Teacher Appreciation Gifts

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week at our school, and I was in charge of coordinating everything (just like last year). Luckily for me, we have a bunch of really great parents at our school, many who were once teachers themselves, who really appreciate everything our teachers do!

I couldn't decide on a theme this year, so I decided to just go with a bunch of themes and tie them all up under a shared phrase. The phrase was "Our Teachers Are...", and here are the way the days played out...

Monday: (individual chips)

Tuesday: (pack of gum)

Wednesday: (cookies)

Thursday: (apple wall hangings)

Okay, I totally get that this phrase isn't grammatically correct -- but I did it for the sake of the pun. :)  To go along with this day, I made 39 apple wall hangings -- a ridiculous amount, but I'll explain in a second. Here's what 35 of them looked like:

They're covering my ENTIRE design wall -- it's 4' x 6'!!

 

Friday was our luncheon, so we went with "OUR TEACHERS ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD!"  We served Italian sodas, American sandwiches, English chips (okay, I realize these aren't authentic English chips, but we're going with the theme here... :)), Swedish fish, and French pastries, all with similar signs to link everything together. As always, it went off so well -- even though I had the flu and couldn't help out with the luncheon like I usually do.

I also had a couple of PTA ladies prepare little booklets for the teachers' helpers (usually room moms) who take over the class for about 30 minutes, to give the teachers a little longer lunch the day of the luncheon. The booklets were 1/4 sheets of paper, one for each child in the class plus a few extras, that said things like "I love it when Mrs. Wimmer..." and "My favorite thing about Mr. Fox is...", with a 1/4 sheet of cardstock for the front and one for the back, and a ribbon to tie the whole thing together. The idea is that the teachers' helpers will help the kids make this book, and then they present it to the teacher at the end of the luncheon.

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This year I've been struggling a little with anxiety, so I decided to try and simplify some things in my life. As a result, this is the last year I'll do Teacher Appreciation Week -- at least for a while. Hence the 39 apple wall hangings. :) I really do appreciate teachers, but I've started embracing the fact that party planning is not my favorite thing, and I'll leave it to someone else next year.

#BFTPqal and Teacher Appreciation

This week, instead of doing my #BFTPqal blocks, I'll be finishing up some cute little apples for Teacher Appreciation Week. Here's a little preview -- I'll have more information a little later this week on how I made them and what we did for Teacher Appreciation Week last week.  Apples for DAAAAYYYYYYYSSSSSS....

If you're looking for this week's blocks, Katie has them at Lady Fortune's Wheel.

Happy Birthday!

Last week was the start of another school year, and for me that means PTA starts up too.  I'm in charge of teacher & staff birthday treats, and they turned out so so cute!

This year I decided to go simple and sweet. What's simpler and sweeter than a giant sugar cookie?  Oh, yeah -- these are Granny B pink sugar cookie size, and I'll say they're just as good! And the packaging worked out just as cute as it was in my head. I love it when that happens!

The fonts I used are 2Peas Mr. Giggles (I think it was $2?), Maiden Orange (free on dafont.com), Return to Sender (free on dafont.com), and Wish I Were Taller (free on kevinandamanda.com).

And here's the recipe:

MTC Sugar Cookies
(I call them that because this is the recipe I used when my sister and Joel's were in the MTC together)
from my Great-Aunt Valene Ferguson

1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. margarine or shortening
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 c. sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
7 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Cream butters. Add sugar, egg, sour cream, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Mix well after each addition. Chill 1 hour. Roll out and cut into desired shapes. Placed on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake or they won't stay soft!

Frosting -- not super technical, but this is how I make it:
1/2 c. butter, softened
splash of milk
dash of vanilla
powdered sugar
food coloring

Whip butter for a couple of minutes. Add milk, vanilla, food coloring and at least 1/2 a bag of powdered sugar. Keep adding powdered sugar and milk as needed to achieve desired consistency. Taste it and add a little butter if needed for flavor. Add more sugar and/or milk if needed. When everything is perfect, frost cookies.  If there is leftover frosting, add cocoa powder until it's nice and chocolatey and spread on graham crackers for a sweet treat that will remind you of your childhood!