Unique Teacher Gifts
and
Other Thoughtful Gift Ideas

Photo gifts make unique teacher gifts. Find thoughtful gift ideas for the end of the year teacher gift or teacher retirement gift. Photos make personalized teacher appreciation gifts and Christmas gifts for teachers, too.

A teacher affects eternity;
he can never tell where his influence stops.
-Henry Adams

Coming up with thoughtful gift ideas for teachers is as simple as putting yourself in the teacher's place. What does he/she need? What sort of challenges does he/she face? What would make his/her job easier?

My mom's a teacher and she says that you can always tell how long a teacher's been teaching by the number of ceramic mugs and totes that they own. I'm pretty sure that was her way of saying that mugs and totes are not the most unique teacher gifts.

I'm not saying that teacher mugs and cute tote bags don't have their place. Because they do. (I'm even going to discuss both.)

What I'm saying is make your teacher appreciation gifts equal to how much you actually appreciate them. Think practical and useful. Think personalized. A teacher gift doesn't have to be grand and glorious. Just thoughtful. Sometimes less is more and coming up with unique teacher gifts is one of those times.

Now. On to the good stuff - unique teacher gifts.

 

Photo gift ideas for teachers

Create a Photo Book

Dedicate a page to each student in the class. Collect pictures, self portraits and/or collages from each child. Take pictures of artwork the kids have done or digitize drawings through scanning. Include each child's signature and/or hand print. Use teacher poems, pictures of the school and digital scrapbooking embellishments to compliment the photo memory book. Place a class photo on the front cover along with a fitting quote such as, "The good teacher discovers the natural gifts of his pupils and liberates them."

Create Your Own Story

Team up with your child to create a story that's all about school, their classroom, teacher, friends, the things they've learned, the good times they've had, etc. For example, "Once upon a time, there was a child who dreamed of having…" Include pictures from throughout the year or close ups of students' faces.

Create Photo Greeting Cards

Note cards make great homemade gifts for teachers. Use photos from the classroom or scans of students' artwork to create several generic greeting cards that the teacher can use in the future for special correspondence. If you need a music teacher gift, take (or find) pictures of musical instruments and use them to decorate the greeting cards. Many craft stores have blank cards and envelopes just waiting for your imagination. If you don't want homemade, upload an appropriate picture to your favorite online photo vendor and create a set of note cards or a personalized notebook.

Make Your Own Jigsaw Puzzle

This is an easy personalized teacher gift. Simply turn a class photo, picture of the teacher, or any picture that summarizes your feelings of appreciation, into a jigsaw puzzle.

Make Your Own Board Game

In my opinion, gifts for educators and the best personalized teacher gifts demonstrate some of the new skills and knowledge that the teachers have shared. For example, design a board game that's all about the classroom routine, the teacher's key phrases or habits, and homework assignments. You could include commands such as, "You're late. Move back 3 spaces," or "You got 100% on a test. Collect an extra 5 minutes for lunch break."

Make Your Own Monopoly Game

Same concept as above, only turn the classroom experience into an end of the year teacher gift by making your own monopoly game.

Personalized Photo Playing Cards

Use pictures of students to personalize a deck of playing cards. You could also create your own game of Concentration, Go Fish or Crazy 8's.

Photo Tote Bags

There's a photo tote bag for every person, occasion and price tag. Designer leather photo tote bags start at about $50 - and would make a fantastic teacher retirement gift. A brag bag with photo inserts start around $20. And, of course, there's the do-it-yourself canvas tote and acrylic paint from your local craft store for around $10. Your options are limitless.

Make a Personalized Photo Mug

Many of the same vendors who offer photo tote bags also offer additional photo gifts and options such as jewelry, apparel, stickers, stationary, and, of course, the infamous photo mug. Teacher mugs are generally inexpensive and easy to make. Keep in mind that choosing the right photo can make the difference between "okay" and "great" for any unusual photo gift.

Photo Album and Supplies

Start a classroom scrapbook or photo album. Present the gift to your teacher along with blank pages and extra supplies for future additions.

In Summary -

Unique teacher gifts... teacher appreciation gifts... teacher retirement gifts... going away gifts...

They all indicate a similar theme - gratitude and thanks. Photo gifts are thoughtful gift ideas and will help show and tell (get it? "show and tell"?) your gratefulness.


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