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DIY Back to School Teacher Survival Kit Gift

Here is a cute and easy gift idea to send off with the kiddies on Meet the Teacher Day or on their first day of school. It’s an extremely budget friendly teacher gift that contains some very useful items!

As another summer winds down and another school year gets closer and closer, we are on the brink of a milestone in our family. This back to school season marks the tenth (as in 10) year that I have been home and not in the classroom teaching. Yes, this also means that I am on the brink of having a 10 year old kid, which I find absolutely mind-boggling. 10 years ago at this very moment, I was very pregnant and this website was not even a glint in my eye. But by mid-September, my world changed for the better and Lily was born. I stretched stretched my maternity leave to the max before I finally made the decision to make my departure from the classroom a permanent one. We went on a budget, I learned how to coupon, then found various jobs that I could do online to earn some money. Of course, we know the end of the story – by the time Lily turned 6 months old I had registered the domain mamacheaps.com and I’m proud that all these years later, this is a full-time work from home job that I LOVE!

All that being said, I don’t have to close my eyes too hard to remember how it felt to be a teacher during the first few weeks of school. Honestly, there were always MANY feelings.

I was excited to see my new and former students and to reunite with my favorite co-workers.

I was happy to set up my classroom, label school supplies and design fun bulletin boards.

I was nervous to start a fresh new year and meet new parents.

I was sad to see the summer end and with it, my freedom to come and go as I pleased.

I was tired. SO FREAKING TIRED. Classroom cleaning and organizing, lesson planning, meetings meetings MEETINGS. So many meetings! Faculty meetings, supervisor meetings, department meetings, probably meetings to plan more meetings.

Teacher Survival Kit for the 1st Week of School

It was thinking about all of those emotions (as well as the sheer exhaustion) that made me think about a cute little gift I could put together that was budget-friendly and full of handy helpers. I rounded up EVERY item in this kit at the dollar store, even the container itself!! One note – I did include Tylenol in my gift example. Know your school rules regarding medication handling before sending your kid to school with any kind of medication. You wouldn’t want your kiddo getting in trouble for having it, nor would you want to chance it getting in the wrong hands. My suggestion is that if you want to include any kind of medication, either you drop it off at school for the teacher, or let you child gift it while you are present (for example, Meet the Teacher Day). Just my two cents.

Back to the kit… Every item is from the dollar store. I went with some pampering products and also practical items.

My kit included:

Hand Sanitizer
Chapstick
Crystal Light to Go Packet
Tylenol
Lifesaver Mints
Hand Lotion
Bath Bomb
Tissues

I placed all of the supplies in the little container and used this printable tag as the finishing touch.

You can grab our printable tags right here. Simply enter your email address in the box and opt-in to receive our free newsletter. Check your inbox for this printable, which you will receive as a subscriber bonus.

Simply open the PDF and choose the size you prefer (I included two different sizes). Print the page that has the size you want. I recommend printing these tags on white card stock. Note: these are for personal use only.

Have your kiddo sign the back of the tag if you’d like. Then use a single hole puncher and some twine to tie the tag to the container.