My first link up! (And Christmas gifts for my kiddos!)

I'm linking up with a blog I often visit, Stephanie at 3rd Grade Thoughts for some awesome ideas so I'm going to link to her for my very first linky!

Glitter Ornaments!!! Last year was my first year teaching and I knew I needed to do something cost effective yet fun and special for my kids.  I found this idea from pinterest last year and my kids LOVED their ornaments.  I was able to get the class ornaments and glitter from Michael's for 50% off and floor cleaner from Target.  Ya pour some cleaner into the jar, swish it around, pour it out, and then funnel in some glitter.  You swoosh the glitter around and ta-da!! Glitter ornament 1 complete!  My ornaments for my kids last year were all blue and gold, our elementary school colors.  This year, my mom scored a sweet deal for glitter assortment packs from TJ Maxx so I used those to make sure each ornament was different, yet reflective of my kids' personalities. I used paint pens to write their names in a fun way.

 I know, that's an impressive collection of glitter! EEK! I love them all.  In this photo I collected I everything I needed, glitter, glass ornaments, floor cleaner, and my class list.  (I was missing the funnel in this photo.) Oh, and the marshmallows on the side are part of a later photo :)

 Last year I wrote my kids' names on last, this year I wrote them first.  I don't think it matters either way.

 Ta-da!!!! After I poured in some floor cleaner, swooshed it around, poured it out, and put in some glitter and swish-swashed that around, I made my 16 ornaments for my kiddos!  Aren't they fun and pretty?!

 Here are two of my favorites. Love those colors!

 

For all of my teacher friends I made Snow Day Hot Coco. (Actually double chocolate hot coco).  Again, this recipe is from pinterest. :) I planned on making cookies in a jar, but the price for everything totally overwhelmed me!  I really like the look of the hot coco in the jars though.  I made the tags and directions (on the back) for everyone to follow.  Most of teacher friends have kids or will be having kids so this is fun and hopefully enjoyable! I did half the recipe to try out since I LOVE hot chocolate and thought it was DELICIOUS!  MMM I love hot chocolate on a snow day!

At my school, we have three fourth grade classes and ability group our math and reading classes.  So in addition to my 16 homeroom kids, I also see about 25 other kids and didn't want them to feel left out!  I did last year as well for little gifts and they were quick, easy, and relatively inexpensive.  I bought the jumbo box from Walmart and stuck on a cute little label.  Ta-da!  Love hot chocolate!

Just because, I found this super cute frame from Kohls for 60% off.  It's our first Christmas together so I HAD to frame our first Christmas card as a married couple.  

Check out my TPT store to snag the snow day hot coco labels!  (I haven't quite figured out google docs yet... anyone know of a good tutorial for that?)

Thanks for stopping by!  I am super excited for all of my fun Christmas activities for this week- maybe I'll find time to post about all of the fun things we are doing!? Merry Christmas, everyone!