Back to School Present for Students part 1

On August 20, I am going to be a nervous little wreck. August 20th is the day before school starts and more importantly, Open House night. I have been trying to find the perfect back to school presents I can give to my students. I had the hardest time finding something that I didn't think was cheesy or something the students would just throw away or forget about as soon as they got home from Open House night.

I was cleaning out my craft room the other day and found some red felt fortune cookies I made for my husband on Valentines Day and suddenly an idea clicked in my head.

Fortune cookies are a perfect idea! No They are fast to make and extremely inexpensive. All you need is felt, matching 3/8" ribbon, wire, and glue.

Here is how it's done:

I took a cute little plastic cup from Ikea and managed to fit ten circles on each piece of felt. (Yes. There are only 9 circles on the piece below but I fit ten on all the others.) These fortune cookies were a little small especially compared to the ones I made for my husband but any size will do.

Next you get to cut all the circles out. Like so.

For wire, I used what I had: floral wire. Measure it so it is about a centimeter smaller than the diameter of the circle.

Like so.

Cut out all the wire you need.

Now you get to cut out the ribbon. The ribbon makes it so it looks nicer and makes the glue hold it better.

Glue the ribbon down with the wire right in the middle.

Now you just have to bend it. Bend the wire so that it forms a loose V shape. (The arch shape you see on the bottom of a fortune cookie.) Then just flip the felt so that it creates a perfect fortune cookie shape.
Slip in a fortune on a small slip of paper and you're all set!

You can just put them in a plastic bag (you know, the ones that come 100 for a couple bucks) or you can spend 50 cents more per student and buy the baby Chinese take out containers to put the fortune cookies in.

It makes the gift look extra cute.

For the fortune, you can put something cute like "You will do well in school this year." But I think I will give them extra points on an assignment or an extra punch on their punch card. Something like that.

Stay tuned for part 2 of the back to school presents I am giving my students this year.

Do you give your students back to school presents? What is it going to be this year?