School Gift Exchange

Wow-this is a recipe for disaster...I am surprised that a school would do this!! Gift exchanges are rarely equitable-only we as adults can control our disappointment. What I would do is ask another parent that you know with an older kid...or introduce yourself to someone at pickup who has an older kid or who may have had a kid go through the school already. This way you can find out what is customarly for this. Or maybe talk to the classroom mom about setting some guidelines. If you are confused you can be sure that others are too.

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Our schools no longer do this.But when I did it in school it was no more than $10.00.Are you suppose to bring for a girl or boy or neutral?
Books
play doh
coloring sets
craft set in a box
paint by number plastic sun catchers
paint your own piggy bank

You can ask the teacher. Or keep it $5 (is generous) and under for a school thing for sure. But that's JMO. Beanie babies (at least in our neck of the woods are $5) pocket games/cards, even fancy candy from a drug store like CVS or Walgreens would be just fine. I loved getting one of those LifeSavers books of candies in grade school (that was a popular gift exchange item). So were chocolate Santas, mini-stockings with caramels or chocolates in them. Maybe even an ornament filled with candy. You get the idea. But then again, with food allergies being a problem today, maybe nix the candy and stick to smalls toys.

We do a book gift exchange and label it for a boy or girl if appropriate. I say a book is a safe bet and they are easy to wrap.

She should have said. IS there a class Mom you could ask?

We do book exchanges, and it was $10 at preschool and $5 in first grade (different schools).

You could probably just do a couple items from the dollar store. Those generic Silly bands... maybe another little toy or trinket. Good luck!

There needs to be some guidelines. Ask the director of the school what the guidelines are or if there are none, to establish some.

my son's 5th grade class did this a few years ago (he's in 9th now) in a public school no less. I was surprised to say the least. But what they did was a christmas gift exchange but they had to bring books. The books could be new or an old favorite. I think everyone brought in wrapped up new books. My son got a really nice goosebumps hardback book. I thought it was a great idea as long as they all did the same thing. I know my older son went to catholic schools. they had a gift excange and some kids got stuff like matchbox cars and others big lego sets. they need to have a guideline in place.

We have done it in preschool and in kindg. usually it's $5 i was going to say one place might have done $10 but now that i think about it i think they were all $5

usually what they do is you leave the to: part of the gift tag blank or put for a girl if they do it by sex and then you put your childs name on the FRom: part of the tag.

the sit all the girls together in a circle or the whole class, each kid starts with their own present and then when the music comes on they pass it around the circle when the music stops they open the gift that was passed to them,

My daughter loved getting bath crayons, and bubble bath at her gift exchange, we sent in a puzzle, coloring books and crayons are popular as are books.

Nail the teacher down and ask if it is gender neutral or for a Girl and At the same time tell her you need a spending limit. some people do go over and some under but at least youll have an idea.

My daughter did it at her preschool. The Preschool was at least 5 to about 10 dollars. What I would suggest is if you are getting something that is more boy or girl oriented make sure the paper is the same so the kid who gets it is ok with it. I found that at that age bath toys are good for both boys and girls. Some books as well. We had gotten one of those big bouncy balls and got an orange one which seemed to be ok with boys and girls. It was a hit.

I've never heard of schools doing this, but I wouldnt spend more than 1, maybe 15.

Usually $5-$10 is the norm for the holiday gift exchange at schools or pre-schools. I used to teach kindergarten and was also a Vice-Principal and these were the general guidelines that we followed for gift exchanges in the classrooms. A lot of the parents would either go to Wal-Mart or even the Dollar Store and try to find a gender-neutral gift that would appeal to the age group of the kids in the class. My experience has been that the gifts that were the biggest hits were in the arts and crafts department.....a marker set, paint set, craft project, a coloring set, things in this category. They are usually inexpensive, easy to find, and kids love to use these things regularly. I have also seen age appropriate board games given as gifts and the kids loved those as well. One parent even bought McDonald's gift certificates as a gift in one of my classes and the child that got these was really happy! Who doesn't like a Mickey-D's run, right? Just stick to gender-neutral items and make a choice in that category that you or your child likes. Wrap the gift and put a tag on it that says.....To: A class friend....From: Your Child's Name. The teacher should then be able to take it from there. I'm kind of surprised that you didn't get more guidance as to how the class is operating the gift exchange or what items they might suggest for purchase. Maybe you or a group of parents could mention that some more information on this event would be nice in the future. Have fun picking out the "mystery gift' and I'm sure the kids in the classroom are going to have a blast....mine always loved this little event.

I can't help with guidelines, but I can tell you as a child I remember doing this and the two coolest gifts given were a giant box of crayons, and a giant candy bar. Everyone in the class was trying to trade for those.