This is almost unheard of for me… I had to BUY things for our teachers’ end of the year appreciation gifts this year.

I almost always MAKE a gift – usually a nice table runner or something – for the female teachers anyway.

This year I have been so busy doing class sewing projects toward the end of the year, as well as house projects and now planning our first-ever birthday party sleepover, that there simply hasn’t been time to make anything for the teachers.

Technically speaking, the very last project I finished is a gift for one of the teachers (a baby quilt made by the class for she and her baby!), so I guess that counts.

I really wanted to finish the other Nativity I am working on to give to my oldest son’s teacher, and her class is the other class I’ve been working on the art quilt project with.  But, I just ran out of time.  He is finished with school right about now (his final mass should be over any minute now) and there was no way to get it finished for today.

So, having to BUY gifts (gasp!) this year, we opted for something nice and practical – fancy water bottles.  These things are VERY spiffy, and not cheap by any stretch.

These aren’t the colors I got – ours are blue, red and aqua with nice designs on them.  They are very handy, LARGE, spillproof, autosealing, and have a handy carabiner built into the handle for attaching it to just about anywhere, not to mention environmentally friendly!  If we didn’t already have about 40 too many water bottles, I would have gotten some for us, too.  They are nice.

And I hope they make a nice gift, with a card.  Something simple and useful.  Not just another paperweight or magnet set, or “I heart my teacher” coffee mug!

This year, purchased gifts instead of homemade ones are in order, and I’ll just have to be OK with that!