The best "made" gift I ever got was when I was student teaching. They had taken a plain white throw pillow, divided it up into squares and had each kid decorate a part of the pillow with fabric markers. I would advise to stay away from tote bags (I have about a million of the things and, while any gift is appreciated, I really won't use all of them), mugs or things with apples. If I had my choice, I would best appreciate a gift certificate to a book store to improve my classroom library or a gift certificate to a teacher supply store or somewhere like Staples, Target, etc.