Day 10: Piano Student Gifts!

Today's challenge was a toughy, but I finally found decent gifts for my huge and assorted group of wonderful piano students. When you are a teacher, you like to give your students treats from time to time to show them that you are proud of them and enjoy working with them, right? That's really not easy, especially when the age range is gigantic, the group is made up of boys and girls, you don't have a fortune to spend, and you don't want your gift to be completely lame.

One year, I baked cookies and little cakes for all of my students. I thought I was amazing. I think most of the kids enjoyed this (besides the few who still had them in their piano bags when they came back for lessons in January!), but that was a long time ago. I have twice as many students now, several kids with food allergies, and much less time to bake.

Last year was sort of fun. I decided to go to Big Lots and Dollar Tree with a list of my students in hand. I actually bought individual gifts (all different!) for each of the kids and wrapped them as well. Some were gag gifts (Play-Doh for a 14-year-old, fake blood for a student who liked to make strange movies), and some were relatively awesome. The point is, I tried to match personality with product, at least to the point that a $1-$2 item would allow. Everyone seemed happy, but I know a few had to be scratching their heads when they opened their presents. :)

This year, I'm going with 45 very similar gifts. Because I'm doing this really early (while it's so hot outside that I need a glass of ice water and a desk fan just to comfortably get this blog post typed), I have more options than usual. I don't want to spoil the surprise for any student readers who might be among us, so I'll give you the general gist of things.

• Online companies such as For Teachers Only and Oriental Trading Company sell lots of items in bulk. That's a great thing in my case.
• Gift bags containing more than one item increase the odds that each student will find at least one thing inside that he or she actually likes.
• If you're on a budget, a colorful cellophane goody bag is easier to fill than a larger gift bag.
• It's great when the gift has something to do with the subject you teach and/or the occasion you are celebrating.
• Something that indicates that you really like and appreciate your students is also cool.

I browsed teacher blogs looking for gift ideas for students and found that I'm not alone in the budget department. It seems to me that most teachers aim to spend between $1 and $5 per student, probably depending a bit on demographics, class size, and location. I haven't determined how much I spent per student yet, so I'm a little nervous about finding out. Here are the numbers:

$18.00 Wrapping/Bags/Presentation

$28.00 Appreciation Item

$155.00 Various other items pertaining to the subject and season

I don't do math in my head. Do you? Let me get the calculator...

Okay, the total amount spent was...$201.00. Divide that by 45 students, and you get...$4.46 per student. 

I can live with that. The truth is, I'd like to do a lot more for them, but hopefully my students will feel loved and will know I'm proud to be their teacher!

Christmas in August TALLY:

11 Family and Friends: CHECK!

10 Neighbors: CHECK!

4 Charitable Gifts: CHECK! 

45 Piano Students: CHECK!