7 Awesome “Green” Teacher Gift Ideas

It’s that time of year again: teacher’s Christmas gifts! I’m always hunting around for good ideas that are unique, fun and Dalai-like. Here is a great assortment of inexpensive gifts any teacher would love to get!

1. DYI Cookies in a Jar

I have done this super easy DYI project several times: just put your favorite easy recipe, like these Oatmeal Toffee Cookies from Cooking Light, in a 24oz mason jar. Add a bow and the directions (the wet ingredients, oven temp and cooking time) and your teacher has a health(ier!) indulgence when they have eaten all the other Christmas goodies.

2. Eco Friendly Lunch Box

There are many wonderful eco-friendly lunch boxes, like this stainless steel bento box from www.ecolunchboxes.com. Your kid’s teacher can bring their own healthy lunch to school in a safe BPA-free container and no need for sandwich bags!

3. Chemical-Free Hand Sanitizer

Keep your teacher healthy with Clean Well’s patented hand sanitizer formula that kills germs without hurting cuts and drying out the skin like traditional chemical sanitizers do. And, you both can have a laugh at the “dirty kid” reference…especially if they are wiping snotty noses all day.

4. DYI Microwavable Hand Warmers

If you live in colder climates, your teacher will appreciate these hand warmers – especially when they are outside supervising recess. No pattern needed, just fill your shape with things like rice, dry beans, flax seed, buckwheat hulls and/or herbs and essential oils like lavender, cloves, peppermint oil. Check out TipNut for more details.

5. BPA-free Water Bottles

These cute eco-friendly water containers will be a hit. The Copco 24 oz insulated, “stir and sip” cup comes in many colors and make taking sips throughout the day easy. You can find them at Amazon, Target, Walmart, K-Mart, and Bed Bath and Beyond, just to name a few.

I love these Lifefactory glass water bottles wrapped in a cool silicone sleeve for protection. No worries about leaching plastic and the super wide mouth makes it easy to fill. Drugstore.com has a buy one, get the second 1/2 off and free shipping.

6. Natural lotion from Indigo Wild

My go-to lotion because I love the convenient pump. Frankincense and Myrrh is my FAVORITE smell. All of Indigo Wild products are natural and chemical-free, so your teacher can keep their winter hands soft without any of the bad stuff.

7. Essential Oils

Did you know certain essential oils like lavender, chamomile, ylang ylang, rose and mandarin help calm the nervous system by actually changing the brain waves?

Your teacher can use Aura Cacia’s oils as “perfume” on the body or package it with Aura Cacia’s car diffuser. They can even use it in the classroom with an inexpensive vaporizer and watch the kids moods shift!

What is the Dalai Family giving this year? I couldn’t decide, so each teacher is getting a little something different: cookies in a jar, Capco tumblers, LifeFactory water bottles, and a Cleanwell sanitizer basket of goodies.

Some of my friends might be getting the same thing too…if I don’t keep them for myself!

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Hospice around the Holidays

I’m sorry I’m off schedule with my posts. I feel like my brain is in a thousand directions. I’m in a hamster wheel, turning and turning, but somehow never getting to my destination.

The Dalai Lina at a tacky Christmas party. No, that isn’t my real hair. I borrowed it from Carol Brady.

I know it is that time of year. We are all in the same position, right? Presents to buy, cards to send, school programs to watch, Christmas parties to attend, Santa to visit, teachers gifts to make. And that’s in addition to the day-to-day life stuff like hockey games, fevers and 100 pound dogs that purposefully bust wholes in fences.

The girls watching “Funky Mama” sing.

Oh, and a 5-year-old birthday party with 24 girls and 321 boa feathers…

I am still finding feathers.

I was caught up in all my “stuff” when I got a call today. It was from the volunteer coordinator from Vitas. Vitas is a nationwide hospice company that I help with their Story Keeper’s program. Being a certified “story keeper,” I am able to go into the hospice patient’s home and make an audio record of their life. Depending on the patient, it takes anywhere from 3-5 visits. Most of the patients are so tired they can only answer questions for an hour before they have to stop, so we have to complete the life history in multiple visits.

The two birthday girls.

So, the phone rings between doing the dishes and folding the laundry, my mind caught in the whirlwind of “to-dos”, and it’s Meredith. Meredith wants to talk to me about a patient who is dying of COPD at the age of 80 (I’ll call her Debora). She lives about 45 minutes from me, but she can’t find anyone that will take the assignment. It needs to be done soon because you never know the timeline death will decide to take.

Max and Annabelle on their first sled ride of the winter.

My mind immediately starts thinking of why I can’t do it. Not one more thing. Criminy, I have spiced pecans to make! I haven’t even gotten my Christmas cards out! How can I possibly find the time? My mind was racing to find the proper excuse for turning down a dying woman’s request.

Annabelle and cousins visiting Santa.

Can you believe my first reaction? I’m worried about teacher’s gifts when there is a family mourning the inevitable passing of a loved one. Seriously, Dalai, get a grip! “Sorry, Debora, you picked a really inconvenient time to start dying. I’m afraid I have some pecans to roast. I’ll catch you in the afterlife.”

Of course, Debora put the whole Christmas “to-do” list in perspective. It’s all just stuff. Let it go if it is driving you crazy or something more important comes up. I’m sure Debora’s family is not worried about Christmas cards and teacher’s gifts. They are focused on spending time with a loved one while they have the chance.

So, if my posts are a little helter skelter this next week or two, you’ll know I’m hangin’ with Debora. Gleaning some pearls of wisdom. I’ll pass them along when I’m done…

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