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Thank you for visiting my blog. My name is Caitlin, and I am a teacher and mom. I love decorating cupcakes, themed snacks, and party dips, but I don’t like making school lunches. I love creating little teacher and hostess gifts, but I don’t like things that are overly cutesy. If you read just a few posts on this blog, you will see that my project brain is usually on overdrive, and I tend to get a tad obsessive when it comes to projects.

My Team:

  • TheRoomDad– my husband, and the guy who grills
  • Mr. Star Wars– my son, he is 14
  • Miss Priss– my daughter, she is 12
  • Sewing Sister– my older sister
  • Aunt B– my younger sister

Contact Me: theroommomct@gmail.com

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20 thoughts on “”

  1. Oh Caitlin! I ADORE your blog, although you make me feel like a very lazy stay-at-home-mom! Being a room mom I love the ideas you share – please keep it up!! Emily E.

    Reply

    • Emily– Do not feel too lazy! I am taking 5 years worth of ideas and posting them in about a month to get some content generated for the blog. 🙂 I’m not always this productive. XO

      Reply

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  7. Hi there. I noticed you clicked the like button on my post today – I am a room mom myself so your blog name inspired me enough to track your blog down. I look forward to following you as I am in the process of going back to school to get my MAE with an endorsement in elementary education (plus I have a first grader and a preschooler) and I am a lover of children’s literature.

    Reply

    • Glad you found me! I think we probably have a lot in common. Thanks for the comment. I love the name of your blog– that’s what caught my attention! Caitlin

      Reply

  10. I took a look at your pinterest pages of good and bad teacher gifts and I noticed something in common about each page. The good gifts were expensive – at least over $10. The bad gifts were homemade or “cheap” – in your words. Guess what? My kids have over 12 teachers between them. With relatives and other friends to buy for as well, we would love to buy expensive gifts for all 12 teachers but sadly cannot due to our budget so yes, we make our gifts at home. Which often results in your “cheap” gifts, apple-related gifts, or “punny” gifts. I’m sorry you don’t appreciate the care and thought that goes into these gifts, but I assure you that my kids put love, thought and time into theirs, which makes these gifts special, even if you would rather have your expensive and useful personalized stamp. Signed – a “cheap” room mom, who donates her time, even though she is a full-time working mom.

    Reply

    • I, too, am a full time working mom, and I, too, need 12+ gifts for my kids’ various teachers. I teach at the school my children attend, so I like to give a little something to all of the support staff and special area teachers who help my children every day.

      I disagree that the difference between the boards is the cost of the gift. As I said at the end of the post, we really do appreciate any gift a student might choose to give, and a thoughtful note beats about anything (free—by the way). In my opinion, the difference between a good and bad teacher gift is the thought given to what would be useful and meaningful to a teacher. A box of Lucky Charms or a 2-liter bottle of A&W root beer with a cutesy note does not convey thoughtfulness. Think about your average adult—is this what they would choose to eat or drink? In most cases, no.

      I am not suggesting that parents have to go to great extremes or spend a lot of money on teacher gifts (and gifts are not even a requirement). But, if you are going to take the time to give teacher gifts, we love things that are meaningful and show care from the student/family. It sounds like that is what you do each year. Some items on the good teacher gift board that are $5 or under are: a recipe for a good teacher (written by the student) with a freezable soup, spiced nuts (homemade), the survival kit if you buy supplies in bulk and divide out for the 12+ presents, the iced tea insulated mugs (found those at the Dollar Store), and I think a few others. And yes, I still want the personalized stamp.

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  11. I’m also a teacher and was thinking about what the griper person stated–Here’s a cute gift for a teacher at http://www.rubberstampwarehouse.com/FixedSize.aspx?ProductID=9011T&qty=1

    Give a personalized name stamp at under 3.00 and if you want to go to the Dollar Store and get a cute mug to put it in, it’s still under 5.00.

    I was one of those people who gave gifts to everyone of my kids’ teachers all the way through high school. And yes, there were at least 12 teacher each year. We did $5.00 gift cards to a fast food place in a mug. We got super responses from everyone of the teachers every year. I mean my goodness, the teacher spends more time with your child then the parent does during the school year.

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  12. I’m currently a principal and have thought a lot about gifts for teachers over the years. I’ve taught in private and public schools and been an administrator at all three levels, and I received a lot of mugs and calorie dense offerings. I also made and purchased many gifts for my daughters’ teachers over the years. Personal items were appreciated, but that becomes difficult to manage in middle and high school.

    I recommend purchasing gift cards to Barnes and Noble or a local book store in any amount-B & N will sell them for as low as $2.00. Teachers could combine them for more expensive purchases or simply enjoy a drink. I would have loved to have $25 to spend at a local book store-as a teacher, an assistant principal and appreciate them now as a principal.

    Reply

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