But what did you get the teacher?

Sure, we are all successful educators. I get it, you’re just as brilliant as me.

However, at some point after Thanksgiving and before Christmas Break you run a terrifying equation through your head. And during that calculation all your degrees and apple-tinged accolades are for nothing unless you find the *best*, most unusual teacher gifts that inspires awe in the other parents and draws praise from your kid’s teacher  – – that this is the only teacher present they have every really liked. Suddenly the only backward designing you can do is count backward from the last day for students to when you ‘absolutely have to make/get/repurpose something’ and that will be the only thing you can use your ‘Beautiful Mind’ on until it is finished. I am not one to judge my Things to Give Pinterest board tells the tale of my timeline, feel free to preview the gifts of your future fellow educator.

Last year I had a Kindergartener who had four content teachers and four paraprofessionals. Whew, I barely made it through that holiday season. I gave these last year and the prep was more than the expense:

This year he has a luxurious two content teachers. (Maybe administrators should use the number of Christmas gifts you will send in during December as a public relations tactic?)

So I going with popcorn/RedBox certificate combination and the TicTac rebranding. Not awful for effort, except finding the red and green TicTacs was surprisingly tricky.

I hope all your teacher “goodies” are finger print-free and that the gift certificates flow freely!