I have a scattered track record when it comes to teacher gifts. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the hard work educators put into teaching and caring for my children all day. It’s more that I have traditionally had a bad habit of over-thinking their gifts, then realizing too late that there’s no way I can pull off my grand plans in time.
For example, a few years ago my sister-in-law Jenna and I and all our kids made homemade vanilla extract for their teachers, plus the school secretary and a few other special people. It was a lovely gift. It was also time-consuming and expensive! As much as I’d hoped to make vanilla a yearly tradition, I have had to accept that most years, what we have to offer will be a lot more modest.
There’s so much pressure to prove ourselves as good parents and thoughtful people by giving great teacher gifts this time of year, but with everything else we’ve got going on, it can just be too much! Here are some ideas to keep teacher gifts from stressing you out:
Keep in mind why you’re giving the gift. Yes, teacher gifts have become so standard that it’s easy to feel as though they’re necessary for good parenting. But teacher gifts should be a token of appreciation and something that you and your child enjoy giving – not a way to prove yourself to the teacher or out-do the other parents. Looking at them as a token of appreciation instead of a way to earn a “good parent” badge can take a lot of the pressure off.
“Budget” a specific amount of time for making or buying gifts. Teacher gifts are one of those things that can loom over your head throughout the entire month if you let them. So this year, I told myself I wasn’t going to worry about teacher’s gifts at all until the last two days of school before break – and that’s exactly what I did. I started thinking about it yesterday, and I’m pulling the gifts together tonight. Giving myself a limited amount of time to work on them eliminated all temptation to go overboard.
Give something that makes you happy. Every year, I run across articles detailing which kinds of gifts teachers like and which they’d rather not get. And from helping my mother-in-law, who taught elementary school for three decades, clean out her basement I can tell you in all honesty that those “#1 Teacher!” mugs, ornaments, and pins are very likely to become clutter. Still, at some point a list of rules about what gifts I should or shouldn’t give just starts to feel stifling and takes all the fun out of the process. For example, every “teacher gift guide” I’ve read insists that a gift card is a safe and much-appreciated gift choice. That is probably true, but I dislike giving gift cards: to me, it’s like handing somebody cash and then telling them they can only spend it in one place. Useful, yes, but for me, not very satisfying to give.
Plus, all teachers are different. I’ve read articles insisting that teachers get too many baked goods and other treats during the holidays, but the teachers I talk to all seem to love them. And I’m guessing there are some teachers out there who love trinkets with apples on them, too. Bottom line: you probably don’t know the teachers well enough to know all of their preferences, so choose a gift that’s pleasurable for you to give.
Remember that teacher gifts don’t have to cost a lot. In fact, they don’t have to cost anything at all. My SIL Jenna, who teaches the eighth grade, told me that her very favorite gifts are heartfelt notes of appreciation or anything the child made him or herself: “I love any gift that a student gives me when they seem proud of it, or are waiting to see my response. I also like getting food treats – even the ones that kids tell me they made themselves and look too nasty to eat.”
If you’re trying to put together a last-minute teacher gift (like I am!) why not consider letting your child write (or dictate) a letter of thanks? You can give it with cookies, a craft, or just by itself. If you have an older child, you can even turn the gift-giving over to him or her and mark it off your to-do list. I’m guessing a lot of teachers would rather get a gift that comes from the child than one the parent picked out.
Keep in mind that there will be many more opportunities to show appreciation. If for any reason you can’t pull off a teacher gift before Christmas, don’t get down on yourself or feel guilty. This is not your last chance to give or to acknowledge your child’s teacher. You can send a New Year’s card when your child returns to school, write a nice email wishing the teacher happy holidays, or give her a gift at the end of the year or at any holiday in between.
Whether you give an elaborate gift or sit this year out entirely, keep in mind what you’re already doing: a bang-up job raising your children. And as far as I’m concerned, happy, respectful kids are probably the best teacher gift any parent can give.
We all (my parents, my brother, and I) used to make homemade baklava for our teachers. It was always a hit–the stand-out story was when my brother had the same teacher two years in a row, and on the last day before holidays, my brother entered the classroom as the teacher, seated on the edge of the desk, stared at him and said, “Did you bring it?”
Baguette’s day care is nut-free, so whether or not I continue this practice when she’s older, I’m certainly not going to now! I try to give gifts for the classroom (so far CDs; they play music a lot, and I figure that the teachers might want a little more variety partway through the year). For teacher birthdays, I give gift cards–based on specific interests/preferences if I know them, and Starbucks if I don’t. I figure that if they don’t want them, then they’ve got a free gift to hand off to someone else.
As a teacher, I love this. I truly do love baked goods and although trinkets do become clutter, it’s really the thought that counts. Heartfelt thank you notes are always a win! I confess to loving gift cards…a simple $5 gift card to Starbucks or Subway can mean a lot. As an 8th grade teacher, I don’t get a lot of gifts, but the ones I do get mean a lot–regardless of what they are.
I don’t give out holiday gifts but I do give something at the end of the year. I give out a vegetable herb blend/rub from a local herb farm. I also include a spice shaker for it. I figure people appreciate getting something that isn’t sweet and keeps well. Plus, everybody eats. And, since it’s so inexpensive I can afford to get one for teachers, aides, music, art and gym teachers. The gym teacher was touched, she doesn’t often get remembered with teacher’s gifts.
This year we made DIY snow globes of my preschool-aged son’s favorite books that he reads at school. His teachers know that he’s obsessed with snow globes (and he helped make these himself!), and they reflect some of his favorite memories at school. It was so cheap and took maybe 10 minutes per globe. We also gave gift cards and a holiday card. http://www.earlymama.com/2011/12/21/diy-snow-globes/
Funny you write about this…yesterday I ran into a friend who jokingly said, “I can’t even read your blog anymore. It makes me feel guilty that I am not making teacher gifts!!” We laughed about this, since here I thought I was being so helpful sharing several step-by-step ideas that were simple. Little did I know I was completely bumming some friends out!!
Ah, I’m happy to read this! I was feeling guilty about not having gotten teacher gifts this year. Even more so, J got gifts from the students he teaches in catechism class and it never even occurred to me to get gifts for the kids’ catechism teachers too! I just couldn’t do it this year – didn’t have money for gifts or the time to make any. Due to my injury this is also the first year I’m not sending out Christmas cards, either. I just hope that my kids’ teachers won’t feel slighted that they didn’t get something.
I wish I had waited until a little more recently to think about the gifts for the teachers at my sons daycare. I have seriously over analyzed the situation. I have changed my mind several times about what I will do for them. He has been in two rooms this year each with four teachers. I didn’t think it was appropriate not to do something for the teachers of the room he is no longer in as he was there for most of the year, and then switched up in November, so now I barely know the new teachers. I am doing pretty impersonal gifts for that reason.
I decided on little gift baskets for each room, with a Dunkin donuts gift card and scratch tickets for each teacher, and then I will include one of the homemade food items I am about to get started on. I figure that covers most of the bases.
This being my first year at it, I never realized that I would stress about it so much, but I’m glad to know I’m not the only one!
Since I didn’t even have teacher gifts on my radar screen until Monday (two days ago), I didn’t have time to think it through. I wanted desperately to make my son’s two preschool teachers a nice gift of hand made cards, but that takes time, and my 3 1/2 month old daughter was just admitted to hospital for a respiratory virus (where I’m writing this comment). I knew already on Monday that she was pretty sick and I was unlikely to get any fancy gifts made this week. After a FB post about it, all my teacher friends said, “Go for the gift card!” and some even provided a list of places they like to receive cards from. So I pulled out some nice gift card holders I’d made previously, bought two gift cards from Trader Joe’s (which is located two blocks from the school), popped them in the holders on my way out the door to the hospital and I’m going to be okay with that for this year. Maybe next year when my youngest is older and we have less sickness (God willing), I can make more of our teacher gifts.
As a teacher, I double ditto what your SIL told you. Heartfelt notes are the best (and I love homemade goodies and anything given from the heart of the child)
I think I have to agree. My husband worked as a substitute teacher after college but before he landed a job in his chosen field (this was several years before I knew him). He was a tech guy, and wound up working in the same classroom for a whole semester. When we met and married? One thing I still have to keep in our safe are the lovely letters his class wrote to him saying how much they liked him! Some only have pictures but he cherishes them!
Thank goodness our head classroom parents take up a collection (give what you want) for the teacher’s present—usually a gift card! That said, I still have daycare providers (a half dozen this year). I bought inexpensive, but handmade, cup cozies at a school fair. I paired each one with a Starbucks gift card in a large square blank holiday card, inside which my son drew pictures. He also addressed and decorated the envelopes. I think it was a good mix of practical and personal.
I do a little of both – I do give gift cards (this year was Target) because I know that the teachers really appreciate them. We’re in a parochial school that doesn’t pay as well as public. Our teachers are phenomenal and knowing that they are at our school because they truly love teaching… I figure every little way of giving back counts.
Usually though, I’m NOT a fan of gift cards in that they are not very personal. So this year I paired them with a tray of my homemade Christmas cookies. In previous years when I was too tied down with pregnancy or infants, I did fudge (the easy microwave kind), or peanut brittle (if you know how, this is actually quick and easy and yields huge raves). The kids are my assistants in the kitchen and they love to hand out the goodies with bright smiles on their faces. I have them make homemade cards as well.
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I usually make or buy a gift for teachers at the end of the year but for Christmas gifts we usually give classroom gifts. Gifts of Kleenex, sanitizing wipes, hand soap, Sanitizer, Ziploc bags or any other supplies are appreciated and may be running low this time of year.
What a wonderful post! I remember when my mom used to bake banana bread for my teachers. There were 5 of us children, so it was really hard to find something affordable yet meaningful to give to all the teachers. I like Stephanie’s idea. They probably love getting things that they can put to good use in the classroom itself!
As a teacher, I can tell you that ANY gifts are always appreciated (by me anyway). It shows that someone was thinking of me, which is a nice feeling. Those ones that the kids picked or made themselves are terrific. Books for the classroom are great too, and I always make sure to inscribe the front with “donation to our class library from…” so the child can see that kids will benefit from the gift for years to come.
Why don’t you give cash instead? If making things like vanilla stresses you out then just simply gives an incentive in a form of cash or ready made thing. It won’t require much of your time and will express the same thought as you have when yo that vanilla thing.
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