It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! Quick, send your kids’ teachers a “thank you” email right now! I don’t care how perfect your kid is, that teacher has taught them and loved them and guided them and likely been driven slightly mad by your little angel at some point ALL year. Hurry up, I’ll wait…go tell them “THANKS!” right now…

Ok, good. Now, to make you feel bad about your lack of Pinterest skills and your lame Teacher Appreciation Gift you were planning, I am going to humble brag (ha! its just a full blown brag!) about what I did for my kids’ teachers.

Behold, the succulent garden!

My older kids are in preK4 and preK3 and have two teachers each. These teachers are amazing. Kind, compassionate, loving…their love for my kids simply oozes out. We are so lucky! Of course they are also fully bilingual (my kids attend an immersion school), engaging, patient, creative, and have taught my kids so so much! Anyway, each teacher got a small potted succulent garden that contained two or three varieties of succulents, three or four plants each.

I bought the pots at Michael’s, on sale of course (does anyone buy stuff at Michael’s that isn’t on sale or with a coupon?!). I put a layer of rocks (from our driveway! ha!) on the bottom to stop the soil from falling through the drainage hole. It’s important to note that succulents needs good drainage, so a hole in the bottom of the pot is a must. I then put in a layer of succulent soil (purchased at a specialty garden shop), arranged my succulents, and filled the rest of the way with more succulent soil. They won’t do well in regular ol’ dirt, they need better drainage, so be sure to get soil suited specifically for succulents. Tied each with a ribbon and then printed these adorable tags from Inspiration Made Simple. Seriously, these tags are sooooo cute, go check on the blog!

Of course I didn’t get a picture of the kids carrying the gifts in to their teachers – I was too busy trying to get three little kids around the car pool line, drag the screaming toddler through the doors (he wanted to hold it open for EVERYONE), and carry the other two pots without spilling. But suffice it to say, they, of course, looked adorable and were proud as could be to present the little gardens to their teachers. The teachers loved them and I feel like it’s a practical gift – they can keep them in the classroom if they wish, take them home, or even regift them! I like that it’s “made with love” but not overly “homemade”. Hopefully our small gesture put a smile on the teachers’ faces and let them know just how much we appreciate all that they do for our kiddos each day.