Need Holiday Gift Ideas for Students

[LeeAnn]

Need Holiday Gift ideas for students for .50 per student. Is this possible? Any ideas? Thanks.

Where to buy it?

 

[squirrel]

Are you going to WDW before Christmas? The resorts have Mickey straws for about .50 each.

What ages?

 

[LeeAnn]

Need gift ideas (not from WDW). Holiday Gifts for school kids ranging from K to 5th Grade.

 

[allison443]

Have you checked Oriental Trading Company? I bet you could find something in that price range...
Here's some suggestions: ornaments, candy tins, candy cane or other holiday-type candy, bookmarks, pens/pencils, magnets...these are all things our parent-teacher association has given out over the years.
Oriental Trading usually has a good amount of "holiday" (meaning non-Christmas stuff) if you are focusing on that.

 

[EthansMom]

My kids enjoy (and get a lot of) the stationary sets from Oriental Trading Company. They usually include a themed pencil, eraser, and a few stickers. My advice if you decide to go this route: look for pencils and erasers that are "cool" but aren't just themed for one holiday (for instance, choose snowflakes which are a winter theme instead of Santas which is Christmas).

Sometimes, their teacher will make up their own little gift bags with a pencil, eraser, and a couple pieces of candy. That's cool too.

There are usually some coupon codes for free shipping (above a certain amount) for Oriental Trading... so be sure to Google "Oriental Trading coupon" before placing an order with them!

ETA: Here are a few links to items:

http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/b...essProductsCatalog&sd=Snowman+Stationery+Sets

http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/b...sProductsCatalog&sd=Snowflake+Stationery+Sets

http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/b...ctsCatalog&sd=Make-A-Gingerbread+Man+Stickers

http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/b...ssProductsCatalog&sd=Bright+Pencil+Sharpeners

http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/b...sProductsCatalog&sd=Christmas+Penguin+Pencils

 

[McKelly]

How about a Hershey Bar? You can get the wrapper personalized through Current Catalog and then just buy candy bars and slip the wrappers over it.

 

[delmar411]

how many kids total?

For that age range holiday pencils and erasers seem to be good and will get used instead of lost, broken or tossed. Put together with a couple of hershey's kisses that would be a good student gift.

 

[LeeAnn]

Food of any kind is banned from school. No cupcakes, chocolate, candy canes, pizza... basically anything fun.

Pencils and easers have been done.

This year budget is even tighter than ever. They are opting for no gift this year but that's no fun. It's for 450 students. AND it must be WINTER theme not Santa, Candy Canes, Ornaments, no religion.

So it's snowman, snowfalkes, peguins (which has been done before). Anything else "Winter"?

 

[delmar411]

you could get this craft
and pair it with these bouncy balls

 

[christyhud]

Would it seem too cheap to check with local fast food restaurants or ice cream shoppes and see if they would give you coupons for a free item to pass out to the kids? You could decorate them with winter-themed stickers or something. Chick-fil-A, Sonic, McDonald's, Baskins Robbins, etc.

It's always good advertisement and PR for the restaurants.

 

[daisyduck123]

I sometimes give my students a HOMEWORK PASS good for one night of "No Homework".

This way, I know they're getting something useful.....no little junkie trinkets that never even make their way into the backpacks.

 

[McKelly]

How about a homemade coloring/activity winter book for kids? Have each teacher contribute a coloring page/word search/maze/hidden picture page and combine them all together either by stapling or binding them together? Granted 5K might not love or even be able to do what a 5th grader can do, but a parent could help............and the kids might like to find what their own teacher contributed.

 

[Calliaz]

I was looking at these magnetic bookmarks today. They look to be about .27 a piece for 500 ($135) plus $18 setup fee for the organization information and whatever shipping costs. I'm guessing it should all be under your price point. I am not sure if Happy Holidays is too religious. If it is, I think there are other designs on the site.

 

[Minniemama350]

Possibly more than you want to spend, but Scholastic has $1 books for this age group right now in their sale flyer. I teach 1st grade and my kids absolutely LOVE getting their own book. Last year I had them learn to read them in reading groups w/o telling them it was their own book, then wrapped them and gave them to them for Christmas. They really liked that they could take it home and read it for mom/dad without help!

 

[MSSANDRA]

Wendy's, and sometimes Mc Donalds, does the frosty or other treat coupons. Kids love these. Wendy's are like 10 for 1$.

Maybe consider reward passes. Work with teachers to come up with ideas like homework pass, lunch at a specail table pass, be late to class pass etc.

 

[KimFIGFern]

Sam's club has little spiral notebooks for small notes or messages. You can get 12 I think for about 5 or 6 dollars. I add a holiday pencil from the dollar store (usually 10 for 1.00). The kids usually love this since they like writing notes to each other. Hope this helps.

 

[dizneechic]

I know you mentioned that pencils have been done before but I would still check out Smencils. They are "green" scented pencils and the kids here LOVE them. They also come individually presented in plastic tubes so the presentation on them is cooler than giving out a traditional pencil. You can purchase a case directly through the Smencils website for $275, which is 500 Smencils, that's .55 each and you'll have a few left over for rewards on other occasions.

As a interesting side note, they also have cases of peppermint which supposedly stimulates the brain and improves concentration (so the website says).

 

[WendyisDarling]

I sometimes give my students a HOMEWORK PASS good for one night of "No Homework".

This way, I know they're getting something useful.....no little junkie trinkets that never even make their way into the backpacks.

My DS loved when his teachers would give this as a gift. Nothing better.
Teachers would make up a cute design and print on colored paper.

It's really sweet that you want to give the students gifts, but IMO and speaking for my kids, they already get way too much candy this time of year. So many trinkets are just junk (sorry).

The homework pass, though! You are the only one that can give that gift and it is a treasure. Even kids who always do their homework, like having the security of knowig if they mess up and forget one night they won't get in trouble.

 

[dzorn]

Possibly more than you want to spend, but Scholastic has $1 books for this age group right now in their sale flyer. I teach 1st grade and my kids absolutely LOVE getting their own book. Last year I had them learn to read them in reading groups w/o telling them it was their own book, then wrapped them and gave them to them for Christmas. They really liked that they could take it home and read it for mom/dad without help!

Scholastic also has warehouse sales. See if one is located near you. They often have books for less than a dollar. I believe teachers can also order bruised books by the bulk.

Denise in MI

 

[secretpantssam]

I ordered stuff from Oriental Trading for little gifts last year. I got little snowman bells for I think less than 50 cents each and they were adorable. They have tons of little things that are winter themed that would work.

Also, every year, Walgreens has coupons a few weeks before christmas where they have a bunch of little things for 39 cents each. I've gotten snow globes, candle holders figurines and all kinds of things. But it might be a little difficult if you're buying for 450 students.