Your Holiday {Student} Shopping Guide!

Hey there! It's Gina from Miss Peluso's Kindergarten here to chat with you about one of my favorite topics… gifts!

One of my favorite things to do is find the perfect present for someone. I LOVE seeing the joy on people's faces when they open up a gift that was just MEANT for them. Do you share this little piece of happiness? Are you struggling with deciding what to get your students for the holiday? I'm here today to bring you my top 5 holiday gifts for students!

Before I dive into my favorite student gifts, let me tell you three things that are very important to me when deciding on a gift for my students.

1. Simple to make: I am a huge fan of DIY gifts, but I hate when they are so tedious that I would have rather spent the extra money just to buy the thing! I always read through all of the directions first and make sure that it will be easy to make. {Trust me, I learned this the hard way!}
2. Inexpensive: Buying gifts for 16+ students can definitely break the bank, and I do not have a large bank to break! We all know that teachers are paid moderately, so I'm sure that you enjoy bargains as much as me! This is one reason why I love DIY gifts- there are always substitutions that you can make to make a DIY project fit your budget. {Don't forget to check what supplies you have before you go out shopping!}
3. Great for boys and girls: Unless you teach in an all-boys school or an all-girls school, you probably have both boys and girls in your class. Trying to find separate gifts for each gender can be very time consuming, especially if you're making them yourself. That's why I make sure that the DIY gifts I make are great for all kiddos!
Now, let's take a look at some of my favorite holiday gifts this year and find out what I'm making for my students!

Snowman soup has been a very popular gift this holiday season. Simple to make, all you need is some hot chocolate mix, candy canes, marshmallow, and chocolate of your choice. Wrap it up in a little gift bag or with some cello wrap {Dollar Tree find!}, and you're all set with a gift that your kiddos will enjoy during those cold days of winter break. (Credit: click here)

I also found this precious poem to go along with Snowman Soup. If you know the original creator of this poem, please let me know! I love to give credit where credit is due!

What's more fun than homemade crayons? Homemade crayons that are shaped like trees! I never knew it was so easy to make your own crayons: just chop up some crayons, put them in a shaped muffin tin or brownie pan, and pop them in the oven! Wrap these little guys in some cellophane {you will soon notice a trend here!}, add a cute gift tag, and you are good to go! (Credit: click here)

Let's encourage a love of reading in our students by giving them these adorable bookmarks! I know I would love to tuck one of these in my book! This particular site shows the bookmarks being made with a cereal box and wrapping paper, but card stock would work just as well! You probably already own all of the materials, except spray mount, but I think that mod podge would be a good substitute (I know that the majority of my teacher friends own mod podge!) If you don't, hey, that's only one item that you have to buy- sounds like a good deal to me! Add your students' names and the year as a memory, and you've got a Santa bookmark in a snap! (Credit: click here)

The last holiday gift that I've been eyeing for a while now before I share with you what I'm making again for my kiddos this year, are these darling initial ornaments. Now, I know that these look incredibly terrifying to make, but they're really not! These particular ones are from Etsy, but all it takes is a clear ornament {Dollar Tree!} and a paint pen. Write your students' initials and maybe a cute design {or get someone with cute handwriting to write it for ya!}, and tie on some festive ribbon! Your kiddos are sure to think of you each time they hang this ornament on their tree. (Credit: click here)

So, now I'm sure you're all wondering what I'm making my kiddos for a holiday present (gift #5!). Well, I can't reveal it just yet! I will start the DIY-ing next weekend, so you'll have to stop by the blog then to find out! Happy DIY-ing!