As a first grade teacher, I see that excitement constantly. I know how important birthdays are to those kiddos!
My normal birthday routine for my students has been to pass out their cupcakes/treats that their parents sent, do a Go Noodle birthday brain break, and then sing the traditional "Happy Birthday" song before letting them devour the treats.
Note for first year teachers: Wait until the END of the day to celebrate birthdays if possible!! The kids go NUTS!!
Once my oldest got old enough to get excited for her birthday (3 years old), I discovered another level of how special birthdays really are to kids. I started thinking, "Would she feel special in her future classroom doing what I currently do for my students?" I think what I was doing was just fine, but I wanted to add something- just a little more 'oomph'!
I have done VIP buckets for Class Dojo points for a couple of years, so that sparked an idea for me. I decided to make birthday buckets!
I went to my local Target (where else??) to check out their current $1 bucket selections. I could not believe that they had birthday buckets!! There were only two, so I got both of them. Plus, what were the chances of having THREE student birthdays on the same day??
Then I browsed the rest of the Teacher Section, I mean, the Dollar Spot (I think teachers buy out 98% of the stuff in there so it should really be named for us!?) for fun birthday bucket items. Fun erasers, gel pens, stamps, personal mini scented germ juice (those are student FAVES), stickers, etc. My students knew that as soon as they entered the classroom on their birthday, they could go choose one of the birthday buckets to keep on their desk ALL DAYYYY! And you know what? They loved it!!
So that has gone very well in my classroom. And now it's summer (July 7th). And I'm spending ungodly amounts of money on classroom organization and decoration (thanks, Instagram!!). I decided to add yet another special thing for my students on their birthdays. Something that was easy prep, and that the kids could see and look forward to all year. Birthday cups!
So naturally I got on Amazon and ordered a 100-pack of clear plastic cups with lids. I make my own iced coffee every morning so I was excited about having the extra Starbucks-like cups to use. FYI, I LOVE them! It really tricks my brain into thinking it's Starbucks. Think of all the money it will save me!
I bought some candy, a pack of neon mechanical pencils to use instead of straws, and gift shredding to stuff in the cups. I created a birthday label to put on each cup also. I originally intended to print, cut, & tape each label, but then I realized how much easier life would be to print it on Avery labels, peel, & stick!
So I grabbed a pack of Avery 5164 template labels (3 1/3" x 4") and adjusted my birthday labels to fit them. Here was the final result:
My birthday cup label pack also comes with the longer label that you can see on my black storage basket, as well as a Class Birthday Chart to list all of the birthdays on.
You can stuff the cups with whatever you want! Toys, candy, school supplies, etc! I plan to grab some little erasers and such to add to these on my next Target Teacher Section, I mean, Dollar Spot, trip.
You know the kids will be bubbling with excitement to get their very own birthday cups! Don't forget to give the summer birthday kids a cup - maybe on their half-birthday.
It feels good to have that done- I won't be stressing about it once school starts! You can pin this picture below to remember to grab it later! Or click here to get them now!
Happy summer planning!
XOXO,
Ali
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