Gifts for their teachers

Last year I had wanted to make the boys' preschool teachers gifts for Christmas. Sadly it did not come to fruition. This year I was determined to get it done. So the day before the last day of school I sat Aiden and Cai down to work on teacher gifts in the morning.

Aiden unwrapping candy canes

 I had decided on making hot chocolate mixes. We followed this recipe, although I"m not sure we used as much peppermint bits. We added mini chocolate chips and mini marshmallows to the top of the jar as well. The boys had a great time hammering the candy canes to make the tiny bits.

Cai helping or just being impatient for his turn. However you want to look at it. 

 I then hot glued Christmas fabric to the top and added a candy cane to each jar. For most of them I used old sunflower butter jars. I think one was placed in a salsa jar, a few in plastic peanut butter jars and Ian got to use canning jars cause I ran out of the others.

Cai hammering the candy canes

 Ian made his own batch when he got home from school that afternoon. I think at that point we left of out the peppermint bits cause he was worried about being done so he could watch Clifford. Of the priorities of a 6 year old. I did make him write "Merry Christmas from Ian" on all his cards. I figure he can do write and I'm sure the practice is good for him. :)

All but Ian's done

 I was kinda proud of these. One with the month we had in December I'm proud I even got them done. I figured in the span of a week we dealt with strep throat (Ian), lice (all of us but Mark) and pink eye (Cai).  The fact I actually got these done and given to all 8 teachers is kinda amazing. Note about the 8 teachers. Ian made gifts for his teacher and the two aids. Cai has two classroom teachers and a art aid. Aiden's speech therapy class has a teacher and aid. So we had 8 total to gift for. Plus I made two extra for our pastors at church. :)Number two reason for being proud: I thought they all looked nice when I was done. It is always nice to make something that looks nice when it's all finished.
 In addition to teacher gifts this year, Ian made gifts for his classmates. His class had a stocking exchange where they were asked (if they wanted to participate) to bring in a small gift for each student. The point was to not spending more than a few dollars for the whole class, so the suggestions were to bring candy canes, stickers, pencils, etc. We made recycled crayons. I had a ton of broken crayons that I cut into small piece. We then melted them in silicone penguin molds that I had gotten a few years ago for free. The shape didn't turn out great but that's okay. I still felt good about it. And who doesn't like mystery crayons with several different colors swirls around? I'm not sure exactly what all the boys got out of all this. My hope was they could experience the joy of giving. If we continue such traditions, I hope they can learn not only the joy of giving but that it's possible to give something fun without spending alot. That making it is just as fun!