The perfect thank you gift for teachers

Where has the time gone!  First year of school done!

It’s almost the end of my daughters 1st year at school, where has the time gone.  It seems like  yesterday that we were walking to school for the first time!  Now the conversation in the play ground has turned to ‘what to buy the teacher as an end of year thank you present?’

Hopefully her teacher doesn’t read my blog or I’m about to spoil her surprise. We’ve been very lucky this year with our daughters teacher, she’s amazing, I’ve never seen some one with so much enthusiasm who obviously loves her job.

We’ve watched our daughter embrace her love of reading going from a non reader to a reader and I’ll miss the days when she no longer wants me to read to her at night, putting herself to bed.  She genuinely loves school and runs through the gate every morning.

There has been whispers about doing a collection for the teacher, but apparently, this is discouraged by senior management as it may put pressure on some families and I totally understand.  I’ve heard of intense competition amongst parents in the playground with large amounts of money being spent on gifts and that’s just not my style, I want my daughter to be involved in the choice of gift, as after all, the teacher has suffered 30 kids, like her, for the past year.  My hat goes off to her!

My daughter’s class is called Butterflies and she wanted to buy her teacher a present related to that theme. As a teacher myself I know that the endless boxes of chocolates rarely leave the staff room, the flowers have nowhere to live and I wanted a more personal, but practical gift that the teacher can use or wine and lots of it!

Gifts for teachers

Coincidentally, I was sent these Butterfly post it notes, a practical gift that the teacher she can use in the class next term, every teacher needs post it notes from marking a page in a book to jotting down notes after listening to a child read of difficult words they need to work on. We’ve stumbled upon the perfect present!

When the chocolate has been eaten and the flowers have wilted, the post it notes will still be there and the tin the post it notes come in can be reused.

Disclosure:  I was sent these post it notes for review purposes, but you have to admit they’re rather fab!

Do you buy presents for your kid’s teachers?  If so what do you suggest?

 

 

Meal Planning Monday 8th April 2013

Meal Planning Inspiration for the Family

Week two of school holidays!  I’m on my knees but have ordered in a case of wine so I should survive.  As always, the majority of our meals this week will be done in a slow cooker.  Well, actually they all will be.

On Mondays we do #meatfree, but no chance I will convince our 5 year old to eat a veggie curry so I’ve opted for Lasagna which hopefully she will eat.  Fingers firmly crossed.  I will leave you guys to debate my spelling of Lasagna and for the record that is an ‘e’ in Kedgeree and not an ‘a’.

The second new recipe we are trying is the Paprikash – she loves pork, mushrooms and sour cream so hedging my bet on this one.

We will also be having a few tried and tested favorites.  The links to the recipes are below.

If anyone is looking for me this week, I will be hiding at the bottom of a bottle of red!  :-)

Have a great week!

Meal Planning Monday

 

Meal Planning Monday – 25th March 2013

This week’s meals have been inspired by the weather.  I can’t believe the difference between now and this time last year!

What happened to spring?

As always, I will predominantly be using my Slow Cooker and am looking forward to trying some new recipes.  I’m not convinced about the Marmalade Oxtail but always willing to have a go.  I just need to remember to marinate it the night before, which is not my strong point.

I’ve never eaten Quinoa and I’ve had a bag in the cupboard for ages, so looking forward to trying the Aubergine and Baked Egg.  Pushing the boat out on Friday and making a Thai Fish Curry, fingers crossed the little one will eat it.  She loves Fish and Prawns but she’s not a huge fan of spices.

Meal Planning Monday

Have a great week and stay warm!

Meal Planning Monday

Meal Planning Monday – 18 March 2013

I like to plan my weekly meals as it saves me time, money and stress.

Meal Planning Monday

It’s a rather ‘normal’ week around here and the majority of meals will be slow cooked.  I have to do an airport run tonight but forgot hubby is in London so I have to bundle the little one up and take her with me.  Hopefully, our Thai Curry isn’t overcooked and turned to mush when we get home.

I’m out Tuesday night in London for an SEO event, however, I’m not feeling that enamoured as I overdid it a bit last night and I will need to sort out some childcare so we will see.

We’re trying to eat a bit more fish so you will see that we are having it on Wednesday and on Friday.  Fingers crossed Madame likes the Risotto, but I do know she loves prawns.

Have a great week everyone.

Meal Planning Monday

So why the h*ll is it called a Snood?

I appreciate you can wear it around your neck like a scarf or pull it up over your head like a hoody?  So, why is it not call a Scoody, Hoofy, Scardy, Shoody, Hody, Horf or some other daft combination?  The ‘sn’ bit has me a bit perplexed.  Can anyone shed some light on this?

But who cares about all that, the most important thing is that this Lambswool Snood is keeping me toasty during this cold snap we’re having!  Yes, I’ve been wearing it indoors recently.

Disclosure:  The Snood was compliments of Presents for Men