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Teacher’s Christmas Gifts!

Are you scratching your head on what to get your child’s teacher this Christmas?  What better gift ideas can you get but from a teacher herself! Here is a few teacher gift ideas that reader, Rachel H. shared.

If you haven’t already bought a gift for your child’s teacher, and plan to do so, may I give you some advice? I’ve been a teacher for 16 years, and have received plenty of gifts over the years.

First of all, let me say that no matter the gift, chocolate covered pretzels, candles, holiday décor, etc. it is wonderful to be thought of at all. But if you would like to really make your teacher’s day, here are a few ideas.

1. Bargain Gifts: Write your teacher a heart felt thank you for the countless hours of hard work they do on behalf of your child. Don’t just sign a card, write a paragraph and be specific in your affirmation. This will help them to know in what ways they are doing well. (Even if you’re not a huge fan of the teacher, write them a note about something they do well. This will only help your relationship and make your teacher even further invested in your child.) I keep all of the nice notes and letters that I’ve ever gotten. They don’t take up much space, and when I’m feeling defeated they really lift my spirits and help me to keep going.

2. Gift Cards: Teachers spend a lot of their own money on bringing extra things into the classroom. Buy them a gift card for a teacher store, Staples, Walmart or Target, etc. You could even go crazy and get them a gift card to a restaurant or to Bath & Body Works. If you buy the gift card at Giant Eagle, you’re still earning fuel perks. One of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten was a $5 Walmart gift card. It was from another teacher. I knew they didn’t have a lot of money, but they still wanted to show their appreciation. While I loved the practicality of the $100 check I got several years ago, I was more touched by the $5 gift card.

3. Something Practical.  Have your child do some investigation. Have them ask the teacher’s favorite color, store, restaurant, whatever, to get some ideas. Really, you could even give them some of your stockpile I wouldn’t do deodorant in case they get offended but do write a note explaining how you save money by using coupons and how you wanted to give them something they could really use. Who knows, you may even turn them into a coupon believer. If you scored a few extra Hasbro games, that might make an awesome gift too for their classroom.

What to avoid:

The ornaments with your child’s name on them are sweet, but eventually teachers have enough to decorate an entire tree with those ornaments. (Yes, a friend of mine did that a few years ago and still didn’t have enough room on the tree.) The candies and goodies are yummy, but most teachers end up taking these home to share with family on top of what they already traditionally make. My hubby usually eats 80% of what I bring home.
If you’ve read this far, then you’ve gotten some ideas. I promise, I’m not trying to sound ungrateful. I just figure that there may be a few people out there still thinking, “What am I going to give the teacher?”

A HUGE thanks to Rachel Haney for sharing!

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