What Are You Getting Your Child's Teacher for Christmas?

last year, I had two children in school, one male and one female teacher. I did not give Christmas gifts so I felt I could do a little more for teacher appreciation week. I have never felt treated differently whether or not a gift was given. I did have fun making these gifts though. I took a two quart jar and filled it with things they could use and things that I thought were fun. I bought a small container of Advil, small container of tissues, dish cloth (for padding and hiding), a candy bar (I knew one teachers liked m&m's), a packet of flower seeds, small pack of gum, ring pops, doritos, oreos, tic tacs, sanitzer, nutter butters, etc. I tied the bow onto the front with a first aid kit attached. I don't give anything apple related because they get so much of that stuff anyway. According to the comments I recieved, I think the teachers had as much fun pulling the stuff out as I did stuffing it in. The total cost for the two of them was less than $20.00.

Frankly, I think that I will be doing Barnes & Noble gift cards this year. That way, the teachers can either buy things they need for their class, buy educational toys for their children, or just buy the latest bestseller that they want to read. Although I do stay in touch with both teachers, I truly don't know them well enough to know their personal preferences.

Could not disagree with you more, Ina. As a teacher and a mama, I always sent gifts. When my son, a football player, got to HS and adamantly said NO MAMA! to my wanting to give gifts, I told him as he was eating the cookies that some student had given to me at holiday time, then at least give a card with an attached candy cane! I kinda think he ate the candy and gave the card...

Parents, it is a small gesture that goes such a long way. I cannot tell you how many times, I gave away my own snacks and lunch to a child who was hanging around hungry after school when a parent was late picking him up. Or when I gave rides to cheerleaders after a game when the parents were late and the lights were shut off on the field... Yes, we get paid a salary--but there are fewer jobs where we go the extra mile as teachers do --routinely. Isn't that worth a $5 Starbucks card?

It depends on the teacher and the child. My SD refused to give her 4th grade teacher anything. They clashed badly. But in 6th she made her own cookies and gave them out. Some teachers (like my mom) adore the cups and silly little things with apples on them. I may make a tote with a handprints on it from my DD to her preschool teachers this year. Teachers always need to carry stuff.

It is never required to gift someone, but most teachers do not work just 7-3 and don't make a great salary (friend of mine teaches 1st grade and spends every Sunday prepping for the week, plus time each night with grading and papers and things). And besides, it isn't about how much they make. It's about appreciating someone for doing a good job and educating your child. If I could do their job, my daughter wouldn't be in their class. So we'll come up with a thank you and probably a little something at the end of the year as well.

Did I miss a link to the pin?

Wow, some of us are pretty jaded, aren't we?! This is Kindergarten, not high school or college :-).

There is no requirement. You give a gift because you want to. The teachers may not give the parent anything, but they sure as hell are working their arses off to give, give, give, to those kids, and usually for a meager salary. A small token of appreciation never killed anyone.

To answer your question, OP, I haven't even thought about it yet! I love your idea, though, that's amazing of you to put that together!

I plan to give my childs teacher a gift card to starbucks. I personally think it is a good idea to give teachers gifts. After all they are with our children a big part of the day and I think this is a great way to show our appreciation. I know they get a salary to teach our kids. If you feel you shouldn't give a teacher a gift because they get paid to teach then as a parent we shouldn't expect gifts either. Our kids didn't ask to be born so they don't owe us anything. I think gifts are a sign of appreciation and selflessness. As a kid I loved giving my teacher gifts. They weren't expensive gifts but it said I appreciate you.

I always gave a bottle of Sparkling wine with a tag, saying "Enjoy your Holidays and Happy New Year!"

Also gave a bottle to the Principal.

Never had a complaint.

Sounds like a nice idea. My kids are no longer elementary, so I won't be using it, though. They have too many teachers to deal with doing any sort of personalized thing. If anything, they might get a Dunkin' gift card or something (no Starbuck's in town). If I do that, I'll drop them by the front office in an envelope---at her age, my daughter probably will have some sort of awkward thing about giving a gift to her teachers. It usually stops after elementary I think, but if your kid has a really great teacher, I don't see why it HAS to...

My Mom taught 6th grade in public school for 30 years.
She liked gifts you could use and then throw away.
The stuff builds up.
Candy is ok if the teacher doesn't have any dietary issues.
Starbucks gift card or vanilla scented candles are the best and great for every occasion.
Additional:
My Mom said some of the best gifts came from kids who were absolute stinkers.
It was like their Mom's were trying to apologize for their kids being brats.

No, a gift is not required.
No one is looked upon more favorably or not whether there was a gift or not.
Some parents just get such a kick giving to everyone - teacher, hair dresser, mail man, dentist, doctor, plumber, news paper delivery boy, garbage man, the butcher, the baker and candlestick maker (every person they've come into contact with during the year) - it's just what they do and it makes them happy.
In no way do I feel competitive about this.
I tend to give gifts to people who are kindred spirits - who are few and far between.

We give our children's preschool teachers cash. Bottom line is that I greatly appreciate what they do for my children on a daily basis and they have gone beyond their role on more than one occasion to help us.

Having said that, as an educator, I LOVE this idea! My students used to give me books and board games for my office (school psychologist) and it was incredibly appreciated. Many times these came from yard sales and rummage sales, which was even more appreciated because "my kids" weren't afraid to play with them.

I also loved the homemade goodies... I don't bake, so my husband always loved the holidays because I had one family who truly had very little, but damn. That mama could bake! She would bake me a huge thing of assorted Christmas cookies with a note saying "You spend so much time with our children that you probably don't have much time to bake for your own! Enjoy these yourselves or repackage and take them to a party!"

Fail safe gift? Cash or a gift card.

Oh... and I think that Ina may have a tainted perspective. There is no obligation to give a gift and many children do not. It's really not expected, nor is it a big deal. At the holidays, I tip people who make my life easier and/or better.

In our world, that includes:
- children's teachers: they are helping us raise our children; they meet with us as often as we would like; they welcome my parents into their classrooms whenever they are visiting; engage my son in higher order thinking every day and start/end their day with a hug and an "I'm so happy you are here today."
- housekeeper: she's our Godsend and I would eat rice every day for every meal to keep her. She has given us our family time back and she's busting her butt to give her children a better life.
- Babysitter: available on short notice to come over and play with the kids while we hole-up in the basement to shop online, wrap gifts, pack for vacation, etc.
- Mail man: ours knows we have two small children and will walk our mail up to the house on a snowy/rainy/icy day so that I don't have to go out in it on a snow day. He also brought the mail to our door (instead of our mailbox at the end of the driveway on the other side of the street) for the month after each of my babies were born so that I wouldn't have to do the stairs to get the mail. He has 4 daughters and 16 grandchildren... we give him the max allowed by the postal service each year PLUS two beautiful coffee cakes to share with his family at their annual brunch. How do I know all of this? Because he's a kind man who takes the time to talk with us.

Can I hijack this question and ask whether it's required to give teachers a gift? I mean this is their job and they get a salary... and when I worked with students (in a public college) we had fairly strict guidelines about NOT accepting any kind of gift for any occasion.
I mean vendors would sometimes bring candy and such for everyone in the office to share (and even that was frowned upon) but we were explicitly prohibited from accepting personal things like gift cards or even little trinkets from students, families or vendors.
Personally I don't like the idea of giving gifts to teachers... I understand that it is well meant, but it just leaves a bad taste for me and I think there is a danger of creating unconscious favoritism....I mean even if you are trying to be the fairest teacher in the world it is human nature to just feel ever to slightly more positive about that student whose mom gave you than nice big gift card...
Am I the only one thinking that way?

I do give gifts, Our school system has developed a plan to help cut down on the amount of "gifts" that the teachers receive. The room mother sends a letter out at the beginning of the year and takes a collection of $5 toward a christmas gift. The families are not obligated to participate, however the Christmas card is signed by all the kids in the class. The gift is usually something useful or something the room mother knows that the teacher would like to have.

In defense of Ina; I can see her point. Sometimes kids have 3,4 or more teachers involved in their education and that get expensive. Some families cannot affort even "cheap" gifts. This can cause uncomfortable feelings in both the child who wants to give a gift and the parent that cannot.

I have several teacher friends both in my state and another state tell me that they get over loaded with unwanted gifts at Christmas time. I have been told that teachers often give away or throw away their gifts. As far as candy and cookies, most don't want it.

Could you provide a link? I'm very curious!

Ina, I don't think you're the only way who feels that way, but I could not disagree more. I work at a University, and what you are speaking of (not accepting gifts (bribes) - this has more to do with the universities contracting with vendors) is so completely different from students giving teachers Christmas cards. Grade school teachers are incredibly underpaid and buy things for their classroom from their own money. A gift at Christmas is just a way of saying, "Thank you."

Yeah, I'd like to see the actual link too. I also do gift cards and home made goodies for the teachers, but I know they get a lot of goodies, so something different might be nice as long as it's useful!

I feel the nicest gifts are just simple....a basket of cookies...along with a home made thank you card from your child....The BEST gift is the teacher gets a BREAK and the opportunity to spend time with her own children and/or family!

Fail Safe...KEEP IT sincere and simple

I am not seeing a link either.
My daughters teacher is a man this year. Ugh, men are difficult. I know he likes the St. Louis Rams, so I might go that route somehow and bake him some cookies.
The other teachers were woman, and I new their fashion so I would get them a gift card to a clothing store.

But your a teacher, so Im curious.

I give the teacher what she gives me - NOTHING