Ah, the end of another school year.
Here comes summer with all its sunshine and lazy afternoons and playdates and movie watching.
But before we could usher in the season of lengthy days that begin with laughter and staying up late and barbecuing and playing in the sprinklers (sure, it’s all fun and games that first week of summer vacation) and slowly morph into lengthy days of hiding in the bathroom just for some solitude and a piece of chocolate, counting the hours until bedtime and daydreaming about that blessed first day of school that is still so far away (has it really only been two weeks since school let out??), there was end of the year stuff to be done.
I had [wisely] offered to be in charge of the end-of-the-year gifts for the teachers at my daughter’s preschool; and since I had barely returned from a trip to California just two days before school let out, it was a mad rush to get it done. Clearly, I enjoy gift giving under pressure.
Thank God for Target. What can’t you buy there? A car, I guess. Though I wouldn’t put it past them in the future. Anyway, after a couple of hours of roaming the store and shoving things in tote bags to make sure it all fit, I came up with the perfect summer relaxation gift bags for our teachers.
I had seen lots of beach-related teacher gift bags on Pinterest, which were cute, but since we don’t live on the coast and because I’m all about practicality, I wanted to be sure there were some things in there that the teachers would actually use and appreciate. So I decided to focus on the theme of “summer relaxation” when pulling together items for the gift bag. Here’s a list of everything that ended up in the cute tote bags (found in the Dollar Spot, no less! You know I picked one up for myself, too…):
- Milk glass with straw
- Fandango gift card
- Milano cookies
- Lip gloss
- Sunglasses
- Flip flops
- Infinity scarf
- Beach towel
- Pinwheel (mostly because it was adorable)
I also made little planters out of plastic cups from the summer section at Target and placed a small succulent inside. Because, cute.
To make it all look presentable, I shoved some butcher paper in the bottom of the bag and neatly arranged the items on top. This was mostly because I am so OCD about the presentation of gifts… I admit to having a small problem.
Even though it felt a bit rushed, the gifts were a lot of fun to put together – especially when it came to picking out sunglasses and scarves that I felt fit their personality; particularly because personal shopping is one of my most favorite.things.ever. And these ladies have worked so hard this year that they deserve something special and personal.
So now that that’s done, here’s to another summer. May your days be lengthy in the best way possible!