How to Create Teacher Wish Lists [with Example]

We love to create teacher wish lists at Cheddar Up. It means our favorite season (the beginning of a school year) is here, and we get to help spoil all your amazing teachers. Teachers personally pay for the majority of their classroom needs, and it adds up, especially for those first-year teachers.

Using Cheddar Up to create your teacher’s dream wish lists, and get them filled, will help ensure a successful school year.

Teacher Wish List Ideas

Here are just a few teacher wish list ideas to start you off.

Teacher supply wish list

See our how-to below for this classic wish list.

Classroom Library

Ask teachers what new books or software they’d like.

Snack cabinet

Some teachers offer a daily snack. Help them stock up!

"Extra" supplies

What are the nice-to-have items that may not be considered “basic” supplies? Think: ink cartridges, headphones, tablet cases, plastic tubs for organizing, table and desk organizers.

Teacher dream wish list

If money were no object, what would your teachers love to have in their classrooms? For this wish list, you could ask parents to donate money instead of picking an item.

Teacher Wish List Items

What are the most-requested teacher wish list items? The basics you’d expect — pencils, markers, boxes of tissues, and rulers — and also these fun ones:

Whiteboards

Classroom books

Air purifiers

Pedometers

Book bags and baskets

Cameras

Bean bag chairs

How Can Cheddar Up Help?

Our payment + forms power duo is ideal for collecting the abundance of money and information — and our automatic reporting tracks it with little-to-no effort from you.

You can use Cheddar Up collections to create and fulfill teacher wish lists. (You can easily customize a wish list for sports teams, clubs, organizations and troops too!) Even if you already have a system, switching to our platform could help:

Collect, automatically consolidate, and create teacher wish lists in one place.

No need to sift through paper forms or multiple internet tabs, or to build your own spreadsheets!

Serve all teachers equally.

The specific process we outline here does not disclose individual lists — rather, it reflects the total quantities requested across the faculty. This eliminates disparity between classes that exceed their teacher wish lists and those that don’t get fulfilled. It also allows you to include admin and support staff.

Know when teacher wish lists are complete and know what’s left to purchase.

Know when teacher wish lists are complete and know what’s left to purchase. There’s always that one classroom of parents who choose the exact same item.

Order, sort, and distribute items to guarantee delivery.

With this system, parents pay at selection time, and you’re the one who places the order — no concern about an item being chosen but never making it to school.

Teacher Wish Lists on Cheddar Up

Create a Teacher Wish List on Cheddar Up

1. Add items from a predetermined supply list. Examples: dry-erase marker packs, white foam board, sticky notes, hand sanitizer, black ballpoint pens, red ballpoint pens.

2. Set each item’s “Exact Amount” to $0.

3. Under “Advanced Settings”, toggle on the quantity selector.

4. Save and send the unique URL (plus a due date 😉) to teachers and staff to make their selections.

5. Instruct them to “Add to cart” each item they want, specify the quantity when prompted, and submit once they’ve made all their choices.

6. You may choose to close this collection after the deadline. (You can always manually input orders if you have late requests.)

View Example

Create a separate collection for parents to purchase items

1. Replicate the collection from step one so that you have the same items listed.

2. Edit each item individually:

- Set “Exact Amount” to the cost at your preferred retailer.
- Under “Advanced Settings”, toggle off the quantity selector.
- Turn on “Set available quantity.” This will be the “quantity sold” amount from the teacher’s request collection report.
- Make quantity public so payers know their options.

3. Save and share!

View Example

Parents visit the collection, select the items they wish to purchase, and pay on the platform.

Your PTA makes one bulk order

You sort and distribute all the supplies using the tidy, consolidated report from the teacher’s request collection.

Cheddar Up Reporting

If all the items “sell out”?

That’s awesome! If you have more parents wanting to contribute, add a “Donation” item and let the payer specify the amount. You could establish a supply closet for replenishment throughout the year!

Start Your Teacher Wish List

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