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cantwait
06-06-2007, 10:10 AM
Anyone have any ideas for small souvenirs I could bring back for the 25 children (8/9 yr olds) in my DS's classroom?

I was thinking of doing pressed pennies for them, but would love some other inexpensive ideas also. I remember once when DS was in Grade 1 a little girl went to DW and brought back some stuffed fabric dolphin bookmarks (from sea world maybe). The kids really liked that and I wanted to do something the kids would like, but not break the bank (F! reservations already did that LOL :D )

Thanks :)

yellowrosedtxn
06-06-2007, 10:14 AM
Are you staying on site at one of the Disney hotels? What I did was ask vacation planning if I could have some stickers. Usually they don't mind that kind of thing. You could always bring back some park maps, from both parks. I'm trying to think of other things that might be inexpensive.

mistofviolets
06-06-2007, 10:18 AM
This would take a little work...but what about making little cardstock bookmarks, and having various characters autograph them? You could add a Disney sticker to the top, too, and write the child's name on the back. Or use Disney themed stickers to write the child's name on the back.

For character's convenience, you could just mark lines along the cardstock to sign along; cut out at home or the hotel. You'd probably only get one autograph per bookmark, but I think it could be really cute! (Pair with a Disney pen or pencil from the dollar storem they sell multipacks for cheap)

Boo's Mommy
06-06-2007, 10:21 AM
If you have some time to check out the Character Warehouse in Orange, they have a lot of souvenirs for cheap cheap. I recall keychains and rulers and notepads and such for like 8 for a $1! Not exactly unique, but an idea.

yellowrosedtxn
06-06-2007, 10:22 AM
What a cute idea! I might even borrow that idea for my Girl Scouts (I have a small troop). I am always looking for ideas for them so I could bring stuff home from "The Land"! I could also do that for my son's class, since this is his last year in elementary!

THANKS For sharing!

yellowrosedtxn
06-06-2007, 10:44 AM
I just thought of something else you COULD do. You could make squash books. These are made out of card stock and you could get the characters to sign them. Instead of me trying to explain how to make these, I found instructions right here:

http://www.just4keeps.com/squash_book.html Or
http://www.scrapbookloversdream.com/store/information.php?info_id=36

You can buy precut card stock that is either 8x8 or 12x12. As long as the paper is square, you can make it as big or as small as you want.

cyberRoo
06-06-2007, 11:07 AM
A friend of mine is a teacher, and she wanted a treat to bring back to her class and we found snack size bags of mickey-shaped pretzels that were less than an doller each (50 cents maybe?). They were perfect - edible without being sugary.

Another idea if you're up for the work, is to print signs that say Hi to each child, then have different characters hold the sign for a picture. I haven't done this for a big group, but I did do it with about 8 characters for my friend's son.

Eighty8Keys
06-06-2007, 11:38 AM
I just thought of something else you COULD do. You could make squash books. These are made out of card stock and you could get the characters to sign them. Instead of me trying to explain how to make these, I found instructions right here:

http://www.just4keeps.com/squash_book.html Or
http://www.scrapbookloversdream.com/store/information.php?info_id=36

You can buy precut card stock that is either 8x8 or 12x12. As long as the paper is square, you can make it as big or as small as you want.

These are very cute and easy to make. I made one a couple of years ago during a women's holiday event at my church. I am not a creative or "crafty" type person but the finished product looked nice enough that I would not have hesitated to give it to someone else as a gift.

UsBurchs
06-06-2007, 01:12 PM
I was going to mention making a sign with the kids name that the characters could hold for photos, too! Good one. :)

We just got back and the little things my son likes the most were the buttons we got from our character breakfast (they gave us an extra we are sending to a little friend) and the bucket that came with my popcorn. He carries all kinds of things around in that. The hotels usually have pens they'll let you have, too.

If you want to spend a little bit more money, there are these Collector Packs for $5 that are pretty darn fun. You don't know what you are going to get inside, but there are lots of different packs to get with little plastic figures from the parks. My husband bought Star Wars ones and got a Mickey Luke Skywalker. I got one with Mickey, Daisy and a Teacup! There are tons of keychains for around $4-$6 and I found some little tins of mints with characters on them. I got one (Minnie Mints $3) with mints inside shaped like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, etc. I got one called "Little Green Mints" with the aliens from Toy Story for $2 (for my brother-in-law who loves those aliens). There are also shortbread cookies with Mickey's on them ($4 for a box) and we got a big bag of Mickey Pretzels to share with the preschool kids at home for something like $5. Not bad.

Shadowcat
06-06-2007, 01:46 PM
Pieces of Eight and a few other Disney stores have little stations were you buy a black velvet drawstring bag for $6 and fill them with jewels and pirate coins. We bought one and filled it with the silver and gold coins for our son's kindergarten class back home. We managed to fill one bag with about 25 of the coins and a second one with coins for us and jewels. The coins have pictures of pirate Mickey on one side and pirate mickey and goofy on the other side. $6 to give souveniers to his class was pretty affordable for us.

Mrs Mouse
06-06-2007, 02:13 PM
Why not do the character/picture/sign thing for the class as a whole? You could make one big sign that said "Hello, Gr. ___'s and [teacher's name]" or whatever message you want and then take pictures of that one sign with various characters? It would be something nice to hang in their classroom and it's certainly easier than making 25 seperate signs for each kid! You could even do this in addition to picking up something small for everyone.

cantwait
06-06-2007, 03:58 PM
Thanks for the great ideas everyone! I love them all!

The squash books and bookmarks are really interesting (but no way I have time to pull that off)


If you have some time to check out the Character Warehouse in Orange, they have a lot of souvenirs for cheap cheap. I recall keychains and rulers and notepads and such for like 8 for a $1! Not exactly unique, but an idea.

We just might do that. I have a coupon from the OC website for the Warehouse store too! Do you think it would be very expensive to take a cab there and back? I don't really want to waste a bunch of time trying to figure out the public transportation.


A friend of mine is a teacher, and she wanted a treat to bring back to her class and we found snack size bags of mickey-shaped pretzels that were less than an doller each (50 cents maybe?). They were perfect - edible without being sugary.

Those pretzels sound like a great idea for the kids (as long as they are manufactured in a 'nut free' facility, school rules)


Why not do the character/picture/sign thing for the class as a whole? You could make one big sign that said "Hello, Gr. ___'s and [teacher's name]" or whatever message you want and then take pictures of that one sign with various characters? It would be something nice to hang in their classroom and it's certainly easier than making 25 seperate signs for each kid! You could even do this in addition to picking up something small for everyone.

Another great idea! One sign I think I could handle making! Maybe I could do it up tomorrow and have it laminated so it lasts for the whole trip.
I would love to make one for DS also that says "Happy 9th Birthday" That would make for a great scrapbook. Maybe we can do that and just switch signs every day so we get some pictures with both signs. Would it be rude to ask each character to hold the two signs separately for two separate pictures, taking up the character's time with other guests?

Quinten27
06-06-2007, 04:44 PM
Another idea.....a bit old fashioned and predictable.....but you can never go wrong with a postcard! They are pretty cheap, you can put a customized "wish you were message" on them, and kids always love to get mail.

Also, the little Mickey shaped pops are a cheap and fun for kids. :)

Bytebear
06-06-2007, 05:26 PM
Pick up a Jungle Cruise Map. You also might want to try to find a 99c store coloring book. Character Warehouse is a good place to get trinkets and postcards for cheap. You might even want to get a souvinier book and cut it up and make a sticker type book.

darph nader
06-06-2007, 06:17 PM
If you are going to be there more than one day collect a 'few' guide maps at a time. (ask custodial and who-ever,during the day)

abkb76
06-06-2007, 09:18 PM
I am a teacher and have gotten the *Honorary Citizen* stickers for my students.
Tonight I bought them each a Disney Dollar.
:)
-Amber

kohl
06-07-2007, 08:38 AM
When we went in January, we went to City Hall and asked for an autograph picture of Mickey for each child and the teacher. (There are 14 kids in his class) They cannot write each childs name on the picture, but Mickey Mouse signed all of them and they did not charge us anything!

UsBurchs
06-07-2007, 09:17 AM
cantwait -

YES! The pretzels are nut-free! I checked . . . we have the same rule. They were a hit the other day when we passed them out at snack. "It's Mickey!"

Watch out for the Mickey shaped cheddar crackers (like fish crackers). They have a big sticker on the back that said they were manufactured with nuts.

Oh, and by the way - they are only $2.50 a bag. I double checked. :) Very fun.

UsBurchs
06-07-2007, 09:21 AM
I'm actually talking about the BAGS of pretzles - not the big individual ones.

cantwait
06-07-2007, 11:15 AM
So I made two signs up for Character to hold in pictures (11"x17").

One for the class that says "Hi from Disneyland! We love Mrs. ---'s Grade 3's! " and another for DS "Happy 9th Birthday".

They turned out pretty cute with the Disney font and some colourful Mickey's on them. I'm going to try to get them laminated so I can roll them up in my bag and they last a few days.

Definately going to bring the pretzels back for the class, that's great that they are 'nut free'! Then we'll get one other thing for the kids, maybe the coins or disney dollars, or something from the warehouse outlet.

Thanks for the great ideas!! :D

Suzie Minnie
06-07-2007, 11:56 AM
Get 25 $1 Disney dollars if they still make them. ;)

bloodnswash
06-07-2007, 11:58 AM
Magnets.....lots to choose from that are only $4.

Suzie Minnie
06-07-2007, 12:01 PM
Take photos during the day and place them on a poster in the classroom. Leave extra room on the poster and invite them to bring in a photo from home to add to the poster. Then do a show and tell.

yellowrosedtxn
06-12-2007, 10:49 AM
This would take a little work...but what about making little cardstock bookmarks, and having various characters autograph them? You could add a Disney sticker to the top, too, and write the child's name on the back. Or use Disney themed stickers to write the child's name on the back.

I found some bookmarks that were already cut at a hobby store. That might be something worth looking into. Since they are precut, you could just have the characters sign them, put some stickers on them and laminate them and you are done! Just a thought.

I LOVE all the ideas here, I am going make notes so I can do them at Christmas time for my son's class. And for my Girl Scouts.

squirrel44
06-12-2007, 12:15 PM
Where is the Pieces of Eight Store?

The coins and jewels sound like fun. I love trying to get as many items as possible into a bag.