full of beans, plus more to give away

This year at school, Garrett has had two head teachers, three assistant teachers, one speech therapist, and a pair of bus drivers. They all more than deserve a great big thank you from us for making this school year such an enjoyable success for Garrett. So I started asking around to my teacher/former teacher friends for ideas for thank you gifts that we could present them each with on the last day of school. Based on their responses, I came to the following conclusions:

1. Treats often get tossed because they get more than they could possibly eat.
2. Sometimes the same thing happens to generic gifts, which can get lost in the shuffle.
   
3. Thoughtful thank you notes and supplies for the classroom, however, are typically pretty welcome.
4. Gift cards are an easy out.

I wanted to put together something nice, but I am not a wealthy woman, which pretty much ruled out gift cards tucked into the thoughtful thank you notes I will most definitely be writing. In my head something homemade is oftentimes the definition of meaningful so I started to think along the lines of something I could make. If it was somehow useful in their classroom, it would be all the better.

And then it hit me. Beanbags! I have a truckload of dried beans and fabric scraps that I need to clear out, and if anyone can get mileage out of beanbags, it's preschoolers and those that teach them. And so I set to work making a few sets of beanbags -- a large one for the main classroom teachers, and a smaller one for his speech therapist to use. I think they turned out nice. (And yes, the bus drivers will be getting something different.)



Apparently I found a rhythm at the sewing machine because even after divvying a bunch out for Garrett's teachers, I'm still quite literally swimming in beanbags. Blake thinks I should make a small business of sewing and selling them, but I remain unconvinced that there is a profitable market for beanbags. I plan to keep some for my boys to play with (even as I write this they are happily tossing them around the room by the handful)), but what should I do with the rest?

Do you want some? How about a giveaway? I have two sets of six that I'd be happy to see go to a new home. (Seriously. Have I mentioned how I made way too many?)


Just leave a comment to enter (one entry per person please). I will randomly pick two winners on Monday, June 20th.