these may depend on what your teacher likes...refer to the survey} These are GREAT GIFTS for the class to chip in together:
1. Fishing Weekend: Small tackle box, tackle, fishing line
2. Beach/Lake: Cooler, sunscreen, sodas, bug spray, and snacks 
3. Movies: Fandango Gift Card, bags of kettle corn, sodas, a popcorn bowl 
4. Ice Cream: Ice Cream bowls, ice cream scoop, sprinkles, hot fudge, and a gift card to Publix to get ice cream {thanks, Betsy, for such a great idea} 
9. Coffee
1. Gift Cards
2. Coffee cups
3. Coffee cup that is actually a single serving French press 
4. Coffee {if you have a local brewer, this is a GREAT way to support local businesses} 
5. Coffee accessories {sugar, cream, InBru, etc} 
10. Board Games 
1. Educational board games he can use in his classroom
2. Games for his family

Here are some pictures of gifts I got for my sons' teachers: 

Homemade strawberry jam with homemade biscuits 

Flashlight 

Found this printable HERE. I have paired this with sticky notes that are shaped like apples AND I attached one of these to an apple pie. 

This goes great with a coffee cup filled with those single serving instant coffee packages. Go HERE for the printable. 

Here are some websites that have printables that can be paired with gifts: 

1. Crazy for Crust 
2. How Does She 
3. Moms By Heart

I sure hope this helps. Supporting teachers and getting gifts to show our appreciation is so very, very important. Teachers are overworked and underpaid, but they love your kids. They need reminders of why they are there: for the kids. Whether your child's teacher is male or female, I pray this helped you when you are looking to purchase gifts for your child's teacher in the years to come. 

Crafting: Cub Scout Themed Birthday Party

Six months ago, the day after my daughter's birthday party ("Star" theme), little Abi was already planning her birthday party for next year, the ever-so-popular Lady Bug theme. Not to be left out, my sons wanted to go ahead and plan their birthdays as well. Jed was finally going to get his "Spiderman" party (which I have no picture for...the decorations were...compromised....before I could get my camera out) and J wanted a Cub Scout party. Cub Scout party?! Yes! My brain immediately started flowing with ideas. I could totally do this! At that time, my son had been in Cub Scouts for about 5 months, and I used to be camp counselor for Girl Scouts at Camp Low Country. J was getting to the age where he didn't have to invite all his friends and family anymore, and having one that was Cub Scout themed would limit it to just boys. AND he had been begging for a party where his friends camp out in the back yard. This was going to be fun!

So the planning began. About 3 months ago, I began sitting down and brainstorming what could be done at such a party, and decided the boys could work on getting "badges" for various events. The guest gifts would be easy enough (which, by the way, the list of things I wanted to give them dropped drastically as we had to make adjustments to our budget, but we what ended up doing was sufficient). The food would be simple but fun. The games would be perfect for the boys to do on a bright almost-summer day. I already gave you a brief peek at the birthday party when I talked about my schedule and the food, but now to address putting it all together. It really was a fun party, and I am happy to share it with you!

Cub Scout Birthday Party

The birthday boy! 

Location:
Joseph wanted to camp, and it made sense to have the party outside. I was going to do my backyard, but I thought having off site would be fun, too. One of Summerville's little secrets is Givhan's Ferry State Park. They have two large picnic shelters, camp sites, 3 large fields for activities (already set up for volleyball, baseball, or just activities in an open field), a 1.5 mile hiking trail, and access to the water for swimming, fishing, boating. I chose the smaller of the two shelters, and it was HUGE. For $28, I was able to get a great space, with plenty of parking (right at the shelter), it overlooked the Edisto River, and it was across the road from a huge field. And since the weather was cooperating, it was truly the best spot!

Games and Badges:
So since it was a Cub Scout party, what better way to organize it than to have them "earn badges" for playing around. The boys were all in good spirits about this, and seemed super excited to get their Gold Stars. And since I'm such a teacher (and a mother of 3), it was only natural for me to make a schedule of events. What Cub Scout camping experience is complete without one? Here's the schedule:

And the events were:

Marbles Badge: Playing a Game of Marbles

Sports Badge: Football Drills 

Game Badge: Dizzy Izzy

Archery Badge: Target Practice 

Here's a picture of the bulls eye I made for the Archery Badge

 Next badge...NO PICTURE

 (I was preparing the next badge activity and didn't get back fast enough to take a picture)

Water Badge: Water Balloon Toss 

Chef's Badge: Making Ice Cream 

If you look closely in some of the above pictures, you can see the boys have a key chain with notecards attached. That was how they got their badges recorded. I cut colorful notecards in half, punched a hole in the top, attached a key chain, and then wrote on the cards (in order) the events. Once they completed an event, they came back to me to get a gold star (that I drew on the back of the notecard with a metallic gold pen). Because it was on a key chain, they were able to carry them around to each event. When the entire party was over, each boy got to take the key chain home as part of their guest gift.

Food:
I wanted to make the food pretty simple and be a little "campy" as well. When most people camp, hotdogs are normally involved, and although there was a grill at this picnic shelter, I (wisely) didn't think there would be time to grill them for the party. So I popped them in my crockpot, and thery were ready (and perfect) for the party. All I had to do was cut up some veggies and watermelon, add some chips, and make cupcakes (see food post for details). It turned out to be the perfect amount of food and it tasted great!

Guest Gifts:
I was going to have the boys make their own survival bracelet as part of the event and as part of their guest gift, but we couldn't get a hold of the paracord in enough time, so I decided to do water balloon toss instead. J had made a survival bracelet in Cub Scouts, and I thought it would be fun, but alas, it didn't happen. I was also going to get each boy a boy and arrow, but that didn't happen either. BUT I did end up getting each boy a water bottle and a key chain. And it seemed to work out just fine. They were able to use their gifts all during the party. It worked out great!

After the party, some of the boys piled up in my car and headed to my house for some tent camping. We made s'mores, jumped on the trampoline, and really just had a blast.

Roasting Marshmallows! 

Cinnamon Rolls in the morning...and my poor husband who slept in the tent with the boys. 

 This party was a hit! The kids had a ton of fun, and I think the adults did too! I think the party cost (overall, with the price of the picnic shelter, the food, and the guest gifts) maybe $100. Not too shabby!

Friday's Review: Professional v Homemade Birthday Party

I love throwing parties. I really, really do. And since I'm not working anymore, we are throwing parties on just Joe's paycheck now, which means I'm always looking for ways to have a great party at a decent price. I usually throw my kids' birthday parties, but the boys have had a few at a professional place. This year I decided to keep track of every expense for Abigail's birthday party to see if throwing one for her is worth every cent or if I should just let the professionals do it. If you were also wondering if it is worth it, I'll give you a run down of Abigail's party, how much it cost per person, and then compare to the average price of taking your kids to Chuck E Cheese, a painting place, or a bouncy place.

And just as a little side note, I know there are some who are in the opinion of not throwing kids a big party or a party with a lot of people. I was actually recently criticized for throwing my 3-year old such a big party. The way we Debneys look at it is everyone should feel special on his or her birthday party. Joe doesn't necessarily want a lot of people, I only want my closest friends, but the kids are all social kids who love having a lot of people. So if that is how they feel special, then we throw parties accordingly.

Planning:

I have to plan the birthday parties for my family months in advance. We are all holiday/special event babies, so if I do want to go somewhere, we have to plan in enough advance to make sure we can get what we want. If you don't know what I mean about holiday/special event babies, this is what I mean:

1. Abigail: January 19th, which is usually around MLK weekend 
2. Joe: February 5th, almost every year it's right near the Super Bowl, which works for me because he LOVES football, so we just have a Super Bowl Birthday Party for him every year. 
3. Jed: May 25th, TWO THINGS: this is usually Memorial Day weekend and near the last day of school. In fact, he was was born on the last day of school and his first year at school ends on his birthday this year. 
4. J: June 17th. It's almost always Father's Day weekend. This year his birthday is actually on Father's Day. 
5. Jana (ME!): November 17th. That is usually 1 week before Thanksgiving, right before Thanksgiving break, right around the Carolina/Clemson rival football game, and right before Black Friday. Tricky! 

So, obviously, I need to plan in advance. Every year right after Abigail's birthday, I start looking around the stores to see what they have on sale. Since her birthday is near New Year's, we decided last year that this year's party was going to be "Stars", especially since most of the plates, napkins, and decorations on sale have stars on them. Savings!!

About two months before the actual birthday, I start making a list of ideas of what to make for food and what kind of decorations. I look at what the stores have, brainstorm on a notepad, and search the internet (Thanks, Pinterest!!!) for ideas. 

One month before the party, I send out Evites. This saves us money big time. But I always ask for addresses for those who request a hard copy invitation. My grandfather always gets an actual birthday card. 

Two weeks before the party, I plan out what needs to be made and when the decorations need to be up. This year my husband had an election to conduct, so I knew that I wasn't going to be getting a lot of help from him. I needed to plan specific days that would be focused on making decorations, which foods could be made ahead and still be fresh, and what needed to be cleaned on which days. No point mopping until the night before, right? 

A big, BIG help this year was to decorate the night before. That way, the day of the party could be focused on last minute cooking, setting out food, and getting balloons blown up and placed properly. I also reserved the day of for final vacuuming, sweeping, mopping. 

Day of: we did the last minute cooking, cleaning, set up. It worked great, and I had time to sit before the party. Abigail's first party was in the evening. I was afraid of having a party for little ones in the evening, but it turns out great, in my opinion. Not only do I have the time to finish last minute stuff, but Abigail was able to get a nap, take a bath, and get dressed before everyone showed up. Also, the kids all get worn out at the party, so parents get to put their little ones to bed as soon as they leave. Nice for everyone and (my personal favorite) people don't have to rearrange an entire day around a kid's birthday party. 

Menu: 

Chicken Nuggets (got four bags of Walmart brand chicken nuggets) 

Banana Bites (Pinterest) 

Pretzel Bites (Pinterest or see my version here)

Veggie Plate 

Fruit Plate

Cupcakes 

Homemade marshmallows (Pinterest or see my version here) 

Chips and Salsa

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip (Pinterest or here) 

Bowl of Twizzlers (thanks MOM for that Christmas present) 

Bowl of Caramel Corn (again, thanks Mom!) 

Juice boxes (for kids) 

Sweet Tea

Lemonade 

See how pretty it looks? It actually was enough to feed everyone and  have a few leftovers! 

Decorations: 

Stars are bright and shiny, so I wanted my daughter to have a house full of things that just shined! Since the party was in the evening, with all the lights on, this worked out great! I picked up a few streamers from the store, left out three stands of white Christmas lights, made a star (Pinterest!), and bought two boxes of cheap dollar tree aluminum foil. 

For the table, I had already invested in a few cheap plastic table coverings for other events, so I just placed one that would highlight the foil-wrapped serving dishes. Let me tell you, foil-wrapping it was as GREAT! It made for easy, easy clean up, and kept the chicken decently warmed almost all day since I made those early. 

I made these stars from toilet paper rolls I had been saving for a few weeks. Easy, easy, but they need to be made a day or two in advance to give time for drying. But they were cute!!! 

We hung a few stars around and lit some lights. It was all very pretty once it was done! 

Guest Gifts

I found a cute tutorial (on Pinterest) on homemade crayons. So I found a mold that was "star" shaped, made some crayons, printed a star worksheet, and got packets of star stickers, glow sticks, and star bouncy balls at the dollar section at Target. I replaced the bouncy ball and the glow stick for the little ones (crawlers and barely walkers) with a pack of Num Nums and a rubber duck (all found pretty cheap at Wal-mart). They turned out great! I also found a HUGE sheet of crispy treats at Big Lots for $5 each. Each sheet yeilded 20 stars I cut out, which was perfect for the older kids at the party. 

Here's the big comparison: 

So how much did all this cost per person? We had 70 people TOTAL (yes, 70, don't judge). The cost per person was a little over $4 per person. So, obviously, if you have only 20 people at the party, this would be a pretty decently priced party. 

I compared that with the local professional places that do everything for you. Let me tell you, those places are nice. You literally don't have to do anything. It is a LOT less stressful, and no one will care if your house is messy because NO ONE WILL BE THERE! After looking at those places' prices, they are averaging between $8-$12 per person, with generally a limit of 15 guests. And this is for the cheaper places. I found another one today I was thinking for Jed's birthday. Their average price per person was $22. Um, no thank you. 

So, you can have a nice party at your home for a decent price. OR you can let someone else do it for you for a little bit more. It's up to you to weigh the cost. I had fun. My daughter had a blast, and the guests all seemed to really enjoy themselves. 

Let's Party!!

Making plans three months in advance, doing the research, rushing around until the last minute, and enjoying the afterglow. Creating a party that people want to come to and will talk about later on has always been a passion of mine. Growing up, my mother and I would come up with themed birthday parties for me every year. I've had everything from a scavenger hunt birthday party, to a field day party, to a masquerade party, to a Mary Kay party that ended with a hay ride. The parties weren't necessarily about me as it was about making memories for all my friends.

Just the other day my sister and I were out to lunch, and we talked about what I would do after Abigail started school. Would I go back to teaching? Would I find another job? What? What would I do? I don't have patience that so many of my friends have to create enough items to sell. I'm not gifted enough to teach lessons on really anything out of my own home. And although I could tutor someone in English, I don't know if I am ready to jump back into that yet. Then it hit me! If push came to shove, and I really needed to keep myself busy, I could be a party planner. Not anything big time, but I could offer my time to do the research and set up of parties for others.  I have had quite a few people ask me lately on ideas for parties or how to set so and so up. I love, love, LOVE to help! So why not?

Now, this post isn't about me begging for someone to "hire" me to plan a party. All I really want to do is express my love for channeling my creative juices. Let me give you an example. In January, my daughter had her 2nd birthday. She so desperately wanted a princess party, and although she's not really dainty like a princess, she loves the "romance" of a princess. So, I gave her a Fairy Princess party. Although her birthday was in January, I was amazed at how many things I could find in the stores that were perfect for her party! Target was selling little flowers, Tinkerbell flower pots, and little flower trinkets in their Dollar section. I purchased a long-desired cupcake tier, and began the planning. Her party was one big event that involved cupcakes with flowers on it, cake pops, PB&J sandwiches, and a LARGE fairy that I painted on the front door window with window paints. It was frankly a magical event. And although I was rushing around at the last minute, and was concerned that there wasn't enough room in my house for all of the little fairy guests, so many people reassured me that those creative juices weren't for naught.

I look forward to sharing with you my future plans for parties, birthday or not. And hope that my ideas will inspire someone to have a magical party as well!