Inexpensive & Easy To Make Teacher Gifts

Today was the last day of school for my 7 year old and my 4 year old daughters. I wanted them to have a special gift to give their teachers as a “Thank you” before they left school for Summer vacation, but I didn’t want to spend a lot of money.

I found some plain wooden frames at the craft store for 99 pence each and bought two. I then used some acrylic paints that I already had on hand to paint them. First, I painted the frames white. I let them dry and then painted another coat of white paint onto them.

After they dried again, I used some stencils that I already had on hand of flowers and hearts. I got some green acrylic paint out, and then I mixed some red and white acrylic paint to make a pink paint. I held the stencil in place across the top of the first frame while my daughter dabbed the paint onto the stencil, and then I did the same for the bottom of the frame. Then I repeated this for the other daughter.

The painting did not come out perfectly. On one frame, I held the stencil a little too high when doing the bottom of the frame so it wound up not being centered properly, but it was still cute. Also, I should have let the kids paint with proper stencil paints, as the acrylic paints were a bit too moist and there was a bit of smudging that occurred as a result.

While those dried, I sat down at the computer and let my four year old list ten reasons why teachers are great, and I typed it up in a pretty font. I let the seven year old write a poem about teachers and specifically for her current teacher, and then I typed it up for her.

I printed these in the sizes needed to fit into the frames and placed them into the frames.

The result was that my girls each had a pretty framed piece of writing to give to their teachers that was unique and personal. And it cost me very little to make.



Note: If I had needed a stencil, the craft store actually sold decorative stencils made specifically to fit with the wooden frames for a mere 99 pence each.

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