Monday, December 15, 2008

H-E-L-P!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm in total panic mode! And in desperate need of help!!!!!!!

Does anyone have any ideas for useful, inexpensive gifts for our bus drivers, teachers, and I'd love to even get something for the girls at the gym who love on my babies day after day! Any ideas? Anyone? Pretty please help a overwhelmed, overworked, unorganized, procrastinating mama out!

I am not even 20% through my Christmas shopping and suddenly I realized that Christmas is NEXT WEEK! Seriously, I haven't gotten the kids 1 thing. And this week we have Jesus birthday parties, Christmas parties, Santa parties, school parties, Christmas plays, progressive dinners, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

I need to go to bed. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel refreshed and ready to tackle the world. While I'm sleeping, please be thinking for me! Please... Thanks, y'all are good friends!

9 comments:

Melonie said...

I am a total gift card girl, myself. When I think of useful, inexpensive, and easy to give and receive, that's what comes to mind! I'd get them each a card with a gift card tucked inside (store/restaurant and denomination of your choosing) and be done with it. Some may think it's tacky or "unthoughtful"...but growing up as the daughter of a teacher, I know they are well-received. (Just don't go with the "World's Best Teacher" ornament!!)

Elizabeth said...

When I'm too busy to make anything I go to a catering shop nearby and buy a nice muffin or cookie mix. I spend a little more, but who has the time to make treats for all those teachers, bus drivers, etc? Not me!

Jessi said...

Okay, so here's my "2 cents"....you could buy a nice coffee mug (Kohl's usually has their's 50% off), make some spiced tea (the Tang, tea, lemonade, sugar, cinnamon, cloves recipe--if you need it, let me know), spoon it into a nicely decorated mason jar, and then include a $5 gift card to a local movie store. OR if you're up for it, you could make some homemade hand lotion (you can never have enough moisturizer this time of year) and put it in a nicely decorated plastic container along with another small something.

Last year, I gave each of Josiah's day care teachers a small Willow Tree ornament...and they LOVED them (or so they said). ;-)

BUT if you don't have the time or like the aforementioned ideas, I would go the gift card route. I'm in complete agreement with "Real-life Family", they're far more useful than any World's Best Teacher item. ;-)

Stacy said...

I like $5 Starbucks gift cards inside a cut mug

Anonymous said...

Does Texas have an abundance of oranges right now like FL? I just found this and am thinking it's a "go"!
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipeId=2360

Brandi said...

Just an idea for your own kids, Amazon.com is having a lot of great toy deals. They also offer free shipping, and are fast. That's where I did most of my shopping. Good Luck!

Anonymous said...

so many teachers spend there own money for supplies, that a gift card to anywhere where they have a choice between supplies or groceries, toilet paper on one visit and to a place where it's cheap no matter what, would be my recommendation... with the economy, who wouldn't enjoy that!

matt n karisa said...

Yeah, when I worked in the schools, I LOVED gift cards to ANYWHERE! It's guilt-free spending. :) Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Dollar Tree, Target...anywhere. I also liked when parents would just bring in a bouquet of markers or glue sticks. :) I also cherish the ornaments that my students gave me. While I like to GIVE mug-gifts, receiving multiple mug gifts can be a dilemma--can't possibly store or use them all, but feel totally guilty about dropping them off at 2nd Chance. No matter how cheap or expensive, personal or impersonal, permanent or temporary, these people will appreciate your thoughtfulness as they are people who often get overlooked.

Jessi said...

Some pretty good ideas....so what did you end up doing?