Back to School Teacher Emergency Kit 2016

Posted by TheRoomMom

You may have been concerned that I had not posted this year’s Back to School Teacher Emergency Kit, but fear not, I would not let you down. If you recall, the Teacher Emergency Kit is my favorite first day of school gift to a teacher, and I have been delivering them since my children entered elementary school. Now that my kids are getting a little bit older, it is more important that I keep this tradition going because teachers of older students always get jipped in the teacher gift department.

This year’s emergency kit pouch is made of clear vinyl (possibly a poor choice when you sew in a climate with 8,000% humidity), and it reminds me of a small make-up bag. Like my previous kits, it is supposed to be a handy little bag to store in a desk or teacher bag for daily emergencies.

This Year’s Contents

Advil
Tums
Band-aids
individually wrapped mints
tinted Vaseline in an oh-so-sweet mini container
Windex wipes for electronics
Shout wipes
emery board

Other Content Ideas

quarters for soda money
travel sewing kit
Tide to go stain remover stick
cough drops
Sharpie pen
travel sized hand lotion
travel sized toothbrush and toothpaste
dental floss
hair clip, hair tie, or rubberband
smartphone charger
ear buds
safety pins

The Vinyl Pouch

If you sew, visit BONJOUR QUILTS for the pattern and directions. You can register on the site to download a measurement guide to make bigger and smaller pouch sizes. I followed the sizes given in the blog post, and the finished bag is about 4″ x 5″. As you may have gleaned from my comment above, sewing with vinyl in hot and humid weather is not easy. I even had my special teflon sewing foot.
I purchased the lightest gauge of clear vinyl available at Hobby Lobby.
The FLEXIBLE FRAMES that create the opening at the top of the pouch are the same material that is in a metal measuring tape (or a slap bracelet). I ordered the flexible frames online because I could not find them in any store locally. My sewing store told me that I could cut a measuring tape into the pieces I need and slide them into the fabric sleeves as a back up idea if I couldn’t find the frames.

Other Packaging Ideas

Use a bead box from a store like Michael’s Crafts. Sew a potholder clutch or foldover cloth bag. Pick up a small cosmetics bag; I saw some in the bins near the door at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Fill a simple paper gift bag. Click on the images below to read about other versions of the Back to School Teacher Emergency Kits!

Teacher Appreciation Giveaway!

Posted by TheRoomMom

One Lucky Winner will receive TWO ribbon bookmarks and journal books plus a $25 Amazon giftcard!

Just in time for Teacher Appreciation Day on May 3, 2016, I am giving away two (2) ribbon bookmarks with coordinating journal books and a $25 Amazon giftcard to one (1) lucky winner! You can keep one journal book set and give one to a teacher friend (or make two teachers, friends, co-workers, neighbors… super happy and give both as gifts). Giveaway ends this Wednesday, April 13 at midnight (EST). Shipping addresses must be within the USA or Canada.

Winner will receive 2 ribbon bookmarks with a matching journal book and $25 to spend at Amazon. See this BLOG POST for more details about the ribbon bookmarks.

How to Enter:

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.
Leave a comment below with a way you show teacher appreciation.
Share the giveaway on Facebook or Instagram and tag TheRoomMom.
Complete the Rafflecopter Entry Form after completing any/all of the steps above.

Back to School Teacher Emergency Kit 2015

Posted by TheRoomMom

It is finished. This year’s version of the Back to School Teacher Emergency Kit. It is my favorite first day of school gift to a teacher. This year’s emergency kit pouch is smaller than my past choices, so I will not be able to add a bottle of wine, which is probably what my children’s teachers really want after the first day of school. But, it is a handy little back to school teacher gift to store in a desk or teacher bag for daily emergencies.

The Teacher Emergency Kit Cloth Pouch

If you sew, you can download the Loyalty Card Holder Pattern for free from Craftsy. You will need to register on the site before downloading the pattern. I followed the directions on the Lemon Squeezy Home site. Lemon Squeezy’s sewing skills are clearly superior to mine. After much cursing and ripping out of stitches, I did make all of the bags I needed. I am trying to ignore some of the wrinkly parts in the corners.

Lemon Squeezy used a magnetic snap, but I opted for an old fashioned button because I thought it would be a good decorative detail. After messing up multiple button holes, I was rethinking the magnetic snap decision. I think both options would have provided equal frustrations for my sewing abilities. The buttons do look prettier, so the buttons were probably a better choice for me in the end.

The Teacher Emergency Kit Contents

Starbucks giftcard (The little bag is credit card size, so I figured it needed a coffee gift card. It’s what I would want.)
travel sized sewing kit
Band-aids
individually wrapped mints
Aquaphor (or any kind of chapstick)
travel sized Advil (In the past, I included individual Tylenol, Advil, and Tums in mini baggies with printed labels. I had “people” who clearly did not appreciate the cuteness of my packaging get all up in arms about my redistribution of the pills. I really don’t think the Advil police will come after me, but I went ahead and used untampered Advil to avoid any future problems.)

Other Content Ideas

4 quarters for soda money
safety pins
Tide to go stain remover stick
cough drops
Sharpie pen
travel sized hand lotion
travel sized Windex Wipes for Electronics (found these one time at Target)
travel sized toothbrush and toothpaste
dental floss
hair clip, hair tie, or rubberband
smartphone charger
ear buds

Other Packaging Ideas

Use a bead box from a store like Michael’s Crafts. Sew a potholder clutch or foldover cloth bag. Pick up a small cosmetics bag; I saw some in the bins near the door at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Fill a simple paper gift bag. Click on the images below to read about other versions of the Back to School Teacher Emergency Kits!

Click HERE to read about the GIVEAWAY to win two of these kits. Giveaway ends 7/31/15.

End of Year Teacher Gift

Posted by TheRoomMom

Not too long ago, I found pictures of Gift Holding Cards made with scrapbook paper. I filed the idea away knowing I could do something along the same lines in the near future. Miss Priss and Mr. Star Wars wanted to give scratch off lottery tickets as end of year teacher gifts again (mostly because they know they get to scratch any leftovers), and I have spent three days engineering my own gift holding cards to hold the lottery tickets.

I used scrapbook paper and located all of the various trim, ribbon, sequins, and embellishments I have from American Girl projects. I dug out craft scissors with the decorative edges and my fancy hole punchers. You can really use any kind of decorative materials you have on hand (stamps, stickers…).

Cut two coordinating pieces of paper to 4″ x 6″. Fold one piece over about 2/3 of the way along the 4″ side and press firmly to crease. I first sewed the folded piece and any front trim together along the folded edge before attaching to the back piece. I then stacked the two pieces together, lining up the edges, and sewed around the outside to attach the folded piece of paper to the back leaving the top of the pocket open. If you don’t sew, double sided adhesive roller tape along the edges would work too, but I must tell you, sewing paper is super fun.

We filled our gift pockets with the lottery tickets and slipped a small handwritten note in the front of the pocket. The pockets also fit gift cards. I think they would be a pretty way to deliver a thoughtful note too. The Original Blog Post with the pocket idea had single fancy tea bags in the pocket.

Teacher Emergency Kit 2014

Posted by TheRoomMom

Every year I create some sort of back to school gift for my children to give to their new teachers on the first day of school. For the past 3 years it has been a variation on an emergency kit for the teacher.

In case you missed my memo from the past few years, teachers are trapped in the school building until every last student is out the door at the end of the day. There are no quick trips to the grocery store or the gas station for an aspirin or a Coke. If teachers do not bring essentials with them and have a secret stash in the classroom, they are out of luck until the end of the day. Giving an emergency kit to a teacher is a thoughtful gift idea.

The Cloth Wallet

This year I found a free pattern for a business card holder with two pockets on Craftsy.com. They weren’t the right size, but I doubled the fabric piece measurements in the pattern to get the size I needed to hold the contents of the teacher emergency kit. I used 11 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ fabric pieces for the outside, lining, and interfacing and 11 1/2″ x 13″ for the pocket. (FYI– You are required to register on the site before downloading the free pattern.)
If you are a normal person and don’t have the obsessive need to sew massive amounts of cute little cloth wallets, use a bead box like I did in 2012. If you do like sewing but want a super fast sewing project, make the potholder clutch like the one I made in 2013.

The Contents

Forehead temperature reader: This is a new addition to the emergency kit. Students love to leave the classroom and take a walk. One way for a student to get out of the classroom is to tell the teacher that he/she does not feel well, so the teacher will send that child to the office for a temperature check. Not anymore. With the forehead temp reader, a teacher can quickly see if a child is in fact a little warm, and the student’s plan to sneak out of the room is foiled. The temp reader is not totally accurate, but it is a good gauge. I found mine at CVS.
Advil (I put 5 or 6 in a mini ziploc bead bag I get from Michael’s Crafts)
Tums (inserted 5 or 6 in a mini bead bag)
Band-aids
Blistex (or any kind of chapstick)
Dental flossers (in a mini bead bag)
Travel size Clorox wipes: Here is another new addition to the kit. I am not a fan of Purell or any of the hand sanitizers. It makes my hands smell and have a funny feel to them. I do like a Clorox wipe. I can quickly clean a surface, desk, spill on a backpack, etc. and then my hands are touching things that are (moderately) clean since I cleaned the item rather than my hands.

Alternate Contents

travel size tissues
quarters for soda money
travel size toothbrush and paste
Tampax
mints
safety pins
Sharpie marker
travel size sewing kit
emery board
hair bands or a hair clip
travel size lotion– no scent is better

Note

If you are a sewer and grab the pattern from Craftsy, the original pattern size is fun to make too and is the perfect wrapper for a gift card. Here is what the two sizes look like.

Do you give a back to school gift to your child’s new teacher? What else is a thoughtful sirsee for the beginning of the school year?

TheRoomMom

The Parent with the Teacher's Perspective

sewing

Back to School Teacher Emergency Kit 2016

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