Teachers add so much to our lives and guide out children with special attention. It always nice to give an appreciation for their thoughtfulness and caring. But what gift would be appropriate and not overwhelm the teacher? Here a just a few:

Fill a basket with things they will need and use all year. Add pens, pencils, notepads, stickers, boxes of staples and paperclips.

Wrap a coffee can with colorful paper and add three or four of your favorite home baked cookies. The plastic lid will keep them fresh for days.

Teachers often burn the midnight candle as they read reports and grade papers. Fill a basket with bags of munchies like peanuts, chips, popcorn.

Make a donation to the local zoo or library in your teacher's name. Put the donation card in with a note expressing your appreciation.

Teachers are always reading. Get a gift certificate or card at your local book store and enclose it in a note of your appreciation for their help.

Get a apple made of cloth and filled with soft fibers. Have every member of the class sign the apple in ink.

Teachers are always carrying books and papers. Find a satchel bag with an apple or red, white, and blue flag design. Or make a bag with all the school colors.

At the local bookstore, find a bookmark that says what a great teacher he is. Or one that has apples running the length of the bookmark. You may be able to find one with dunce hats or take another plain bookmark and add dunce hat stickers to it.

Buy a glass or ceramic mug and have your child paint an apple and his name on the side.

Have your child create a pencil cup by decorating a juice can with brightly colored tissue paper.

Adriana Copaceanu

Originally from Romania, I now live in Virginia with my husband Florin, who is a successful real estate agent, and my 2 children Val and Ana. Back home, in Romania, I was a pharmacy technician, but here in the States I worked as a Quality Assurance Manage, and later on as the General Manager of a small company in San Jose.

After about 10 years, I realized I was giving my work more time/energy than I was giving my children, so I decided to stay home with them. The problem was I couldn?t just sit home and wait for them to come home from school. So, I started my quest for a business I could operate from home, while being a good mom to my kids, and eventually decided to design gift baskets.

And, in the process of growing my gift basket business, I learned a lot about the web: how to search for things, how to design a website, how to optimize it for the search engines, and more.

I love to read and learn, and share waht I know with others like you.