Fun and Inspiring End of School Year Gifts Ideas

As we make our way towards the end of the school year I find myself feeling a mixture of emotions. On the one hand I am almost breathing a sigh of relief because juggling work life, home life and school life can be hectic (parents will know what I'm talking about!) but I'm also left with a sort of sadness because it's another year of my children growing up that has simply flown by. Another years worth of memories made and I want desperately to remember it all and I know others do too. 

And it isn't just the mums and dads that want to look back on these days gone by, it's other family members, teachers and even the kids themselves as well. Lucky for all of you, I've teamed up with Snapfish to share with you some budget-friendly, easy ideas for personalised gifts that can hopefully capture these memories or perhaps an item that will allow you to remember a certain day or a specific pupil. Each one making a perfect keepsake that although simple will look more high end. 

So lets start with the teachers because lets be honest, they work hard all year and they love our children just as much as we do and deserve nothing less than a big thank you for all their efforts throughout the year. I mean I applaud my children's teachers, especially putting up with my five year old because boy has she got .... character. And what better way to thank these adults who inspire than with a gift that's unique to them.

The first idea I have for you is a beautiful cushion. These can have photos printed on them but for this instance I chose to go with just three words. What makes this type of gift special is that you can change the words, font, background design etc to suit the recipient. I chose the words Inspire, Learn, Teach because that's exactly what teachers do all year every year and I think having these words close by can remind them of that fact if they are perhaps having a bad day.

My second idea comes from my first hand experience volunteering in schools, more specifically in the staff room. I'm sure any teacher reading this will agree that a nice warm cup of tea or coffee will always be appreciated, whether in the morning to kick-start their day or perhaps after lunch when they're in need of a pick me up to get them through a manic afternoon. With Snapfish you have two options available, your run of the mill mug or a travel mug, ideal for when on the go.

With either option you have the tools available to upload pictures, these can be imported from your computer or even from social media like Facebook and Instagram. For the travel mug I thought it would be a nice idea to personalise it with my child's art work as well a clever pun, everyone loves a good pun right? Other embellishments can be added with ease if you'd like to truly make your mug one of a kind.

Moving on to the family members, I'm thinking parents and grandparents would appreciate an end of school year gift. I know my grandparents love a good photograph of the kids in school uniform but how can we make that just that little bit more special? Well how about a beginning of year photo against an end of year photo to show just how much your child(ren) have grown in a few short months. A simple photograph would be good but you can make something good great...

How? by turning that photograph into a canvas of course. With sizes starting from as little as 10" x 8" going up to a huge 24" x 12", there is a size to suit any space. For this example I've chosen a 12" x 12" classic canvas. Now my children aren't all at the same school anymore so I chose to have two photos with them in school uniform and the third with them altogether on a day out. There are plenty of collage options depending on how many photographs you'd like to upload and use. 

Now my final idea is actually one for the kids themselves. They create a lot work throughout the school year and some pieces will end up in the dreaded bin but there are those special projects that deserve to be displayed always, showing great achievement. I felt this way about a poem my eldest wrote and managed to get published in a book, so I had it printed and framed as a gift for her to remember just how talented she is!

There we have it, four ideas to get you started. I hope I've inspired you to get creative, who would you make an end of school year gift for? Whatever you want to create and whoever you'd like to make it for, you'll find more products and much more inspiration over on Snapfish. And to help you along your way, here is a code for 40% site wide. Just type the letters SCHOOLFUN when you reach checkout.