[FreeCouponingOnline]

My DD's teacher is awesome! She has been such a huge help with my questions and concerns throughout the school year. She is constantly friendly and cheerful, despite me acting like a bear at times, and I want to show my appreciation by thanking her for being able to put up with me.

Gift Basket ideas wanted, but here is the challenge:

What do you give a married 36-year-old Kindergarten teacher who has two tween children, resides in a rural county area, and drives a truck?

I was thinking about "nice" Restaurant Gift Card, Victoria's Secret Gift Card, Spa Gift Certificate for either a pedicure, manicure, massage, facial, etc., Luxury items from Bath and Body Works, Cholocates...

Does anyone else feel that these items are too "sexy"?

...along with hand sanitzer, lotion, lip balm, kleenex, tissues, advil, mints, gum, hand warmers, cough drops, white board markers, erasers, different colored pens or notepads, post it notes, cup-of-soup mixes, 100 calorie snacks, fun size candy bars, nuts, hot cocoa mixes, nutrition bars, coffee, Coffee Shop Gift Cards, tea, full size starbucks ground coffee, a mug, a few packets of swiss miss, a few biscotti and a candy cane, etc.

[cindyloo]

My granddaughter's teachers LOVED the personalized notebooks I ordered them for Christmas! I wish I kept up with who I ordered them from! They both wanted the info! Maybe you could find something like that....

[tcsmom]

I think a gift card for a local restaurant would be a nice touch, in addition to the gift basket for the classroom. Not sure about VS giftcard - people either love it or hate it.

[FreeCouponingOnline]

cindyloo,

Frecklebox charges $10 for personalized notebooks. Is that how much you spent? Expensive paper.

Picnic Stripes Personalized Notebook

[FreeCouponingOnline]

tcsmom,

The thing about "local" restaurant gift cards this that our small rural county town does not have any. All we have is a few fast food joints...not ideal for gc giving.

Local residents have to travel to nearby cities in order to sit down and quitely dine at nice restaurants. And since our community is located on the Indiana/Kentucky boarder state line, I do not know which restaurants she perfers. Not all restaurants are established in both Indiana and Kentucky.

However, if I come right out and ask her where she likes to dine at I am concerned that I will give away the surprise. I do not even know what type of cuisine i.e. American, Seafood, Cajun, Mexican, Italian, French, German, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, etc. she likes.

[FreeCouponingOnline]

I am leaning towards a spa gift certificate or a spa gift basket, because she is constantly multi-tasking and running around in order keep up with 18 5-year-olds. By the end of the day she has got to be physically worn out!

Unfortunately, the gift baskets that I have seen online are terribly expensive and the products are so darn cheesy!

Classic Spa Gift Basket™: Spa Gift Baskets, Spa Baskets, Bath & Body Gift Baskets, Bath Baskets, Spa Gifts, Bath Gift Baskets)

Really?! A plastic shell-shaped tub pillow and plastic gel-filled cooling mask? Eww! I could do a better job at personally piecing together one myself. I would much rather have the plush Tempurpedic sleep mask and some luxury bath & lotion items from Bath and Body Works and Victoria's Secret.

The SleepMask by Tempur-Pedic - Cool & Contouring Comfort

[AmandaDavenport]

It would be a great addition to personally make the basket yourself, not only will it not be one of those cheesy baskets we see online and in stores, you can personalize it with some of the great stuff that is in your stockpile or quality items for far less then you would pay for a already put together basket.

I am making my sons kindergarden teacher a basket for the end of the school year. I made her a holiday basket with bubble bath and stuff, she always talks about it. I peeked at her Facebook page so I know she has 2 kids under 4 so I added a couple things in there for them too.

[littleprincess]

I would suggest a gift card to a craft store. With all of the budget cuts teacher often have to take money out of their own pockets for classroom supplies. I'm sure as a kindergarten teacher she probably goes through a lot of paints and other supplies.

[me08053]

I agree with the PP - with budget cuts, supplies are always needed! But I saw an adorable project that somebody had done to wrap the supples. It was referred to as a school supply "cake". Here is the website: what's scrapping: Back To School Supply Cake - Of course, it could be altered to include whatever supplies you think would be most helpful!

[FreeCouponingOnline]

Great ideas folks. Keep them coming.

Although I do want to include some "school/teacher" items in the gift basket, I also want to give her something just for her. Something not to be shared with the hubby, her kids, the class room, or the PTO.

She, as an individual not just a teacher, has been a true blessing. Some of the situations that we went through together were not all school related and because of her "above and beyond" assistance I want to do something special for her.

True, schools do experience low funding and budget cuts at times, but there is nothing personal about donating 18 boxes of crayons.

[Dominochic]

I was going to suggest the same supply "cake" as me08053 (we must look at the same pins, )

What if you also added things like B&BW or VS lotions, a cute nail polish & file, and some nicer treats (like Dove or Ghirardelli)?

[FreeCouponingOnline]

AmandaDavenport,

I just checked Facebook and she does not have a page.

[me08053]

[quote=Dominochic;4608087]I was going to suggest the same supply "cake" as me08053 (we must look at the same pins, ) QUOTE]

Haha! Have to love Pinterest!

[FreeCouponingOnline]

Finally just came out and asked DD's teacher how she likes to "relax" and what she does for fun.

And her answer was...reading and camp fires! Spoken like a true country girl!

Adding a book or two in the gift basket is the easy part. The challange is obviously the campfire.

I was thinking about including some S'more ingredients to the basket! LOL

[Dominochic]

Originally Posted by FreeCouponingOnline

Finally just came out and asked DD's teacher how she like to "relax" and whe she does for fun.

And her answer was...reading and camp fires! Spoken like a true country girl!

Adding a book or two in the gift basket is the easy part. The challange is obviously the campfire.

I was thinking about including some S'more ingredients to the basket! LOL

Are you on Pinterest? They have so super cute S'more gift ideas I pulled all these ideas from there:
Arts and crafts inspiration / Easy S
Teacher Appreciation / S'more
DIY Projects and Gift Ideas / Adorable s'more kits.

And I thought this one was super cute: Gifts for Daddy / Grandparents / others / Easter Bunny S'mores in a jar. Gift for Andrielle's preschool teacher?

You should be able to view all of these without a Pinterest account, but if you can't LMK and I'll get the direct websites

[FreeCouponingOnline]

Dominochic,

No, I am not a member on Pinterest, but after viewing the links that you provided I need to be!

These S'more ideas are adorable!

Thank you so much for sharing!

I am definitely doing this instead of the "Spa" gift basket!

[Dominochic]

Originally Posted by FreeCouponingOnline

Dominochic,

No, I am not a member on Pinterest, but after viewing the links that you provided I need to be!

These S'more ideas are adorable!

Thank you so much for sharing!

I am definitely doing this instead of the "Spa" gift basket!

I'm glad you liked the ideas PM me if you want an invite to Pinterest (there isn't any kind of referral bonus or anything!) Otherwise, you can sign up on their site and wait for the site people to "invite" you (it takes a couple days to a week for them to invite you, so it's just quicker to have another member invite you) - I think it's just a way for them to track who's joining and such.

I hope you found something that will work for your teacher!

[FreeCouponingOnline]

Finally figured out what my gift basket idea will be for my DD's teacher. After working on it for 3 months (started on 02-07-12) it is finally complete as of today 04-10-12.

Will be uploading pictures in phases. Please be patient as I will be sharing brief posts with each phase of photos.

[FreeCouponingOnline]

The basket. Originally a light-robin-egg-blue color, I primed and painted it black to resemble a "fire pit". It is a wicker basket; not plastic.

Basket's handle is attched with a metal pin on left and right side allowing the handle to move. The handle can either be lowered or raised.

Bedding is shredded black construction paper.

Cost: free. Basket, primer, paint, and construction paper was retrieved from stock pile.

[FreeCouponingOnline]

The Books. Over several brief and casual conversations, I have picked up tidbits of what her interests and hobbies are. Among campfires, leisure reading is one of them.

Cost: $2.97 per book. 5 x $2.97 = $14.85 (w/out tax).

Books were bought at Lifeway and are classified as "Fiction Christian Novels".

[FreeCouponingOnline]

Another book. A teacher's daily devotional.

Cost: $2.87 (w/out tax)

Book bought at Lifeway.

[FreeCouponingOnline]

Last Book. A promise and prayer book.

Cost: $1.49 (w/out tax).

Book bought at Family Christian Store.

[FreeCouponingOnline]

Cannot read a book by a campfire without a book light.

Cost: free. Booklight was retrieved from stock pile.

[FreeCouponingOnline]

Cannot sit next to a campfire without something to drink. Discovered that she likes honey with her tea.

Cost: $2.38 (w/out tax).

Tea bought at Wal-Mart.

[FreeCouponingOnline]

And what campfire would be complete without Jiffy Pop popcorn?!

Cost: $1.48 (w/out tax).

Popcorn bought at Wal-Mart.