For the last month, swim lessons took over our days. Pumpkin took lessons for the whole month. Snowflake took 2 weeks of lessons.
Pumpkin came soo close to being an independent swimmer and is so frustrated that she is not quite there. I think she did fantastic for her age and for never having lessons prior to this. Snowflake really worked hard on polishing some strokes and learning others. She especially worked hard on breathing to the side during freestyle. Both of them worked really hard and had great teachers.
I decided to make a small gift for our swim instructors. They work so hard day in and day out to teach the kids such an important skill and I don’t think they get thanked very often.
Here is what I came up with – a cute tin filled with goodies.
I started with a blue tin pail from…where else…Target’s dollar spot. I also found a ‘lollipop’ in the dollar spot that was really 50 pony tail holders. I knew both swim instructors would like those as they always had their hair up. In addition, the dollar spot also held some ‘Star Student’ medals that could also be opened and customized any way you wanted. After finding those great starting items, we wandered to the candy aisle to find some other goodies to fill the tins and thank our instructors.
To actually make the tins, first, I filled the tin with a base of Tootsie Rolls. I added the fish and ‘Spalsh’ gum on top of that. Then it was a bit of work to make the medal and the pony holders fit and look sort of nice. It was a lot to fit in the little tin. I probably should have bought one of the bigger tins, but we really wanted the blue because it reminded us of the water.Ā
Above: Snowflake working on her kicks and looking cute on the left. Pumpkin looking cute and finally getting the ring from the bottom of the pool! She worked so hard to get that ring – 4 weeks worth of work. She was so proud to get it!!
I made signs for the tins as well as the insert to go in the medals for the instructors. We thought the medals were perfect since our lessons were going on during the Olympics.Ā
Just for you, should you want to make a gift for your swim instructor, you can download the tags and inserts I made for the tins and for the medals. I have made them in two forms. One has no year on it, so if you are reading this later it will still be usable. The other has ‘Summer 2012’ on it, for those who might be making this during the remaining weeks of summer 2012.
I hope you have some great swimĀ instructors, to whom you can give this gift as they teach your children to swim like fishes!
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Ā© 2011-2013Ā The Real Thing with the Coake Family.Ā ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Ā© 2011-2013Ā The Real Thing with the Coake Family.Ā ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
I love this idea. š
This is sooooo SWEET!! What a wonderful gift!
Thanks so much for sharing this at The DIY Dreamer.. From Dream To Reality!
This is so adorable! I am sure that they just loved it! Have a great week!
Take care,
Trish
This is so cute!! I wish I were still teaching swim lessons. We never got gifts back then LOL Pinning this for the day mine go get their swim lessons on!
It did seem like they were surprised that someone gave them a gift…so I am guessing they don’t get them often. Thanks for pinning! Have a great night!
Adorable! I love how this turned out! Diggin’ the new header too! Thanks for sharing at the Pomp Party! Pinning to our Pomp Party board!
I have been teaching for 6 years and have gotten a few gifts, but none this cool! Very Thoughtful!
Ohhh… Thanks so much! That means a lot coming from a swim instructor. I’m glad to maybe they weren’t totally dorky to give to them. They were great instructors and I wanted them to know we appreciated them.