My teacher told us to get big manila envelopes with all the stamps and self-addressed envelopes, and copies of the Common App teacher's recs with maybe a professional letter saying that they wanted a letter of rec and also what they would *like* there to be in it (as a reminder to the teacher, not as a way to be pretentious or arrogant -- at least, I go to public school). And he said that presents never hurt anyone.
