from me. beach balls are relatively easy to find at the end of the school year (and they are quite affordable!). what i eventually started doing was buying beach balls at the end of the summer season when things were on clearance and save them for the next year’s students. dollar tree has beach balls for $1.00 (obviously), but i also found them as cheap as 88 cents (regular price- can’t remember the store right now!). i also have bought some from michaels in the past (love those coupons that come around where you can use them on sale/clearance items!).
2012 was also in the early days of my teachers pay 