Mamas, that finish line is so close!  Even if you are like us and limping along trying to make it, we know we will all get there. We may be a little disheveled, but we will be there on the last day of school. We’re not sure how you are hanging on this year. If you are anything like us, today’s lunch boxes look eerily similar to what didn’t get eaten yesterday. We call it “recycling”. Recycling is good, so we must be awesome!  At this time of year, credit should be given just for effort! Kid at school almost on time: win. Kid at school with homework completed: you are a goddess, stop making the rest of us look so bad!

In the middle of “making” recycled lunches, you remember the one thing you said you were going to be on top of this year…. teacher gifts. We have also seen that competitive glint in your eye as you glance over at the one mom on the playground whose kids are still wearing clean clothes with no holes in them and carrying lunches that look like they were just photographed for Pinterest. (In MAY? Really? Who does that?) Dear mama friend, we have you covered on this one. While your end-of-the-year teacher gift might not look like it belongs on Pinterest, it is real and something the teacher will love. So take that, Pinterest-perfect mama!  

Let’s start with the top 4 WORST gifts to give a teacher. 

Apple-themed. Unless it was created by Steve Jobs and was sold to you by a hipster, we say steer clear of any gift with an apple on it. 

Anything smelly, especially lotions or candles. Even if you have a box of them you have been looking to regift, now is not the time. The saint who has just educated your little one for the last 9 months deserves better! 

Homemade candy.  Have you ever seen the inside of a teacher’s lounge? So many treats. These poor souls have already spent all their time and some of their own money educating our children, the last thing we should do is sabotage their diet with swimsuit season coming up. Unless your child’s teacher is blessed with a metabolism so fast they can eat everything in sight and remain thin as a rail. If that is the case, then go ahead, envy them a little bit, and also,  bake them those brownies you are famous for!

Craft projects. Inside tip on this, teachers really do love things made by you or your kids, but they have so many students they can’t possibly use/display every handmade gift they receive. You know the guilt you have when you throw away your child’s latest art project in the middle of the night at the bottom of the trash can? Imagine that guilt times 27. 

What to give

A simple, handwritten thank you card from your child with a gift card tucked inside. Boom, done, super simple and totally appreciated by the teacher.  Just please don’t recycle the Pizza Hut gift card your mother-in-law got you for Christmas. 

Once that final school bell rings, enjoy your precious little nuggets – for a day or two until you start to count down the days until the school bus pulls around the corner to whisk them away again.