Holiday Gifts for Teachers - Whittier,CA

You can try this great cookie recipe for dried fruit cookies. They are so pretty and tasty too! You can make them in a big batch and freeze them and then just defrost in the refrigerator overnight and slice and bake as needed.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/dried-fruit...

To personalize it you could get a little personalized tote with the teachers initial on it. Try the Christmas Tree Shop, they sell lots of cute little bags at really reasonable prices.

VillageMom
www.ittakesavillagedallas.com

Peppermint Bark :)
Peppermint Bark
12 oz chocolate chips
1 pound white chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup peppermint candy, crushed

Preheat oven to 250. Line a 9x13 pan with foil, letting it hang over the sides. Spray foil. Pour the chocolate chips in an even layer on the foil. Place in oven for 5 minutes or until almost melted. Remove from oven, smooth with an offset spatula or knife. Place in refrigerator until cold and firm, about 20 minutes.

Melt white chocolate chips in a double boiler or in a metal bowl over simmering water (don’t let bottom of bowl touch water), until chocolate is almost melted. You can use your microwave for this if you’re brave! Remove bowl from water and stir until completely melted, stirring in extract. Let cool a little bit so it doesn’t melt the chocolate layer when you pour it on top. Pour this over chocolate layer, and, working quickly, spread to cover. Sprinkle with crushed candy.

Chill until both layers are firm. Lift foil out of pan and shake off excess candy. Trim edges. Cut into 2” wide strips. Peel bark from foil and cut each strip as desired. Chill in covered container. Makes about 2 pounds.

Note, I typically double the recipe and use a cookie sheet instead.

When I taught I loved getting christmas ornaments from my student. Each year I would remember the student that gave it to me as I hung it on the tree.
Other nice gifts were a wodden ruler that the mother had painted my name on the back .
Pencils that were personalized with my name.(so I could get them back)
and teacher type magnets for my desk/ fridge.
On another note:
At the end of the year I had my picture taken with each individual student and gave them a copy and kept one for myself.

Open letter to ALL parents from your child’s teacher.
It is that time of year again, time to “thank the teacher”. What to do, what to do?
First know it is not necessary to get me anything. This is my job and I love what I do.
But if you must…
As a retired teacher I can tell you I have received a LOT of gifts over the years.
I have more “world’s greatest teacher” mugs, and cups, ornaments and pens then I could ever use.
I have plenty of “home-made” pictures, scrapbook pages and “hand written” stories.
Now yes, they are wonderful and come from the heart, but where can I put them all? I can’t leave them in my classroom, that gets cleaned out every year. I don’t have the storage in my home and it breaks my heart to have to “recycle them”.
And treats and home-made goodies, yes, I love them, but they don’t love me. They add extra sugar and calories to my already challenged eating habits.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR ME?

OPEN gift certificates are great, maybe a mall or VISA gift card. You may think you know where I shop or what I like but what if I want something different? What if I have secret hobbies or skills that I’ve never shared with my students or parents? That way I can buy the coffee, the clothes, the books or anything else I may want. I get to decide!
How about the promise of volunteering in my classroom or on a field trip?
What about all those stickers and pencils and “prizes” I give away…I buy them all out of my own money, I’d LOVE a basket of “those goodies”.

Parents, imagine that I have 30 kids… that’s 30 presents!! Imagine what wonderful things you could do me for me and my classroom.

Hi J.! First, I think it is wonderful that you want to recognize your son's teachers. That is very thoughtful. I am a former teacher (I taught older kids/middle school). I can give you a little bit of the teacher perspective if you like.... the teachers will be grateful for anything they receive, however there are a few things that we sometimes got overloaded on. Baked goods are a great choice if you want this to be meaningful for your son because he can help create the gift, however it is likely the teacher may not get as much use from them. I often got overloaded with baked goods and as a result "payed it forward" and gave them away. I always appreciated girly items like lotions and candles that I could use all year long. Because I taught science, I had to purchase a ton of my own supplies for experiments, so grocery gift cards were really appreciated. Maybe you can do a project with your son to decorate a candle holder. You could get an inexpensive votive candle and a cute clear candle holder from the dollar store. He can help glue some cute ribbon around the holder and maybe even glue on an ornament. Another idea if your son likes cooking is you can make dry dip mix and put in a cute plastic bag with cooking instructions to make the dip. This could be put inside the cute candle holder. Happy Holidays!

Hello, Gift cards are always nice, but nothing compares to a homemade gift. The fudge or cookies would probably be nice for her. You could put a $5.00 Starbucks gift card in the other 5 teachers' package with the homemade items and maybe a $10.00 to $20.00 one in the main teacher's gift. Or just leave out the gift cards and give a little bigger package to the main teacher.
Good luck with your precious little boy.
K. K.

We do candy. We have 5 main teacher, crossing guard and at least five helpers at martial arts. This year we are doing peppermint bark, fudge, triple mints, choc covered apricots, pretzels and walnuts.

Peppermint bark - melt white chocolate and spread on foil lined pan. Crush candy canes and press into choc while still soft.

Triple mints (3 layers) - 1st layer-melt dark choc, spread on foil lined pan, stick in fridge to harden. 2nd layer - white choc with 1tsp peppermint extract (green food coloring optional) melt and pour on top of dark choc, stick in fridge to harden. 3rd layer - melt milk choc and pour on top of white choc layer. Chill overnight and cut into pieces.

Tins are too expensive. Last year I bought some treat boxes in the Christmas section for $1.29 ea. This year I bought Rubbermaid plastic containers (4 for $2.16) to use for their main teachers. I also found some treat bags (4 for .99) in the Christmas section to use for teacher and marital arts "helpers".

You could also do the cookies or soup mixes in the jars for everyone....very budget friendly. And for the main teacher just add to hers with mug & cocoa/coffee to go with the cookie mix.

I would give a gift card to the main teacher. If I were ever a teacher, I would rather get 30 $5 or $10 gift cards than 30 plates of baked goods. I know moms feel more special GIVING baked goods, but getting that much is different. I usually give a $15 or $20 gift card to the main teacher and smaller starbucks or jamba cards to other teachers.