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Teacher gifts that aren't a mug
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items What to get a teacher when you have had it with mugs. Mostly the thing they actually ask for, a gift card and somewhere nice to put it, plus hand cream, a good pen and a candle with no apple on it anywhere.
Teachers ask for this every single year and we keep not listening. It is the one that actually gets used. Put it inside something nice and it stops feeling lazy.
Amazon eGift Card
The safest card there is. Fifteen dollars covers a week of before school drinks, and nobody has to pretend to love a candle.
Starbucks eGift Card
Three travel sprays that smell like fruit instead of a hospital. Sanitizer is the thing a classroom burns through fastest, so this is just the nice version of a real need.
Touchland Juicy Trio Hydrating Hand Sanitizer
If you are going to do a candle, do a plain vanilla one with no apple on it anywhere. Forty hours, soy, and it looks like it cost more than it did.
LA JOLIE MUSE Vanilla Zest Soy Candle 40H
Their name printed on good cardstock. Teachers write more notes than anyone, and this is the rare personalized gift that is not covered in little pencils.
Personalized Blue Hydrangea Note Cards & Envelopes
Two tubes of the balm everyone is posting about. This is the easy splurge, the thing they would like and would never buy for themselves.
Summer Fridays Tinted Lip Butter Balm Set
Scrub, wash and lotion in travel sizes for under fifteen dollars. Good for the year you are buying for four teachers and a bus driver.
Tree Hut Vanilla Travel Kit Bath and Body Gift Sets - 4pc
Keys, phone and a card, with the lanyard already on it. If there is one teacher you want to actually spend money on, this is my pick.
Lululemon Dual Pouch Wristlet
Teacher themed without being another apple. It holds markers fine, but it is really the nicest way to hand over a gift card.
Teacher Appreciation TEACH Chenille Letter Pouch
Put a real card with whatever you give. The card is the part they keep, and this one does not look like it came from the grocery checkout.
Minted Thank You Card 5x7 w/Envelope
Three tinted balms for about what one of the fancy ones costs. The right size add on when the gift needs one more thing in the bag.
e.l.f. Squeeze Me Lip Balm Trio - 3 Colors
The bottle that sits on the desk all day. Sip spout and straw in one lid, so they can drink it while a kid is mid sentence.
Owala 24 fl oz FreeSip Stainless Steel Water Bottle - Misty Meadow
Teachers are specific about pens and these are the ones they hide in a drawer. Six colors, no bleed through.
Paper Mate Flair Candy Pop Felt Pens, 6pk
Same gift card, holiday envelope. If you are giving the card, this is how you make it look like you tried.
Amazon Gift Card - Pale Blue Snowflake
The green one, for the teacher whose gift is going under a tree. Pick whichever matches your wrapping and move on.
Amazon Gift Card - Green Holly Envelope
Kraft paper and gingerbread, the least sugary of the three envelopes. This is the one I would pick.
Amazon Gift Card - Kraft Gingerbread
It turns a piece of plastic into something to open. Worth the extra few dollars, every time.
Best Teacher Gift Card Holder
Sticky notes with their name on them. Cheap, personal, and they live in the drawer that actually gets opened.
Personalized Teacher Post-it Notes: Custom Name Sticky Notes
The notepad that goes home in a folder a hundred times a year. Their name across the top is the whole gift.
Personalized Teacher Notepad - A Note From
The clipboard is permanently in their hand at pickup. A floral one with their name is the version that does not get left behind in June.
Personalized Florals Teacher Clipboard
For the teacher who is going to spend it on the classroom anyway. At least let them buy the good folders.
Target Gift Card - Bullseye Trio
The tote that hauls papers home and survives it. Monogram it and it is a gift they use for ten years.
L.L.Bean Boat and Tote - Vintage Rose
Some teachers say this beats everything, notes can be from parents too.
Handwritten Notes