Summer Prep Makes Life Easier!

I've been on summer vacation for about a month now, and while I have done a lot of relaxing by the pool and catching up on Nextflix, I have also been working hard!

I am working on a new course called StressLESS Teaching. My mission with this course is to help teachers ease the stress of teaching in the classroom and in life. One of my modules in the course will be about getting organized prior to the start of school.

One of the things that I do during the summer is prepare birthday bags for my students. The best thing about this is that when you have a student birthday, you just set the little bag on their desk that morning, and BAM…you are done!! Easy as pie!

Where To Get Your Items

So, during the summer, I hit the Dollar Tree, Michaels, and my local teacher supply store to stock up on the goodies and bags. All of the things included in this bag come out to less than $1.00 per birthday bag. I know that it's not essential to give students birthday treats, but I have always done this and think that it makes each child feel special!

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What You Need:

• goody bags
• ribbon
• pencils
• bubbles
• sweet treats
• bookmarks
• birthday stickers
• pencil sharpeners

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Cost

• I got the bags at Mardels for $1.99/25 bags. ($0.07 each)
• The pencils came from Michaels and were on sale for $5.00/24 pencils with erasers ($0.20 each). I have also bought these pencils in the past and liked them as well!
• The bubbles were $3.99 at Mardels, but I used my 30% off coupon and got them for $2.79/24 bubbles ($0.11 each)
• Sweet Treat Lollipops were from the Dollar Tree and were $1.00/8. These came in brights and primary colors ($0.12 each)
• The bookmarks are from my TPT store and can be used year after year. So a one time investment for the digital file! This is much cheaper than spending $3.00 every year for 25 bookmarks! This file is also editable, so you can customize for your class! These will pay for themselves over and over! (Let's just say $0.10 each approx.)
• Birthday stickers are from Mardel and cost $3.99/36 stickers. ($0.11 each)
• Pencil sharpeners are from the Dollar Tree and were $1.00/6 sharpeners ($0.16). I know these are a little more expensive, but guess what? The students can sharpen their own birthday pencil, and that makes it worth it!!! : )
• The TOTAL COST per bag is about $0.87!

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More Birthday Favorites

No Prep Birthday Packet

I also give my students a No Prep Birthday Packet and a cute Birthday Certificate. I copy enough for my students at the beginning of the year and then, along with their birthday bag, sit it on their desk! They LOVE doing this and then keep it in their work in progress folder to work on whenever they have free time! There is even a birthday hat you can have printed up in color or use a blackline for students to color in themselves!

Editable Birthday Pencil Topper

Birthday Bingo

I don't do this every year, but when I am feeling extra motivated, I make everyone a personalized birthday pencil topper. The students love it because it has their name on it! These are great to add to pencils in the birthday bag once you get your class list!

I also made a birthday bingo game that would be super fun to play on a students birthday. The student can either play or be the caller! This is a great activity to play and only costs only a small amount. This can be used year after year!

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What about you? How do you celebrate student birthdays in your classroom? I would love to hear about it in the comments below! Thank you for stopping by and be sure to pin the image below for future reference!