What? Your Birthday was LAST Week?

Teacher Gift

Last Monday was the first day back to school for my little man.  He came home very excited and loving 2nd grade.  In the middle of our daily, "Who did you sit with at lunch? What was your favorite activity" chat he casually mentions that last week was his teacher's birthday.  It was on meet-the-teacher night.  I am not feeling guilty for not giving a gift.  I mean, we didn't even know she was his teacher until that night so how could we have prepared?  But, I could not let the event pass without doing something for her.  This week's Frugal Tuesday Tip is a frugal teacher gift.

Popcorn Bowl, Popcorn, & Candy

It just so happens that when we were thrift store shopping on Saturday I came across a really lovely popcorn bowl.  It was not one of those cheap plastic ones.  Not that there is anything wrong with those!  This was a lovely buttery yellow color ceramic bowl with embossed letters spelling "popcorn" across the side.  It had a tag of $5 on it which was a bit much for my thrift store budget.  Good news! It was half off day so I got it for a measly $2.50.  Now THAT is more like it!  We stopped at the dollar store on the way home and picked up three kinds of movie theater type candy ($1 each) and a box of microwave popcorn.  I don't remember the price on the popcorn, but it was maybe $2.  I had some red and white tissue paper and ribbon at the house already as well as scrap paper for a card. In the card I wrote, "Your birthday popped up on us and caught us by surprise.  We hope it was fantastic!"  Little man wrote her a very sweet note and we put it all together. 


Little man is as happy as can be getting to take this gift to his teacher.  And, I am even happier that I spent less than $10 for a teacher gift that I am proud of.

Breakdown:

• bowl = $2.50
• popcorn = $2
• candy = $3
• tissue paper = FREE (recycled from other gifts)
• ribbon = FREE (well, I am sure I paid something for it years ago when I bought it)
• paper/card = FREE  from my stockpile (again, probably bought it fairly cheap years ago)

Total = $8.50 (plus tax)

Popcorn Bowl Gift

Linked to:

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The Girl Creative

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Creating Really Awesome Free Things
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A Bowl Full of Lemons
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The Thrifty Home
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Momnivore's Dilemma
The Shabby Creek Cottage 
The Shabby Nest