Holiday Gift Giving Ideas

The clock is ticking. Time is running out. What in the world am I going to get for everyone on my list? I don't have time to scour Pinterest. Amazon won't ship my items in time. What's a girl to do?

Have no fear! Here are a few quick and easy ideas you can throw together in no time!

STUDENT GIFT IDEAS TO GIVE TO THEIR FAMILY

Salt Dough Snowman Ornaments: These are always a HUGE hit with families. You need a couple days to complete this project. I suggest making the salt and flour dough at home. I worked with small groups of 2-3 students to make the ornament shape. Then, I took them home to bake them and painted them the next day. 

SALT & FLOUR DOUGH RECIPE

2 cups of flour

1 c of salt

1/2 c water

*This recipe make 8-10 ornaments depending on how large and thick you make them.

Paint Stick Snowman Ornament: You need: Paint sticks (free at your local home improvement store such as Home Depot), white, black, and orange paint, google eyes, and scrap material for the scarf.

SUPER Easy Snowman Ornament: This year time was of the essence. I was on a budget and needed a quick gift idea. I was at Michael's for what seemed like the 100th time in a week, and I looked over to find these plastic ornaments on sale! I think they were 70% off! I grabbed a class set before they disappeared! A few shelves over were bags of mini snowball fill and ...TADA! My mom came into class to help fill the ornaments and tie ribbon to the top. Then, I had each child draw the nose, eyes, and mouth on with permanent markers. Wrap them in pre-printed bags. Add a tag, And you are done! This was all completed in one school day!

If you want to get a bit fancier with the wrapping, you can always use festive clear wrapping paper and tie it with a pretty bow.

STUDENT GIFT IDEAS FROM A TEACHER

This year I thought ahead and picked out books from Scholastic for each of my students for the holidays. Even if you haven't planned ahead, you can use bonus points and at the books shipped to you in about 2 days!

I ran out of red and green tissue paper. And no other teacher had any for me to borrow.... I had used all my cute Santa plastic bags to wrap their parent gifts in.... SO... I decided to go out of the box and use brown lunch bags as my wrapping. I created personalized bookmarks for each student. I laminated them and used them as the tag on the outside of each bag. Now when they open their present they will have a special bookmark to go with their brand new book! 

STAFF GIFTS

1.Treat Caddie: I saw this idea on Instagram and/or Pinterest. These crates are from the Target Dollar Spot. Fill it with a few special treats and add a tag with ribbon and you have an instant awesome gift to give!

2. Lottery Ticket: This might not seem like much but it could be worth thousands of dollars! Give each colleague a scratch off lottery ticket as a gift. Add a tag that says. "I won the LOTTERY with you at our school" or "I wish you a LOTTO happiness this holiday season". Everyone loves to play the lottery, but may not buy a ticket for themselves. This gift will surely be a hit.

I would love to hear what you give as gifts to parents and colleagues. Please share your ideas in the comments. Happy Holidays!