I still have the Christmas gift my piano teacher gave me the first Christmas I was in her studio. The blue piano bag with my name hand-painted on front is tucked into the back corner of my office closet. It’s filled with old music books that are dog-eared and have markings on every page. But I don’t have the heart to get rid of it. She was a busy wife, mom, and musician – but all 50+ students had a bag just like mine. It was important to her that we feel part of the collective group, and have something she had made us.
That music bag is part of why I make an effort every year to make personalized gifts for students. It’s never anything expensive or fancy – but it’s a gift of intentionality, and that matters even to young kids.
Below, we have 5 suggested Holiday or Christmas gifts for piano students that range from easy to time intensive. Each one can be personalized to make the holidays special for your students.
Christmas Music Ornament
This is an idea I’m going to implement myself this year! I have always done a clear plastic ornament filled with homemade candy; but now that I’ve heard of this, I’m going to try it. Using a clear plastic ornament (like these ones), cut sheet music of your students’ Christmas recital into strips, and place inside the ornament [hint: print music on both sides of the paper]. This is just one way that studio-licensed music comes in handy! You can print studio-licensed pieces again and again, so cutting up the sheet music doesn’t mean you’re destroying a single-use piece.
Not only is it a beautiful ornament students can hang on their tree – it’s personal, and is something students can look back in on future years to remember what they played. I always write students’ names on their ornaments with a white paint marker (I always use this brand). You could even add glitter to the inside of the ornament, and a ribbon on the top to really make it pop.Â
Homemade Cookies or Music Cookie Cutter
This is the classic go-to Christmas gift for piano students for many teachers – and for good reason. It’s personal, you can work in batches, and it’s relatively inexpensive (which is ideal when you’ve got a ton of students!). There are so many music and piano related cookie cutters online – you could even include an unused cookie cutter as part of the gift! Or just give the cookie cutter itself.
If you do a Christmas or holiday party before the break, you could even have students decorate their own cookies during the party. It’s a great way to fill the time, and saves you from needing to hand-decorate each cookie! Using pre-made sugar cookie dough is another way you can make large amounts of cookies in record time.
Gingerbread Cookie Contest
This was a suggestion sent in from our Idea Share #7 (download all of the ideas for free!), and I absolutely love it. Brenda bakes a large gingerbread cookie for each student – at this time of year, you can usually find these at local stores as well. Then each student decorates their cookie during their final lesson before Christmas break. She gets a photo of each cookie before students eat them, and places the pictures on a bulletin board. All of the students vote on whose they like the best – and that person wins a prize!Â
I love that this idea gives students something, but invites them to be creative, gives them a fun activity for their last lesson, and includes some studio-wide camaraderie and competition through the contest!Â
Studio Composition Book
This idea takes a bit of planning – but is so special we had to include it! Kelli sent in this idea for our Idea Share #7. She does an annual collaborative composing project, and a book of the pieces is her gift to students. This would be a wonderful way to incentivize students to compose!
If you don’t have the time or resources to put together a book, you could do what my piano teacher did. She would have us play our Christmas pieces during a December lesson, and record us doing so. She would put the recordings on a cassette tape, and help us wrap them as a special gift to give our parents on Christmas day. My parents loved this gift! Nowadays it’s so easy to record something on our phones. You could easily email the parents the recording and say “Don’t open until Christmas!” in the subject line.
Mini Stockings with Lesson Supplements
Items like Frixion pens, highlighters, music clips, etc. make wonderful gifts because they can be used during practice. It’s the gift that keeps giving! Placing small items in a mini stocking like these ones makes it feel festive and fun. You can add student names to the tops of the stockings with puffy paint for a quick way to add personalization and more intentionality to the gift!
If you host a holiday party or big group lesson before the Christmas break, you could also use these stockings as prizes for winning games, as white elephant gift prizes during the party, or as a “goody bag” for students to take home.
If you haven’t already downloaded our Idea Share #7, you can do so here. There are over 50 piano student Christmas gift ideas from ComposeCreate teachers! Do you have a gift idea or holiday tradition you practice in your studio? We’d love to hear about it!
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Hi wonderful teachers and especially WENDY! My new idea this year for student gifts is. LAP-TAP-PILLOWS! They fit on students laps, fit in their music bags, help with posture as well as tapping those illusive pesky rhythms! They are made of various musical cloths and come with instructions and some home made cookies too!
Has anyone mentioned this one? Kid sized stretchy black gloves with a puffy painted white treble clef on the hand of the right glove and a bass clef on the left hand glove. My young students loved these! Of course, white gloves with black puffy paint would be more appropriate but white gloves would get dirty quicker.
Hi,
This is for Patty Mack. 🙂
Could you us tell more about these pillows
Thanks!
Nina
Dear Patty Mack…
What is a LAP-TAP-PILLOW?? Can you elaborate on your idea, please!
LAP-TAP PILLOWS are 18 by 6 inches in size and made of various musical themed materials and stuffed lightly with washable stuffing. The idea burst forth from watching students struggle with just normal weekly music and the rhythms.
1. Fit on lap. 2. Steady up student postures. 3. Have fun tapping rhythms using tactile (touch) to incorporate the body into the tapping. 4. Hug the pillow and smile. and I also would love to try attaching a small metronome to the center with adhesive and just have students tap to the tick tick using hands and arms on their soft inviting LAP-TAP PILLOW! Other rhythm games, books, etc. still helpful for students but from a different rhythmic perspective!
I used the sheet music/ornament idea with a plastic crafting snow globe instead (from the dollar store). I used a quarter sheet of glitter tissue paper in the center for both filler and sparkle. I tied either a red or green ribbon around the base.
After receiving TheraPutty from my physical therapist to strengthen my injured fingers and wrist, I decided to give each of my students an egg of Silly Putty. I am sharing various exercises with them to build finger strength! (It makes a good fidget toy too.)