The tote bag is awesome and the ideas have been good...as a retired teacher, I have to agree that you should check school policy. As a person with asthma, anything with scent was left in the staff room for someone else to take home. Sad. Body lotions, etc, are out for similar reasons. Cash was not allowed, but gift cards were. I loved getting gift cards to local sandwich shops, bookstores, coffee shops. Even a $5 gift card is good when you're a teacher. And when I retired, all the "teacher-y" stuff got left behind, so if you make a tote bag, I'd suggest anything other than "teacher-y' fabric. Just MHO.