The kids and I made "Santa's Belly Buttons" (Harrison calls them Santa's Nipples . . . I am Mother of the Year) last night for their teachers. You just simply lay out circle pretzels on some parchment paper and fill the centers with Kisses (we did peppermint) and place them on a cookie sheet in a 200 degree oven for 2 minutes (they are not melted, just shiny and soft) When you take them out of the oven you press an M&M in the center of the Kiss. Fun and simple. The kids were really focused on unwrapping all the Kisses, laying out the pretzels, then pressing the M&M on the top. Kept them busy for well over and hour. Bonus.
I kept some candle jars and washed them a couple times. They have been airing out in a bag in the laundry room for a week or so in order to obliterate the candle smell. I made a little label, put it on with packing tape and tied a cute ribbon. I avoided doing a Christmas label so that they might be able to use the jar for their desk or something. Or they could just gorge themselves on the candy and then toss it in the can. That's okay too! I think they are cute!
I am super nervous about my co-worker's gifts. I have 5 people who work in the office with me. I have been there for almost 20 years so originality is difficult. I saw a cute idea on a blog a month or so ago and for the life of me I cannot find it to link to it. If you know where it was, let me know. I made an Eco-Friendly Cleaning Kit. If you have been reading here for awhile you will know that I have been making my own cleaning products for awhile now. So, when I saw this idea, I knew it was for me!
The baskets include an All Purpose Spray, a shaker container (from Kosher salt I bought at the dollar store) of my favorite Arm and Hammer's Super Washing Soda, a scrub brush, a few T-shirt rags rolled up, a scrubber, a baggie of denture tablets for toilets, and a laminated "recipe" card to re-make the solutions and ideas for usage. I think I wanna put some shredded brown bags in the basket for filler and I am going to add a couple lemons since you cannot Eco-Clean without lemons!
So what do you think? Should I have stayed with a cheap-o gift cards and the "Greatest Teacher apple ornament?
I Love your ideas! I think they are terrific. I would love to get a present like this! It is better than a gift card (which I rarely give because I think it is the easy way out). My SIL gives us a Wal-Mart gift card every year. It infuriates me. I do not shop at Wal-Mart....ever. Hate that place. But, she couldn't "think" of anything else....whine. Great ideas!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE these ideas too! Good job girl. So original and not the same old, same old.
ReplyDeleteYou're so cool! Seriously...you make me feel...tired. Is that weird? You seem to always be doing something...productive.
ReplyDeleteAwesome though...both this and the jars for teachers...great ideas!
You gotta see the newest Baker..you will like him ;0)
hey, since you ARE the queen of homemade clean, do you have any good ideas on cleaning hard water spots and soap scum off of ceramic tiles and tub? It's actually more than spots. :-<
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