Teacher Gifts!

I don't quite know how it evolved into this, but Valentine's Day is now ANOTHER occasion to give teacher's a gift. Don't get me wrong...I'm a teacher, remember? I'm all about getting gifts. However, this is just absurd. But, because I give into peer pressure and want to hang out with the Jones's, I do the Valentine's gifts.

Luckily, I have found what I think is a super cheap and pretty easy gift to do every year. When I started working on them, I said to myself, "Self, what better time for a tutorial?!" However, consider yourself forewarned. I'm a bad tutorializer (made up word). I took what I thought was a lot of pictures, but I have no "action" shots. Let's hope my words make up for it.

Go out and find the cheapest bottle of hand sanitizer, lotion, or bottled soap that you can find. I was at Target, and I'm pretty sure I could have found something cheaper. I wasn't in the mood to go somewhere else. Hence, the $1.79 hand sanitizer. I like this idea because germs are everywhere when you're a teacher. I keep a keg of this stuff on my desk. Yes, a keg.

The hardest part of this whole elaborate project is getting the stickers off the bottle. When you purchase it, make sure there's nothing printed ONTO the bottle. Everything must be removable. Most are, but just check. The bottle on the right is the "cleaned" product. I simply peel it off. Whatever doesn't come off clean gets some Goo-off or Goo-B-Gone on it. Just wipe the oil off with some Windex or something before you move on.

Now for the easy part. Decorate it. I have tried rub-ons, stickers, small tags, and ribbons. You choose!

The one on the right (below) is the first one I did, and I used soap. I have since come to like the sanitizer option better (plus I like that it's a clear bottle), but you can do whatever you like.

So there you have it. A tutorial AND a teacher's gift idea. Maybe you're lucky, and you live in a district where parents don't care about teachers. ;-) If, however, you live in my district, you'll either present that teacher with a V-day gift or be black-listed by all the hot moms in mini-vans! Choose wisely!