I’ve been debating teacher’s gifts for a couple months now. Pinning things on pinterest, contemplating crafting, considering gift cards or office supplies. I couldn’t make up my mind and I also had no idea what the school’s policy is on presents and didn’t want to trust MM with bringing in anything expensive.

This afternoon I read this post at The Happiest Mom about taking the stress out of teacher gifts. The big picture idea in the post was about keeping in mind WHY you are giving them a gift – what the important part is.

And I realized that it wasn’t about me buying them some random object that would show them what a good mom I am – it was about MM having an opportunity to say thank you to them and show his appreciation – and that doesn’t have to cost a dime.

I immediately pulled out some construction paper and ribbon and put him to work making each of his three teachers a Christmas card – MM loves all things crafting and writing and he adores his teachers so he was all over this and painstakingly drew and colored and wrote out messages for each of his teachers.

On the inside of each card he drew a picture of that teacher and wrote a Christmas message to them. I thought this was a great opportunity for him to work on his writing and letter recognition.

He spent a good hour working on these cards – far more time than I would have spent buying a gift card or a pack of post-it notes – not that there is anything wrong with those gifts ; I am sure they’d be put to good use.

But for now, for us, this just felt right. I loved that MM was involved from beginning to end in this project and that it’s simple and heartfelt and frugal. Perfect.

Let’s just hope he remembers to take them out of his backpack to give to them!