4 Class gift Ideas on a Budget for End of Year Gifts for Students

I love giving my kids a gift at the end of the school year, but I’m on a budget. And that means I’m always shopping for class gift ideas that are affordable, but fun end of the year gifts for students!  This especially worked well when we had our end of the year awards party! (Read about our End of the Year Luau Awards party and End of the Year western themed party.)

One of the reasons why I love giving end of the year gifts so much is that I love the challenge of finding something memorable and fun, but on a budget!  After all, who here can afford to spend tons of spare cash on 25 littles?? #notme And you don’t need to! There are plenty of fun gifts that first graders will love that are easy on your teacher salary budget!

Here are 4 of my favorite class gift ideas for young kids at the end of the year that won’t break your cheap teacher bank! (And many are great for birthday favors, other times of the school year, or even small teacher gifts too!)

class gift ideas on a budget - pinterest image

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Rootbeer Class Gift Ideas

This was one of my end of the year gifts the year we had a western themed end of the year awards party.  I just used rafia to tie through the tag and then around the Root Beer bottle.  I think it turned out so cute and easy!  This one would also be perfect for a Root Beer loving teacher during teacher appreciation week–or any random Tuesday! Find the root beer gift tags HERE!

rootbeer gift with gift tag: we've had a rootin' tootin' year

Krazy Straws

I actually used this one for Valentine gifts for my son’s friends one year, but they work perfectly for class gift ideas at the end of the year too!  I bought a bag of krazy straws for super cheap.  Then, we punched a hole at the top and bottom of the gift tags, threaded the krazy straws through the tag, and they were ready to go!  Find these krazy straw gift tags for all occasions HERE!  And krazy straws are super cheap too.  Find the krazy straws HERE.

krazy straws with gift tag: "Have a KRAZY summer!"

Leis

The year we had a first grade Luau awards party at the end of the year. I gave leis to each of my first grade kids as a hello summer gift!  The kids LOVED these!  Since then, I’ve updated these lei-zy summer gift tags and you can grab them HERE!  Find packs of leis for cheap HERE.

Leis gifts with gift tag: "Have a lei-zy summer!"

Sunglasses

Our summer countdown elf brought these one year as one of “his” gifts.  The kids opened them and wore them all day long as we worked.  It was a huge hit with the kids and helped keep learning fun those last few days before summer break! 

On a side note, how fun would it be to let the kids bring sunglasses in to wear as a reward. I’m always looking for fun “experience” rewards that the kids will love–like no shoes day, lunch with the teacher, etc– and I think they would LOVE bringing sunglasses to wear at school all day–or keeping a fun pair of silly sunglasses for someone to choose to wear all day.

Find these versatile tags HERE.  And get a dozen sunglasses for super cheap HERE. You can also find packs of seasonal sunglasses like the ones shown in the photo below in the seasonal section of walmart!

Sunglasses gift with tag: "You are my sunshine"

What are your favorite class gifts for summer?