I am curious what guidelines everyone follows when giving Christmas gifts. My cleaning lady is going out of town and will miss cleaning my house once (she cleans once every other week) so I was going to pay her for the time off as a Christmas gift- is that enough? I have a babysitter that I also use atleast once/week and wanted to know what is appropriate to give her. If a gift card- how much? The last person I don't know what to get is my daughter's dance teacher. Again, if a gift card, how much is appropriate?
thank you!
Cleaning Lady- I think paying her for the time off is so nice of you. I don't think you need to get her anything additional.
Babysitters (a very important job)....how about some money for her. A cash bonus. Is $20 too little?
Daughter's dance teacher a $5 or $10 Starbucks gift card w/a note thanking her for teaching your daughter what makes her happiest.
Hope that helps! Very nice of you!
If I had a regular cleaning lady I would give her that time off with pay, but also a small bonus, maybe 15-20% of her monthly wage (if you can afford it). For the baby sitter a $10 gift card should be fine, and for the dance teacher maybe the same or have your child make them each something instead.
Cleaning Lady- whatever you normally pay her to clean your house.
Babysitter- I consider this a very important job! We only have 1 babysitter and she babysits my kids once or twice a week. I trust her with my kids which is hard to find. Maybe a $50 gift card. Maybe a $100 bill. It depends on her personality. What does she need?
Dance Teacher- homemade cookies and a homemade card from your child.
What I was told last year was for "Bonsus" the general rule of thumb is to double the average salary.
So, for the cleaning lady - pay her for the time she'll miss. The Babysitter - I'd probably average the $$ you usually pay her and use that amount for a gift card.
Dance teacher - I probably wouldn't do too much. $10-$20 is fine. Or home made goodies if you do that kind of thing.
I don't normally give gifts to any of my kids' teachers / coaches or babysitters. However I have a cleaning lady once a week and every year she goes away for 3-4 weeks to visit her family in another State. I always give her her full salary anyway and add a little wrapped gift for her (like body lotion or bath salts) and a large box of biscuits and sweets for her family. She's worked for me for 12 years. Originally I could only afford her once every second week and didn't pay her if she stayed away but I always gave her a small gift on her birthday and for Christmas. 2 years ago my husband lost his job but I still kept paying her in full and giving a gift because she's the sole provider for her children, her niece & nephew (sister died) and a grandbaby (born out of wedlock). I guess I'm telling u all this just to show that no matter how bad we think we've got it there are many who are struggling worse than us! At the end of the day I guess even just a little extra money would be appreciated. Merry Christmas! :)
I think you are right on for the housekeeper and I think roughly a 4 hr bonus in the form of cash for the sitter is nice so basically 25-50 cash or gift card to a store you know she frequents. I don't think tiping the dance teacher is needed but maybe a small starbucks card would be nice or maybe homemade goodies.
I don't know how well off you are but if you can afford more I'm sure they would appreciate it too.
