Boost your POD Etsy sales with back to school trends and teacher appreciation ideas

Back to school is right around the corner, so now is a great time to roll out school-related designs as well as teacher appreciation ideas for gifts to take advantage of the time of year.

Below, you’ll find a list of Etsy design trends, design ideas, and images of Etsy products for you to use as inspiration. You’ll also find a bunch of ways to optimize your back to school sales. These include hashtags, coupon codes, and social media templates to use with any back to school sales you run. Plus, I share access to back to school mockups that you can use to enhance your product listings and social media posts.

Let’s get started…

Etsy back to school trends and teacher appreciation ideas happening now 

Personalized friendship gifts 

Friendships are really important to students. And students often like to commemorate those friendships with personalized gifts. This is especially true if distance is involved with the friendship.

Design ideas for print-on-demand

Personalized friendship designs don’t have to be just for back-to-school. Make them all-season friendly, and people will love them anytime. Keep your designs simple using heartwarming text about close friendships. Then, let your customers add names, dates, photos, or custom messages to make the designs feel extra special.

Here are some examples from Etsy:

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Here’s an example from EpicPODTool along with its product stats:

And if you want to buy POD mugs, you can find them here.

Custom teacher appreciation ideas

Showing appreciation for hard-working teachers should always be trending. Teachers put in so many hours both inside and outside the classroom, and their work is often undervalued. So teacher appreciation gifts are a small way of showing gratitude for all that teachers do to help students.

Design ideas for print-on-demand

For your teacher appreciation ideas, you can come up with funny or sweet messages that express your gratitude. Then, you can add school-related elements like apples, books, pens and pencils, globes, and chalkboards if you want. Plus, you could leave space for personalization (e.g. adding the teacher’s name).

Here are some examples from Etsy:

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Here’s an example from EpicPODTool along with its product stats:

And if you want to buy POD candles, you can find them here.

Dorm room décor

Don’t forget about college students when thinking about back to school designs. College students are moving into their dorm rooms and they need supplies to decorate their new living quarters. So they, along with their parents, are looking for dorm room décor this time of year.

Design ideas for print-on-demand

Most college students are experiencing living on their own for the first time. They have a lot more independence and freedom to express themselves how they want.

To tap into this, you can create funny, relevant designs focusing on college students’ new independence. This could include reminders about going to class, doing their laundry, and doing other forms of “adulting.”

Here are some examples from Etsy:

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Here’s an example from EpicPODTool along with its product stats:

Back to school and teacher appreciation ideas for printables

On the first day of school, many parents like to take pictures of their kids holding up signs that say things like…

• the child’s name
• the date
• the grade they’re going into
• their teacher’s day
• what they’re most excited about
• what they want to be when they grow up
• etc.

Additionally, teachers love having graphic materials to hang on their classroom walls or to give to their students. And students often need checklists and planners to stay organized.

Design ideas for print-on-demand

You can create customizable, printable signs that parents can print and have their kids hold for their first day of school photos. And you can make a variety of printable signs for teachers to use.

These printable signs could include inspirational messages for students. They could include important things for students to learn and remember, such as…

• the alphabet
• multiplication tables
• countries and their capitals
• world leaders’ names
• important dates throughout history
• etc.

They could include information about the teacher and how to reach him or her if students have questions outside of class. They could be checklists for things students need.

Or you could make printables that students give to their teachers or professors to say thank you.

Here are some examples from Etsy:

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Here’s an example from Alura along with its product stats:

How to optimize your back to school designs and teacher appreciation ideas

Turn one design idea into many 

To best illustrate what I mean by this, let me give you an example. Take the design phrase “Hello, 6th Grade!” This is a simple, text-based design idea that would be great for kids entering grade 6.

But what’s really great about this design phrase is you can apply it to ALL grades, not just first. You could say…

“Hello, Preschool!”
“Hello, Kindergarten!”
“Hello, 1st Grade!”
“Hello, 2nd Grade!”

…all the way up to 12th grade. You could even include college (e.g. “Hello, Freshman Year!” or advanced degrees (e.g. “Hello, Grad School!”). And just like that, you’ve turned one design idea into many.

You could also do something similar with your teacher appreciation ideas. For example, you could come up with a phrase like, “Preschool teachers are the best!” Then, you could apply that to each grade level. Plus, you could use it for different school subjects (e.g. “Math teachers are the best!” or “AP chemistry teachers are the best!”).

Include back to school mockups

Click here to access your free back to school mockups, which come in 4 sizes: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Add these mockups to your product listings and social media promotions to make your products and special offers stand out.

Here’s a preview of what the back to school mockups look like:

Run back to school and teacher appreciation promotions

Offering discounts is always a good way to attract more shoppers and drive more sales. Below, you’ll find coupon codes, hashtags, and social media templates you can use to promote any back to school sales you decide to run.

Coupon codes

BACKTOSCHOOL
BACK2SCHOOL
SCHOOL
EDUCATION
ENDOFSUMMER
STUDENT
TEACHER
FIRSTDAY
LEARN
SCHOOLYEAR
SCHOOLTIME
BACKPACK
PENCIL
GETSMART
THANKYOU

Hashtags

#BackToSchool
#BackToSchool2023
#Back2School
#School
#SchoolDay
#SchoolTime
#SchoolLife
#NewSchoolYear
#NewSchoolYear2023
#FirstDayOfSchool
#FirstDayOfSchool2023
#BackToSchoolGift
#ElementarySchool
#MiddleSchool
#HighSchool
#College
#University
#Freshman
#Sophmore
#Junior
#Senior
#SchoolSpirit
#SchoolPride
#EndOfSummer
#SchoolShopping
#BackToSchoolShopping
#SchoolSupplies
#TeacherAppreciation
#ThankTeachers
#SupportTeachers

Social media templates and examples

Template 1: The new #SchoolYear is about to start! Get back to school ready with unique products from our shop: _____. [link] We’ve got gifts for #students and #teachers and fantastic dorm decor. Promo code _____ saves you _____%.

Example 1: The new #SchoolYear is about to start! Get back to school ready with  unique products from our shop: http://bit.ly/2lchnOu. We’ve got gifts for #students and #teachers and fantastic dorm decor. Promo code EDUCATION saves you 15%.

Template 2: Get ready for the #FirstDayOfSchool2023 with our selection of student and teacher gifts. Start your #ShoppingSpree here: _____. [link] You’ll find _____ [product], _____ [product], _____ [product], and more. Save _____% with promo code _____.

Example 2: Get ready for the #FirstDayOfSchool2023 with our selection of student and teacher gifts. Start your #ShoppingSpree here: http://bit.ly/2lchnOu. You’ll find coffee mugs, t-shirts, candles, and more. Save 20% with promo code FIRSTDAY.

Template 3: It’s that time of year again: #BackToSchool. Time to stock up on supplies, gifts, and dorm decor. Check out our store’s great selection of unique products here: _____ [link]. Use promo code _____ to get $_____ off your order. #EndOfSummer

Example 3: It’s that time of year again: #BackToSchool. Time to stock up on supplies, gifts, and dorm decor. Check out our store’s great selection of unique products here: http://bit.ly/2lchnOu. Use promo code GETSMART to get $10 off your order. #EndOfSummer

…Want to see how fast you can take your product listings to the next level? Take advantage of my 14-day free trial of the Easy POD Mastermind! It’s the perfect way to test drive our accountability and action-based strategies. Here’s the link: www.EasyPODTrial.com.

I hope you find this post useful! If you have any other tips about back to school trends or teacher appreciation ideas, leave a comment below. And if you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends and followers.