What to get for son's school class?

[ppony]

I know I don't have to but I would really like to get something for the other kids in my son's 1st grade class. I have to buy 20 of them so it would need to be cheap unfortunately. I'd spend about $50.

IDEAS anyone???
Food is usually a winner! But what kind that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and not get crushed on the plane trip home?

 

[Rella Bella]

What a generous mommy!!

For about $3.00 (a little out of your budget) there are more choices. I have bought wash cloths that are stuffed into a character shape. They look like the character until you get them wet, then it's a wash cloth with the pic on it. They have Mickey & the gang, the princesses, Pooh and comp, and several other choices.

There are also tins of mints with Mickey & Pluto... about the same $ range.

Those are the best things I've found.

Have fun shopping at WDW!

 

[ccw]

Order something from the Disney shopping site before you go! WAY easier than having to think about it when you are in the parks, plus you don;t have to hassle with packing it to bring back home. Probably cheaper, too!
www.disneyshopping.com

 

[sweetinmaine]

If you get the chance to visit Downtown Disney on your trip there's a store where everything is under $10. You can usually get some pretty inexpensive trinkets in there. Pencils and case for $2, little figurines, the washcloths that the previous poster mentioned, magnets etc. I'd tend to stay away from the food idea just because of the allergies that the kids could have. Very nice of you to think of everyone!

 

[MareSINY]

What we usually do for my nieces is get something like a box of stickers or a case of character shaped crayons. My sister sends them to school with the girls with a note asking the teacher to share them with the class. This way you're not spending a fortune on a bunch of individual gifts, and you can get a package that has enough for everyone to share.

 

[anbouk]

you could get like a mix of stuff like sticker sheets, pencils, and other goodies and give a goody bag (mickey mouse design perhaps?)

 

[Sandi]

You might check with your child's teacher to see if there is a bigger Disney related item that could be used for the class. We did that a few times when our DD was younger. Stuff like measuring cups, muffin tins, posters, figurines, etc., were useful to the entire class for different projects and DD was proud that she contributed to the class.

 

[missminniemouse]

We've bought sticker boxes (and split them up), crayon boxes (and split them up), pencils, or various types of candy (my kids like taffy the best.) The other kids in the class always appreciate a small surprise when we return. You don't need to spend much to make them happy.

I like ambouk's idea of making up a surprise bag with several different types of things in it. I also have a first grader and think the kids would love that!

 

[amy4bruce]

You can get a plastic carrying case of 24 disney-shaped crayons at any of the larger souvenir shops (we got our in Once Upon a Toy, but saw them in MouseGears). They come in classic Disney, princess, and Winnie-the-Pooh. They cost $12 for the case, so the crayons come in at $.50 a piece.

We got two cases, enough for DD6 to give one each to her classmates, one each to her soccer team, and keep some for herself.

 

[Accash]

I know I don't have to but I would really like to get something for the other kids in my son's 1st grade class. I have to buy 20 of them so it would need to be cheap unfortunately. I'd spend about $50.

IDEAS anyone???
Food is usually a winner! But what kind that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and not get crushed on the plane trip home?

I didn't read everyone's posts so forgive me if this was given to you, but, if you go to Target in their dollar section when you first walk in they have Disney Pooh pencils or Disney Cinderella pencils in a 5 pack for a dollar. You could split them up and give the children those pencils - especially a 6/7 yr old would like that and they could use it in school. They also had cute Pooh or Cinderella "journals" - basically a hardback 20 pg book that you could write in kinda like a diary HTH and you wouldn't have to break the bank

Melissa

 

[ChrisAlli]

Last year we bought a pack or two of character lollipops and when you enter the parks they were usually handing out stickers. I just asked for a few more every time and saved them up.

Also a tip I got from here and it worked great was at any store ask for 20 extra small bags at the check-out. I told them what they were for and I used those to put the stuff in and gave out to the class.

 

[ppony]

Gosh guys THANKS!!! For the ideas and compliments. All fantastic ideas!!! Oh and that getting the extra little bags? what a brilliant idea! See? DIS boards, ask and you SHALL receive...in spades! You guys are the best!

 

[LillersMom]

Here's another thought...we always get a couple big bags of Mickey head pretzles and have them shipped home (arrive in fine shape) and a couple package of pencils. Pretzles for a snack and split of the package of pencils and everyone gets one. Kids think its cool...even my 10yo's classmates. Aslo...not an arm and a leg!

 

[prestonsmomma]

Oh what great ideas. I was thinking about this one too. Thanks DISers.

 

[BFIrrera]

the funny thing about the pencil thing is I've done something similar with adults...

...back in Dec 2004, I bought a pack of 6 "Villain" themed pens and gave them to the manager (Cruella) /2 assistant managers (Snow White's Queen/Jafar)/my 2 fellow team leaders (Scar and Captain Hook) at the record store I worked at (everyone got one and I kept Maleficent for myself). They were all happy and it was fun, since we HAD to always carry a pen with us on our lanyards.

The pack was only a little more than $6.00, so that was five gifts (and one souvenir) for a little more than a dollar each! I'm sure that you could find more kid-friendly themes too!

 

[welovedis]

Our school has adopted a policy that allows parents to only send in an item for the classroom. Whether it is a birthday, vacation, whatever--no food, no individual trinkets, only a book or item for the classroom.

I've adopted the same policy with my small daycare after hearing the parents of the kids who didn't go on that nice vacation get upset when their kids are bringing home one "reminder" after another of the fact that they cannot afford or don't take their kids to ______ (WDW, overseas, Atlantis resort, whatever).

I always thought it was a nice gesture to send something in but never looked at it from the other side of things. Now I understand that not everyone wants their kid to have a souvenier of your family's trip.

 

[pdarrah]

We have a "tradition" of bringing home the chocolate "coins" with the characters on them. They come in a small gold net bag with 10 coins in each. Since there is always a chance of chocolate or sugar allergies, we also will pick up some other sugar-free candy (look for the Goofy's Candy Company bags - they seem to always have a couple that are sugar-free). We send a note along with the candy and ask the teacher to allow our DS to pass the treats around. It is a small thing and the kids usually eat them right there and then so it isn't really a "souvenier" - its more of a treat (sort of like when a child brings in cupcakes on their birthday).

pdarrah

 

[lts862]

We usually get Mickey Cookies for DS's and DD's classmates. Pens for the teachers and everyone is usually very happy. One stop shopping at the World of Disney store in DTD.

 

[twinspluscade]

Our school has adopted a policy that allows parents to only send in an item for the classroom. Whether it is a birthday, vacation, whatever--no food, no individual trinkets, only a book or item for the classroom.

I've adopted the same policy with my small daycare after hearing the parents of the kids who didn't go on that nice vacation get upset when their kids are bringing home one "reminder" after another of the fact that they cannot afford or don't take their kids to ______ (WDW, overseas, Atlantis resort, whatever).

I always thought it was a nice gesture to send something in but never looked at it from the other side of things. Now I understand that not everyone wants their kid to have a souvenier of your family's trip.

I agree with this post--although I think it's so nice of you to buy individual gifts for all the kids--really generous!--I also think it could make a few kids feel bad if they can't afford to go to WDW.

We faced a similar situation a few weeks ago. My niece's 5th birthday party was a week after our trip, so I had originally planned to buy her a gift at WDW. I ended up not buying her one because I thought she might feel bad that they've never gone....and probably never will (they just can't afford it). I was so glad that we didn't get her a gift from WDW, because the minute we got to her party she ran out all excited, bragging to us how she had seen Ariel--at their local children's theater. MIL told me later that she (niece) had felt really bad that we got to go to WDW and they didn't; and that's why she made such a big deal about seeing Ariel at the children's theater. I would've felt really bad after all that if I had then whipped out a WDW gift for her b-day present.

Maybe instead of individual gifts you could get a few things for the class?? Ask the teacher ahead of time what they could use??

Kelly

 

[Metallicat]

Our school has adopted a policy that allows parents to only send in an item for the classroom. Whether it is a birthday, vacation, whatever--no food, no individual trinkets, only a book or item for the classroom.

I've adopted the same policy with my small daycare after hearing the parents of the kids who didn't go on that nice vacation get upset when their kids are bringing home one "reminder" after another of the fact that they cannot afford or don't take their kids to ______ (WDW, overseas, Atlantis resort, whatever).

I always thought it was a nice gesture to send something in but never looked at it from the other side of things. Now I understand that not everyone wants their kid to have a souvenier of your family's trip.

I agree. but I will go one step farther by saying that I feel it's tacky to bring home souviners from ones vacation to pass out in a classroom. not everybody wants some sort of trinket from someone elses vacation.

it also looks like one is trying to make brownie points with all the kids just to be popular.

I wouldn't want my DD to bring in some souvineer from someone elses trip. again, I say it is tacky. JMO.