I made a thing!

(Yes, I know. This is primarily a food blog. I make food, and I tell you about it. But here's the thing. I had an idea for a back-to-school thing, and then I actually *did* the idea, and now I really want to post it to Pinterest.
But to do that, I need to write about it. So here we are.)

School started this week, and notes came home, and I was reminded that teachers love two things above all others - facial tissue and dry erase markers.
And as this was rattling around in my head, I was reminded of what I love - plain brown craft paper. And from these materials, an idea was born.
Back-to-school goody bags for teachers!

Honestly, this is just a box of Kleenex with craft paper wrapped around it, and then filled with teacher treats. You could also easily reuse a brown paper bag - cut to size - to wrap the box. Or heck, just get paper lunch bags, and fill those up! But for me, the whole idea started because I wanted to find a creative way to present a box of tissue to my kid's teachers.

The supplies needed to make the bag are:

• A roll of craft paper (like this - I usually get mine in the paint supply area of Lowe's or Home Depot)
• A roll of brown packing tape (but really, you could use scotch tape and that would be fine).
• Markers
• Googly Eyes
• Scissors
• A box of Tissue

Measure out about 32" of paper - you want a little overlap, to keep the items in the "bag" secure.

Fold the bottom edge of the paper up about half an inch, just to give yourself a clean edge.
Fold the top edge twice, so you get the same clean edge - folding it twice means the fold itself also has a clean edge - dig?
Fold one side, so that when you wrap and tape your outer edge is also nice and straight.

Of course, it's easiest to draw on the paper when it's flat, so eyeball the center of the paper, and decorate it before you start wrapping.

Wrap the paper around the base of a box of tissue, and tape in to place.


Tape around every edge of the box, so that nothing falls out of the bottom. Also tape along the seam of the paper.

Once you've made the bag, all that's left is to fill it with goodies!

My kid is taking lots of computer-based classes, so we made sure to include the compressed air dusters as a nod to those teachers. We also included white out tape, and expo markers because they were requested by some classes. And finally, chocolate. Because we're no dummies.
Other ideas! Use the smaller size kleenex boxes, and include flowers. Make homemade treats like cookies or brownies, and include some of those.

There's no harm in starting the year by buttering up the teachers, right?