Howdy all!!!!!!!!!
The weather is actually lovely here for a change!!!
Gift certificats to bookstores or on line retailers are always appreciated.
Hobbit Lass made baskets to give to her special teachers. She signed her name and date on the bottom. Her third grade teacher still uses hers to keep bread in. The baskets will last a life time.
We always get a nice plant and insert a wire tree in the middle and attached money (money tree)and blend in the green leaves in wires to cover. Sometimes just get a clay pot and weight it down put silver dollars and the paper money (clipped at middle to form leaves), put in a clear gift bag.
Or buy a small fake tree and attach money to end of leaves . I use these all the time for teens who seem to think money grows on trees. My son who is 21 still enjoys his "money tree"
I buy Yankee Candles for my kids teachers as a gift. One of my twins teacher will not be getting anything, tough. She was about as friendly as Cruella DeVille.
Ooh... don't think I ever gave a gift, while the kids were still in government reeducation camps.
Now, in retrospect, if I'd known she'd prove to be such an exception, I kind of wish I had given a gift to the one good teacher my daughter had -- like in either Kindergarten or first grade. It's amazing what that woman did with that bunch of short people.
Dan
Good Morning Gabz and everyone!
I try to keep the clutter factor down with teacher/staff gift giving. I have given baggies of wildflower seed wrapped in pretty fabric...got the seed mixture in bulk from outsidepride.com. Orange jelly bellies in a carrot shaped bag, and other types of candy, also have done gourmet popcorn. Two days ago I gave our girl scout leaders hanging pots with a beautiful vining portulaca. I'm going to get something similar for the two pre-K teachers. Hmmmm....there's gotta be more ideas in my brain somewhere, but I haven't had enough caffeine to shake them out....will check in later! :)
Oh! I just thought of something....flylady.com usually has a section on ideas for clutter-free gift giving, I've gleaned a lot from that. I'm glad you brought this up, I need to think of something for my older kids' teachers and staff.
Plants, and a note about children growing and nourishing them.
For Christmas I like to give votive candles in different scents.
With 3 kids we have to stay cheap. The kids can help with the plants, whether from seeds or cuttings, and it means more then.
In preschool and kindergarten, my children painted a clay pot and we planted a geranium for their teacher in it. Then they made a card and we enclosed a Barnes and Nobel gift card in it.
From my older children, they make a card and we put in a gift card.
As a former teacher, let me give you a couple of words of advice.
1. Something made by the child is always better. I haven't taught for 10 years, but those are the gifts I kept. they help me remember each of those children.
2. Gift cards are great!
3. Don't forget those teachers who teach things like art and music and see your child a couple of times a week. Maybe not a gift card - esp. if your budget is tight, but a hand made card from your child will be appreciated!
Howdy! I used to teach, and I didn't like to receive gifts from the kids. I loved teaching and didn't feel like a parent should feel they had to give me something for doing what I loved. I did receive some nice ones though. Please, no mugs! I got a $10 gift certificate from one of the bath shops in the mall which was nice. I also liked getting small plants. One girl gave me a flower pot that she painted with a picture, her name and date. I still use it 8 years later!
Hi! It's nice here, too.
We bought a kit at target to make picture frames ... precut cardstock frames, and different decor thingies to stick on them. Billy, Tom, and Elen made them for their Sunday School teachers, who all liked them very much.
James and I painted a clay pot and gave our old Sister a colorful celosia for her desk.
Gifts of food are always good - plate of cookies, sweetbread, or something - because they get used up quickly.
For the teachers, I usually give them a gift certificate. The one I like the best is to the local mall. It works at stores and restaurants in the mall. There's a Border's bookstore, Macy's Department Store, Cheesecake Factory Restaurant, and more. I figure they can find something they like there. I also sometimes give them little flower or plant arrangements (under $5) so that my kids can hand those to the teachers.
I have a real hard time with gifts also. I'm a computer geek, and I like gadgets. Other people don't like gadgets. The worst to buy for are my parents! I never know what to get them.
For others, such as nieces and nephews, wifey and I get them a Proof Set for either Christmas or birthday beginning at birth; makes a nice collection by the time they turn 18 and the tap shuts off.
Either-or only costs in the mid $20's.
A gift certificate to the local ice cream store is a great gift for a teacher!
I generally get teachers movie passes. With so many students, things like candles and plants (no matter how nice) can become overwhelming. Movie passes don't take up any space, they're usually good for a year, and I don't have to guess at what the teacher's personal tastes are.
Just remembered something else! My daughter's brownie troop had a field trip last fall to a soy candle shop, and I was hooked! I bought several as gifts last Christmas....I love soy candles, they have a stronger scent than most petrol-based candles.
Personally I think the whole gift-giving mania is unhealthy. It's one thing for parents to give children birthday and Christmas presents, and for relatives and close friends to give useful wedding presents to a new couple just setting up a household. But this non-stop gift-exchanging between all sorts of people is insane. Most of the gifts end up gathering dust or being "re-gifted". A huge amount of money is being spent on trinkets that nobody needs or even really wants. And many people end up spending money they can't afford, because they feel they have to give gifts.
The teacher would probably appreciate a heart-felt letter or card thanking her for the very specific ways in which she's been helpful to your child. And she's likely to hang on to the letter, and read it again from time to time as she sorts through personal papers, even long after she's retired. Notes written by the children themselves on cards they made themselves, are also often saved and prized by teachers. On the other hand, the mugs, candles, apple-shaped paper-weights, and other assorted gift shop junk will be stuffed in a closet, and then thrown out next time the closet is de-junked, by which time she won't have the faintest recollection of who it came from.