DIY Teacher Appreciation Gift
What better way to demonstrate your appreciation for all the hard work your child’s teacher has done
this year than with a gift requiring a bit of your own handiwork? Package these items with a heartfelt
card from your child, and you have a gift that any teacher will cherish.

FABRIC TASSEL BOOKMARKS
If your child’s teacher loves to read, pair a bookstore gift
card with a homemade bookmark. You can make these
stylish bookmarks by following the easy step-by-step
instructions at Purely Katie. purelykatie.com
You Rule!
POTTED PLANTS
Tell your child’s teacher “You Rule!” with a school-inspired planter
by DIYer Melissa Caughey. Fill it with an easy-care plant, such as a
succulent, that doesn’t require much effort. hgtv.com
SELF-CARE KITS
Help a teacher relax after a stressful
year with a sugar scrub and whipped
body butter made by you and your child.

Amanda Smith of Bayside Beauty, a
producer of natural handcrafted
soaps, shares the recipes at
washingtonfamily.com T
30 Washington FAMILY MAY 2021
Best Teacher
BOOKMARK: COMSTOCK/STOCKYTE; PATTERN: ELYSART ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS;
TOTE: CHINNAPONG/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS; BAG PATTERN: DOM J/PEXELS;
PLANT: KORKENG/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS
PERSONALIZED FABRIC TOTE BAGS
Purchase plain fabric tote bags and let the kids embellish them with
permanent-marker drawings or cutout shapes and designs that you
help them iron on. “Pretty Handy Girl” Brittany Bailey shares more
decorating ideas for tote bags on her blog. prettyhandygirl.com



appreciation from a student.”
Retired teacher Ginny Bishop
says she was “always most touched
by personal notes. It’s just a bonus
they never get used up or stale.”
Notes, she adds, “keep forever.”
Many teachers mentioned that
they do, in fact, keep them forever.

Drawings, notes Sara Wallace,
are also loved.

Perhaps unsurprisingly in a year
when so much human contact has
been off-limits, many teachers wrote that
they missed hugs. Until hugs are possible
again, teachers will love “cards and notes for
sure,” says Alicia Danyali.

The Personalized Gift
a critter at the zoo for the animal-loving
teacher whose pets made cameos in the
online classroom. One of Emily Brewster’s
students made her a “personalized face
mask” for Christmas.

There’s no excuse for a catchall coffee
shop card this year, unless your child’s
teacher showed up on Zoom every morning
with a coffee cup on his or her desk. Check
out the Zoom background, and while you’re
at it, check in on the teacher. Does your
child’s teacher seem a little stressed out?
A gift card for a massage or aromatherapy
treatment might be appreciated. You,
and your students, are more connected to
MASK: COURTESY OF EMILY BREWSTER; TEACHER: DRAZEN ZIGIC/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS
If, like Edwards’ class parents, you’re able
to eavesdrop while you help your child with
online school, you have the benefit this
year of knowing your child’s teacher better
than you would have during a typical school
year. Put this knowledge to use when you
thank your teacher. You could name a star
after a teacher who is a NASA fan or adopt
Craft a personalized mask
your teachers this year than you
might think.

After all, the kids who filled
Edwards’ yard with signs hadn’t
met Edwards in person yet. It
demonstrated to Edwards that “it is
possible to make those connections
virtually. Building relationships is
the key to teaching students — even
if we aren’t in the same room.”
That’s what teachers have been
doing all year, she says: “making
connections, Googling, finding solutions.”
On days when the technology isn’t
cooperating, it’s about “making it work.”
Although Edwards says she won’t miss the
2020-2021 school year, she will miss all the
students in her class this academic year. She
says the kids and families couldn’t possibly
top their birthday surprise. For the end of
the year she wants “nothing. Really.”
She pauses, then concedes there might, in
fact, be something she’d like.

“Pictures,” she says. “We haven’t had
much opportunity to be together. I wish I
had more pictures.” T
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