School Counselor Blog

It's almost time to break out the New Year's party supplies, say farewell to 2020, and make a bulletin board for the New Year! 🥳 One thing I love about being an educator is that we have two New Years - January 1st and the first day of the new school year. Two opportunities to celebrate new beginnings and a fresh start. The first day of school always feels like a celebration to me. I have had the idea for a long time to somehow use a "New Year's party" theme for the start of the new school year.  For the 2019-2020 school year, I created a bulletin board out of discounted New Year's Eve Party supplies from Target. I saved them from the beginning of January 2019 until the beginning of the new school year. I was so excited to put this bulletin board together.  To make this bulletin board, I used a black piece of roll paper, chalk, and the New Year's Eve supplies. I stapled the party hats and the banner onto the board. I used roll glue ...

I have been making Winter Stovetop Potpourri for years. It is an easy last minute gift that makes the recipient's home smell amazing. Before I start making bags, I like to lay out all of my ingredients. You will need cranberries, candy ginger, mandarin oranges, cinnamon sticks, and whole cloves. (No worries if you can't find candied ginger... I added a tag that doesn't list ingredients other than the citrus so you can replace the ginger with something else or omit it). Each bag contains the following:  1 mandarin orange 1/2 cup of cranberries  3 pieces of candied ginger (optional) 2-3 cinnamon sticks 1 tsp of whole cloves fresh pine branches (optional) I add all the items to the bags in an assembly line. I put everything in small cellophane bags, tie them shut with a ribbon, and attach the instruction gift tag. I like to put everything in a cellophane bag so the recipient can see the festive colors of the ingredients. A...

I have a confession. I love packaging, wrapping, and giving gifts. Really I love everything that goes along with the gift-giving process. I especially love a good theme. This year it has been a little more difficult to purchase gifts since I have been primarily relying on things I can pick up curbside or get shipped.  For my daughter's therapists, I decided to keep it simple with a candle and a gift card. I bought candles via Target drive up and Starbucks gift cards in the drive-thru.  I put the candles in cellophane bags, tied them with ribbon, and clipped the gift card and tag to the candle with a clothespin.  I like to save ribbon and other accents throughout the year to add some flair to gifts. Tinsel also makes a great gift accent year-round! (I learned these awesome tips from following Amy Lou Hawthorne on Instagram. She owns a shop, The Ever Co. ) A few years ago I purchased these cute printable gift tags...