I used to make my Lemon Tea Bread for the postman, and leave it in the mailbox for him with a nice card. He loved it!
Teachers are difficult, but I used to have several teachers as clients when I had my cleaning biz and they had lovely gifts from children. Some had candles, little ornaments with the child's photo inside, gift cards for Bath & Body Works, local restaurants, & bookstores. I always purchased something when my daughter was little, but I was not into crafting then and mothers today are more savvy when it comes to saving money. If I were a young mother today I would definitely make salt dough ornaments, or the baked cinnamon/applesauce ornaments. I saw both recipes online. If you know how to crochet or sew there are many things you can make that are quick and useful. Aprons, dishcloths, sachets, pressed flower booklets, bookmarks, clay pots painted with a design and throw in some gardening gloves and a few packs of seeds, recipes in a jar complete with a wooden spoon and tied up with raffia and the recipe printed on a label. You can do up some baskets by placing wadded newsprint in the bottom of the basket, place your filler on top of this, add some assorted teas & cookies and maybe a nice mug, put some cellophane wrap on it and tie a raffia bow at the top. You can get the raffia, cellaphane wrap and baskets at wholesale outlets for not too much money. Sometimes they have good sales. I think the tea basket gift would be nice for men or women teachers. Men are a little more difficult to buy for, but what guy does not like homemade fudge, chocolate chip cookies, or Lemon Tea Bread? These items can be made in advance and frozen, except for the fudge. Remember, moms are extremely busy around holiday time and they need a break too. Get the kids to help on some of the gifts, like the salt dough project. You'd be surprised how creative they are in the kitchen and you'll be spending quality time with them as well. One year I made gingerbread men out of brown grocery bags. Draw your GBM design and cut 2 for every GBM that you'll be making. Start gluing them back to back leaving one side open. Stuff some used dryer sheets in between the GBM layers, close it up, take your red colored marker and draw stitches around the outside edge, use a brown marker for the eyes, nose, and mouth, and red again for the buttons. These are cute and a keeper. Oh, and seasoned nuts are festive for gifting. All you do is melt some butter, add your fav seasonings, put the nuts in the bowl and stir/mix them until all are coated, place the nuts on a flat baking sheet in 350 oven for 15 minutes or less, let cool and place in tins that you can buy at Walmart for not much money. Tah dah! There you have it, Christmas all wrapped up.
"Quality is not an act, it is a habit." ~ Aristotle
