What do you see when you look at several boxes of tea? I see opportuni-tea.  I’m so, so sorry! But it’s true: with just six boxes of tea, I can create a world of flavor for up to 18 people (some boxes only hold 16 bags) for hardly any money.  It’s so easy I almost feel guilty for making a step-by-step post about it.

A little background first.

There’s no end to the occasions that require thoughtful gifts. But it’s hard to find thoughtful gifts that are affordable. While these gifts would be great for Valentine’s Day, Office Christmas gifts, or party favors… School is almost over so we’re doing them as a teacher’s thank you. Ava will give one to each of her four teachers, as well as the preschool director. She’s had an amazing time these last few years, and we wanted to put care into thanking them. We accompanied the gifts with a little Q&A about Ava’s favorite memories and messages she wanted to pass on to make it even more personal. I chose boxes of individually wrapped tea bags – this is very important.  No one wants a random floating bag of tea.  Who knows where that thing has been. Packaging is everything! Numi Organic Tea has a fantastic assortment for whatever theme you want to go with. Here are the flavors I chose to go with my “You mean the world to me” theme:

Chocolate Pu-erh, from China
Dry Desert Lime, from the Middle East
Aged Earl Grey with Bergamont, from India, but inspired by European tea parties
White Rose, from Southeast Asia
Mate Lemon, from South America
Rooibos, from South Africa

Look how pretty!   I put them in a petal card, affixed with a tiny glue dot so they wouldn’t wiggle around. Then I shut the card and used hot glue to affix one of my “You mean the World to me” labels to hold it shut (I was out of card stock, so I simply printed it on regular computer paper and glued it to a sheet of yellow construction paper to reinforce the label and add a pop of color.   The end result is as cute as cute can be… and will surely warm your loved ones hearts. 

You can do this one of two ways:

a) Make 18 meaningful gifts that cost $2.44-$3.19 each

SUPPLIES:

• 18 6.25″ x 6.25″ Petal Cards (You can make these yourself with card stock for pennies, or pick them up at an office supply store on online, where you can get 25 for $18 – which works out to $0.75 each) 
• 1 printable “You mean the world to me” PDF Instant Download ($0.99)
• Glue dots (on hand)
• Hot glue (on hand)
• 6 boxes of tea from different parts of the world ($6.99/box)

b) Make 18 meaningful gifts that cost $1.22- $1.97 each

(For this one, simply use three tea bags per gift and use the “empty space” in the card to write a loving message… or use a smaller petal card and save even more money.)

SUPPLIES:

• 18 6.25″ x 6.25″ Petal Cards (You can make these yourself with card stock for pennies, or pick them up at an office supply store on online, where you can get 25 for $18 – which works out to $0.75 each) 
• 1 printable “You mean the world to me” PDF Instant Download ($0.99)
• Glue dots (on hand)
• Hot glue (on hand)
• 3 boxes of tea from different parts of the world ($6.99/box)

That’s it!

How do you show appreciation to the teachers and special people in your lives?

A thoughtful token like this can be just the thing!