Orange You Glad it's Summer {Gift Idea!}

I work with an amazing team of teachers. We've been together for a long time and seen each other through celebrations, births, marriages, divorces, happy times, and heartache. We've become more like family than just friends or co-workers. And we're kind of breaking up. It's sad. So sad, that I have a lump in my throat as I type this. There are 11 teachers on our second grade team, one is moving to a new school and three are being switched to other grade levels. None of the three wanted to go and none of the remaining 8 wanted them to leave. We begged, we cried, we presented our case, we begged some more, we spent a good amount of time in denial, and now we've come to accept it. It's not going to change. Our little team is being shaken up and we just have to make the best of it. Sounds dramatic, I know. But it's really been hard on us. My new principal is awesome and we love him (albeit maybe we loved him a little more before the shake-up) and we're trusting that there's a good reason and this somehow fits into his vision for the school as a whole, but it still blows to be completely honest.

I always give my team a little end of the year gift and this year I wanted it to be really special. After being the team leader for 12+ years, it's hard to come up with new ideas, but I think this one is pretty cute! 

I filled Mason jars with all things orange and added the tag "Orange you glad it's summer?" I thought it was better than a jar full of blue stuff and an "I'll be so Blue without You" tag.

What's inside you ask? Well, every random orange thing I could find 10 of that would fit in a Mason jar. Easier said than done, by the way.

Some of the items in the picture didn't make the cut. The straws were too long, so I trimmed them. And then they looked wonky at the end, so they were out. In real life, next to all of the other orange stuff, the Kit Kats looked more red than orange, so I ate them. The Burt's Bees looked more yellow when I got them home, but they were too good not to throw in the jar. 

Now packing the jars was a feat in itself. In the end, I found it easier to put in the tall things, then layer the short things, and then stuff the scrubbie in last. I used a pair of closed scissors to push the scrubbie in and fill all the gaps. I had to really push down on the top and screw on the lid fast to get it all in there.  You've all seen that fake can of nuts that has springy snakes fly out  when you open it? Well, that's pretty much what it was like to open these. I warned my team to be careful opening them because nothing spoils a moment like a pack of Tic Tacs rocketing towards your eyeball.

It did get rather pricey to make these for 10 people, so I have some tips to cut costs. Try to find things that come in packs and break them up - like the small colored clothespins, Kit Kats, Tic Tacs, Crystal Light and Post-its. Nail polish can be really expensive or really cheap. I found that out the hard way. I found 6 of the same nail polishes that were pretty reasonable and then I needed 4 more, so I threw them in the cart. When I got home I realized that those extra 4 bottles were almost $6 each! So, pay attention to that for sure. The candy sticks were about 20 cents at Cracker Barrel and the orange foot file and scrubbie were $1 each at WalMart. Really though, there's no reason you can't fill a smaller mason jar with orange fruit candies, orange gumballs, or even just tie the tag to a real orange wrapped in cellophane, a bottle of orange soda, or just the orange scrubbie. It's the thought that counts, right? 

Click here to get the tag.