New Jersey Lottery Holiday Scratch Offs – Easy, Quick, & Cheap Teacher Gift Ideas

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10 Teachers… 22 if you count the related arts ‘specials’ teachers!

In the past when the holidays approached, I found myself overwhelmed with the idea of teacher’s gifts. There are between 20-30 teachers I could potentially be shopping for. Does every teacher get a gift? Do related arts teachers get left off the list? What about the school secretaries? School nurses? If I was going to be able to send in teacher’s gifts for every teacher I needed easy, cheap teacher gift ideas.

New Jersey Lottery Holiday Scratch Offs – Easy, Quick, & Cheap Teacher Gift Ideas

Then, I had a lightbulb moment. I would use New Jersey Lottery Instant Games as teacher gifts. I remember how fun it was when I taught and someone had gifted me lottery tickets. It was a gift that showed thought but could also pay off big. I headed over to my local Wawa and used the New Jersey Lottery Instant Games machine and bought lottery tickets for each teacher. They loved it! Some even got lucky before the school break started.

That’s why this year when the New Jersey Lottery offered me the opportunity to work with them, again, on a marketing campaign to promote New Jersey Lottery tickets as gifts, I jumped at the chance.

This is our fifth year working with the NJ lottery. I know lottery tickets as teacher gifts are a fabulous solution for anyone like me looking for inexpensive teacher gift ideas. I love having new ways each year to present lottery scratch off tickets as gifts for teachers. It’s a fun way to test my creativity skills.

What makes New Jersey Lottery Holiday Scratch-Off Tickets a great teacher gift idea?

New Jersey Lottery Holiday Scratch-Offs are a quick teacher gift idea that don’t require standing in line or trying to find the right size. You don’t have to travel far or overplan for it. Wawas are everywhere and they are open 24 hours.

No matter whether you are buying teacher gifts well in advance or the last morning before school winter break you can still do New Jersey lottery tickets as teacher gifts. Here’s the best part. New Jersey Lottery Holiday Scratch-Offs are a cheap teacher gift idea. Available in denominations of $1, $2, $5, and $10. Pick the amount that’s right for you.

How do you wrap New Jersey Lottery Holiday Scratch-Offs?

Here’s the fun part. You can get as simple as tucking the lottery tickets into a card and writing a witty saying like below or you can get more elaborate by creating a craft that incorporates the NJ Lottery instant game tickets into the craft. Over the years I have tried a little bit of everything. With a few items from the local dollar store, anyone can add some embellishments to make lottery tickets extra special. Take a look.

A snowman with a NJ lottery ticket is a ‘cool’ gift

Last year, my friend, a stuffed snowman, accompanied some of my New Jersey lottery tickets gifts.

Wrap them with a wreath

I’ve also added them to a wreath. I was able to find small wreaths like this at my local dollar store. I added a few New Jersey Lottery instant game tickets to the wreath with a dot of glue under each ticket to hold it into place.

Create a lucky money tree

A few years back I wasn’t able to find small wreaths. Instead, I created what I hoped would be each teacher’s personal money tree. Using the 2019 NJ Lottery tickets I created two versions of Christmas trees. This year, I found a different version of a Christmas tree to stuff with lottery tickets. I also found a nice reindeer to pair with it.

Stuff NJ Lottery tickets in a stocking

Stuff them in a stocking. Mini stockings are a perfect way to gift lottery tickets. Just place them inside with an edge sticking out so teachers can see the gift that is to come.

I love that at this size these NJ lottery tickets are, you can still easily mail them with a card in a standard-size card envelope. Or you can add a little more pizzazz with a stocking like the one I found last year. These stockings are available this year too.

Hang them by garland

Hang them by the garland. This is still one of my favorite ideas. I found a garland with Christmas trees and snowflake mini-clothespins. The garlands came with 12 clothespins for $1.

I was able to cut the garland down to 4 segments. I attached each clothespin to a New Jersey Lottery Instant games scratch off ticket. Then, I gave some of the teachers a string of lottery tickets. I couldn’t find that same garland this year but you could create the same look with any garland or even pipe cleaners.

Slip them in Santa’s sleigh

Be open to ideas! As I closely examined the Christmas decorations at the dollar store I kept my mind open to the possibilities of what could work. I’d pick up an item and examine if it would work, if it could work. Some items were too big. Others were too small. In addition to stockings, snowmen, elves, trees, and garland, I came across these sleighs. I thought these could be perfect for gifting a teacher one or more New Jersey Lottery scratch-offs.

Hang NJ Lottery tickets from a giving tree

I love these little pouches I found last year for NJ Lottery tickets. They were meant for gift cards, but they are the perfect size for NJ Lottery scratch off tickets.

If there’s a Christmas tree in the teachers’ lounge, fill it with enough lottery tickets, one for each teacher. Then, as teachers stop in for their prep period or lunch they can pick one for them. It’s a great socially distant way to still show teachers you are thinking of them this year.

Send them in a giftable mailbox

Check out the little mailboxes below. Aren’t they an adorable way to deliver some luck for the teachers on your shopping list? They are available in a variety of sizes, so they can perfectly fit any size lottery ticket you purchase. This year, they made even larger mailboxes available to shoppers. I add in the colored shredded paper, leftover from other packages we’ve received, to give it a little holiday pizzazz.

Here’s how I dressed up the 2021 New Jersey Lottery Tickets. I used a larger mailbox and added some pretend snow to stick with the ‘blowout’-themed lottery card.

Pack scratch off tickets in holiday tins, jars, & boxes

Sweeten your lottery ticket gift by tucking them into a candy jar or small container. Shredded color paper, NJ Lottery tickets, and some hard candy make for a sweet, inexpensive gift for teachers.

This year, I found some great gift boxes that I think will appeal to either male teachers or teachers who aren’t big on candy and containers.

Tuck the NJ Lottery tickets into small gift bags

Last year the dollar store had wider gift bags than in the past. The wider size allows the gift bags to hold a few NJ Lottery scratch off tickets without needing to fold them. Previous bags were much narrower.

Gift NJ Lottery tickets in gift card boxes

Last but not least, gift NJ Lottery tickets in a gift card box. I was truly impressed when I visited my dollar store and found these pretty extra large gift boxes. The extra length and width can accommodate the $1 and $2 instant lottery scratch offs quite easily. They’ll hold the $5 and $10 cards if you fold them in half or thirds. The shimmery glitter and satin bow make gifting lottery tickets extra special.

Watch this fun video from the New Jersey Lottery