Teacher Gifts for Every Occasion
As if parents don’t have enough going on – homework, their own jobs, kids’ extracurricular activities, and chauffeuring them around – those with younger children have the added pressure of coming up with ideas and gifts for student class parties and teachers.
In search of the answer to the burning question, What do teachers really like? we turned to Ashley Frederick, a former teacher who stepped away from the classroom and eventually used her talent for making creative class gifts to help busy parents look like rock stars.
In 2017, after a year and a half of teaching 9th grade English – and having just delivered her first child – Frederick says she realized, “I couldn’t be the best teacher and the best mother and still have anything left for myself.”
Going to work as office manager in her family’s plumbing and air conditioning company, part of her still yearned for a connection to the classroom and a creative outlet. “One Christmas I was putting together Play-Doh Christmas tree gifts for my child’s class and a friend came over and raved over them and asked if I’d make some for her, Frederick recalls. “She suggested that I do that as a side job. I jumped on the idea because I wanted the fun.”
Last year the 34-year-old turned her gift-giving talents into a side business and started Class Party Co. Working from her Abbeville home, she provides unique and useful teacher gifts and cute, fully-assembled favor bags for school parties, along with other school-related items.
Among her best sellers for teachers: beach towels, manicure sets in plastic apple-shaped containers, and colorful leather-tassel key chains. For students, the glider airplanes and crazy straws have created a buzz.
But it was the “Little Monster” Play-Doh kits, lending themselves to the creation of cute little blobs, that proved to be bestsellers for kids when sales reached $10,000 this Halloween. For Christmas Frederick will offer Play-Doh Christmas tree kits, complete with a star, ornaments and garland. She points out that she doesn’t include a cookie cutter to neatly shape the figures. “If I did, I would be telling the children what the end product should look like, and that stifles their creativity,” she explains.
With her gifts come the creative “punny” tags for which Frederick has become known, with sayings like: “Thank You for Being a Sun-Sational Teacher,” “Mani-Thanks,” “Your Class is Off the Chain,” As Frederick points out, “Personalized touches make such a difference for everyone: parents, children and teachers.” For the moms who have the time and enjoy creating their own gifts, tags can be emailed ready for printing.
While she didn’t study graphic design, Frederick feels like she should have, drawing inspiration from billboard designs and text in magazines to advertisements on Facebook and trending or unlikely coordinating colors. “I have a certain look I go for,” says the self-proclaimed perfectionist. “I love watercolor and pastels. I have a few favorite artist shops for hand-drawn and hand-painted clip art.” Although she’s not at a point yet where she takes orders for custom designs, clients can choose from a selection of tags, fonts and ribbon colors.
Frederick has taken her services a step further in trying to open the lines of communication between busy parents and teachers. The solution was as simple as notepads with designated boxes for parents to fill out and send to school with their child informing teachers of important alerts like the reason for an absence or tardiness, or notice of a pickup by a grandparent. Parent contact info appears at the bottom to confirm the legitimacy.
At a teacher’s request, Frederick created a similar pad to help instructors communicate to parents: reminders to correct or return homework; a missing assignment; whether the child needs to work with the teacher before or after school; and includes the teacher’s contact info at the bottom. “Most teachers have 25 students” Frederick adds. “And if they have to write that many notes, it eats up valuable time. This way they’re getting quality information.”
While the focus on gifts is mainly school-related, the Class Party backpack and car seat tags have become popular safety items, providing vital information about the child, like allergies, health conditions, birthdays and contacts.
“I put my teachers’ touch on all the gifts,” maintains Frederick. “Everything is age- and school- appropriate and allergy friendly. I try not to include sweets but, instead, activities that appeal to sensory and kinesthetic learners.” She’s received rave reviews on the Play-Doh kits from parents of autistic children.
This month, Class Party Co. celebrates its first anniversary, and already Frederick has a steady stream of clients from every state except Alaska. Still in disbelief she says, “It’s crazy that I’m making money from this because I’m enjoying it so much. I never knew you could like what you’re doing and get paid for it. I love making life easier for my clients and helping them achieve a little more sparkle, with a lot less stress.”