Flower Pens - Great Teacher Gift

My daughter wanted to give her preschool teachers a gift last year for Teacher Appreciation Week.  I loved these pens so much, I made some of my own and they stayed in a vase on my kitchen table all summer long.  They are super easy and super cheap if you find the flowers on clearance.

I bought a package of pens for around $2.  I already had florist tape so I'm not sure how much that is.  I found a vase for .79 cents and a bag of pretty stones for around $2.  I split this bag of stones between three vases.  Each vase got 3 pens and her lead teacher got 4 pens.  I found the flowers at Walmart for .50 cents a piece.  So I spent around $12 to make 3 gifts.

To help the bulkiness of the pen, I used wire cutters to strip the green plastic off the flower stem to expose a thin wire.  I used the florist tape to tape the thin wire to the pen. 

 

I took brown construction paper and lightly crumbled it into the bottom of the vases.  Then I divided the stones.  This helped fill the vase, made it look more like dirt and helped the pens stay in place and not get broken on the stones.  This wouldn't be needed if you use a small flower pot.

 

Other variations: Use a small pot instead of a vase and glue ribbon around the vase to make it more colorful. Use aquarium stones, rice or sand. Add a small hand trowel with the flowers and tie a ribbon around the handle.

 

Then, simply add a note:

 

"A teacher's like a gardener

And this is so you'll know

We surely do appreciate

How you helped the children grow"