I have two boys, one in preschool the other in kindergarten. They both have three classroom parties a year, Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's Day and all of the kids give out little goodie bags with treats in it. I try to do it a little different than what everyone else will be doing, for example, instead of giving out candy at the Halloween party like everyone else, my oldest gave out animal crackers and sugarless gum, my youngest gave out animal crackers and a pumpkin cup, (I found them for a $1 a piece). If you have any cute ideas I would appreciate it. It also needs to be inexpensive because the kindergarten class has over 20 students, not to mention that I think we are all trying to save some money these days. Thanks so much.
I teach second grade and my students go nuts when someone brings erasers, stickers, pencils, etc. Kudos to you for not wanting to send in just candy.
A few years back I had a mom bring in mini cups of hot chocolate for everyone. She made it in the teachers lounge. Teh kids were able to add 2 marshmellows. They loved it and it was a nice 10 minute break for me that they students were occupied!
Wow, my question is, are all of the kids in the class trading bags of nonsense for 3 holidays a year?!? It seems like a bit much. Time to touch base with the teachers/room mothers and implement some new traditions that don't require so much time, cost, and stuff.
Check the Target $1 section as well. They have socks, paper, pencils, buckets, stickers, lots of cute holiday stuff. You can make homemade trail mix, with sunflower seeds, cashews, almonds, dried fruit such as cranberries, pineapple, blueberries mini white chocolate chips, put it in baggies and wrap it in colored ribbon. Be fun way to get your kids involved in the process of making healthy, homemade gifts for friends as well.
I bought items from orientaltrading.com as well. My boys are the same age as yours, and for the older one I bought pencils and erasers and a little notepad. All for under $1/kid. You can also buy a lot of the stuff at your local dollar store. For my younger one, I bought them coloring books and a little ring pop that is shaped like a snowflake or something like that. You can also buy play doh for the younger ones, they love that. Or, another item I have done in the past is at McDonald's they sell treat coupons for a dollar. They have 12 coupons on them. You can tear it off and give 2 or 4 to each kid to cut down on cost. Or, Wendy's does a similar thing but with Frosty's.
Check out www.orientaltrading.com I usually buy a box of varied things that I put in my kids' stockings. There should be more than enough for 20 kids and they are not expensive. I usually get shipments from them in a couple of days without having to order special shipping.
for your kindergartener, you could try the Dollar Tree and get some holiday pencils. You can usually get a pack of 8-12 for $1...and every student can use pencils...they are nice, too, because they are wooden and painted..not wrapped in that plastic stuff
