The school year is coming to a close, and both teachers and students are looking forward to their summer vacations! Before school is out for summer, it’s important to thank the teachers for their hard work and dedication. After all, they spend a lot of time with your child!

When you package your end of the school year teacher gift, be sure to include a personal note or card. A handwritten note that mentions specific moments from the school year will make a huge impression on the teacher. Long after the gift has been used, the handwritten thank you will remain as a touching tribute to the teacher. You can also attach one of our free printable teacher appreciation Print and Posts for a fun appreciation message.

Here are five end of the school year teacher appreciation ideas that will say thanks:

1. School Supplies Tower.
Teachers are always in need of more school supplies! At the end of the school year, refill your teacher’s supply cabinets with crayons, notebooks, pencils, rulers, and more. Your teacher ill appreciate the practical gift, and the unique presentation will make the gift memorable! You can find several arrangements of this teacher appreciation idea on our Gifts for Teachers Pinterest board. 

2. Fun in the Sun.
Help your teacher get ready for a relaxing summer with a summer-themed gift. Arrange a beach towel, sunscreen, flip flops, and magazines or paperback books in a beach tote. You could also include a gift card to a local bookstore, so the teacher can choose her own beach reading or buy supplies for the classroom. Your teacher will be able to take the bag directly to the beach for some light reading and time in the sun! 

These teacher appreciation ideas are better than an apple!

3. Class Pictures.
For a truly personal end of the school year teacher appreciation idea, utilize pictures of the class from the school year. You can frame a class picture in an engraved photo frame with a personal message for the teacher, create a photo book, or work with a group of students to make a photo collage. 

Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer in Michigan, and many of us enjoyed the warm weather last weekend doing summer activities: boating, swimming, visiting the beach, and anything else outside. After five months of cold, wintery weather, Michiganders love to be outside! 

I especially love to be outside in the summer, so sitting in the office on those beautiful days can be tough. But I also love the chance to participate in the many summer team events Baudville plans. Whether it’s a short tournament of backyard games over a lunch break or an evening at the ballpark, summer is a great opportunity for team building. 

I love when I find examples of employee appreciation in pop culture! I can always count on scenes from “The Office”or Dilbert comic strips for comic relief. Both do an excellent job of making fun of some pretty outrageous appreciation blunders. 

I recently learned about this scene from Seinfeld, and I’m certainly going to add it to my video library! In the clip, Jerry and Kramer both give Elaine birthday gifts, but one of them completely misses the mark. Can you guess who made the faux pas? 

This week is National Backyard Games Week, and I love my backyard games! I’ve built up a decent collection of them in my garage. At my house, we’re always ready with a game of bean bag toss, ladder golf, badminton, Frisbees, and even bubbles for the neighborhood kids. It’s common to find me outside on a beautiful summer evening playing a game with neighbors and friends. Backyard games provide an opportunity for camaraderie, fun, and enjoying the outdoors – all things I love!

I’ve noticed that my time spent playing backyard games has improved my friendships (and my sweet game skills!), so it makes sense to me that we should bring games to work. If playing games at home is energizing and improves relationships, imagine how it could influence your team!

Those who know me will not be surprised at all by this story. Crazy things happen to me all the time. Last week I was definitely ripe for some sort of debacle, as I’d been sailing fairly calm seas since I single-handedly demolished our garage door back in March.

It started during a toasty-warm lunch hour, when I headed out to pay my mortgage, with my check and payment stubs on my passenger seat filled out and ready to go. About halfway to the bank, I opened my sunroof to soak up some rays. And, then, when it got a little too hot, I lowered my window. This immediately created a tornado effect and all of the papers on my seat began to dance and flutter. I quickly sprang to close the window, but not before the check I had neatly endorsed was whisked through the open space. All I could do was watch through the rearview mirror as it made its hasty escape.