Gifts for Grown Ups!

Every year I always struggle with what my kiddos are going to give their grown ups for Christmas. In the past, I've usually done ornaments: clear ones that they stuff with Christmasy decorations, wooden ones that they paint (or one year I ran out of time and they colored them with markers. I was not proud of that one...). I want the gift to be something memorable and useful for their grown ups. and also cost-effective, easy, and quick on my end.

This year I'm doing something different. My kiddos are going to make their grown ups a 2013 calendar. Each student chose the color cover they want, and I copied the calendar pages on white construction paper. My teammates actually used white copy paper, but I opted for the construction paper because I'm not sure yet how we're going to make the pictures. I've seen those super cute handprint calendars on Pinterest, but I'm not sure if that's too young for second graders (Leave me a comment with your opinion, PLEASE... I'm so torn!). If not the paint, then I will allow my kids to use markers, and I think markers would bleed through regular copy paper. Grab a FREE copy of my 2013 calendar pages here if you want to do this in your classroom too. It's nothing fancy, but it'll save you the time :)
Today the kiddos decorated their cover and then we laminated the front and back covers. I was a little disappointed by how they turned out after lamination, because a lot of them used white crayon for snow, and I don't know if it was because of the heat, but you can't really see the white. Here are some of our covers:

See the pink looking snowman on the right? Sad...

Tomorrow I will bind the books together, and we'll do one page a day until we finish. I'll be sure to post pictures when they're all completed. What are you doing for your Christmas gifts?