Daycare teacher gifts?

[bellebud]

I think Target more than any other gift card. They can use it for teacher supplies, themselves, their kids. Some people don't like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, etc. Target is just something that anyone can use.

 

[Floridaman999]

Amazon gift card.

 

[Hikergirl]

A Visa gift card

 

[AuntieMe3]

I work daycare and would love a target gift card. Seriously, any amount would be appreciated.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

We have a really small school (15 teachers including the principal and her assistant) but someone went through this year and compiled a list of favorite items for each teacher - color, foods, sports team, restaurants, stores, monogram (hey, we're in the south after all), etc and sent it out to the parents.

Now I know that my youngest's second grade teacher doesn't drink coffee, hates fruit, and loves chocolate. She also apparently answered hobby lobby to any and all questions that were even remotely related. Guess she's getting a $20 hobby lobby gift card this year.

I love that it takes the guess work out of it and I didn't make the faux pas of giving an Auburn ornament to an Alabama fan.

I've only deviated from gift cards once or twice in all of our 15 years of teacher gifts - we had a tornado during the school day when my oldest was in kindergarten. It knocked out the power at his school and his teacher didn't have a flashlight in her room. He insisted for Christmas that year that she needed a pink flashlight. So, that's what he gave her, along with a note from me explaining why.

 

[wvjules]

A spa day. After spending all week dealing with rugrats and trying not to throw rocks at them, I'm sure they could use the pampering.

 

[amberpi]

We have a really small school (15 teachers including the principal and her assistant) but someone went through this year and compiled a list of favorite items for each teacher - color, foods, sports team, restaurants, stores, monogram (hey, we're in the south after all), etc and sent it out to the parents.

Now I know that my youngest's second grade teacher doesn't drink coffee, hates fruit, and loves chocolate. She also apparently answered hobby lobby to any and all questions that were even remotely related. Guess she's getting a $20 hobby lobby gift card this year.

Your monogram in the south thing just cracked me up! I always thought it was silly, and now that I’ve got kids they’re starting to creep in on my life...and matching pjs (for the kids) and (our last name) doormats. What has happened to me?!

The hobby lobby thing seems weird to me. It’s a pretty controversial store for that to be her only request. Yikes!

 

[SaintsManiac]

We have a really small school (15 teachers including the principal and her assistant) but someone went through this year and compiled a list of favorite items for each teacher - color, foods, sports team, restaurants, stores, monogram (hey, we're in the south after all), etc and sent it out to the parents.

Now I know that my youngest's second grade teacher doesn't drink coffee, hates fruit, and loves chocolate. She also apparently answered hobby lobby to any and all questions that were even remotely related. Guess she's getting a $20 hobby lobby gift card this year.

I love that it takes the guess work out of it and I didn't make the faux pas of giving an Auburn ornament to an Alabama fan.

I've only deviated from gift cards once or twice in all of our 15 years of teacher gifts - we had a tornado during the school day when my oldest was in kindergarten. It knocked out the power at his school and his teacher didn't have a flashlight in her room. He insisted for Christmas that year that she needed a pink flashlight. So, that's what he gave her, along with a note from me explaining why.

We got some "bios" of teachers this year with all the favorites. Makes life easy. My daughter has 3 teachers this year. Ugh!

 

[bethbuchall]

I'm sure that it's a regional thing, but as a preschool teacher at a very small church-run preschool, I've never received a gift card for more than $20 for either Christmas or end-of-the-year. Many times they are in the $5-$10 range. So, I think a $25 gift card is generous.

I love every gift that I receive because of the thought behind it, but I don't burn candles, so those do get donated. I have a pretty big collection of mugs already, so unless it is something special, those get donated, too. This doesn't mean that I'm not happy with the gifts, it just means that my house can't hold any more of those things, and I'd rather someone else gets to use it. I do keep and hang all of the Christmas ornaments that I have received, and I love remembering the kids who made or purchased them every year.

I do most appreciate the notes from parents and drawings from the kids.

 

[amberpi]

I'm sure that it's a regional thing, but as a preschool teacher at a very small church-run preschool, I've never received a gift card for more than $20 for either Christmas or end-of-the-year. Many times they are in the $5-$10 range. So, I think a $25 gift card is generous.

Glad to hear that, I thought I might be cheaping out. When friends started talking about $100 per teacher/teacher aide I thought that was a lot. Of course, those people are spending 30k a kid for kindergarten, so, there’s that.

 

[RangerPooh]

Gift cards- Starbucks, Target, and local eateries. I like to give between $10-20 each. Years where our budget was limited I did smaller $5 cards to Baskin Robbins and a nice thank you card. Our kids also had two primary teachers and a handful of student employees at that age.

 

[SharonZ]

I agree with the gift card idea and a thoughtful note. Some of my friends are teachers, and they really don't want any more mugs, home-made gifts, treats etc.

 

[Owlpost23]

When my kids were in daycare we would often buy lunch for all the staff as a gift from our family. I had three kids in the same daycare at once, and so it ended up being about the same cost as buying gifts for 10-15 teachers (they'd have 3-5 teachers in each class).

One year we did Domino's (I think we bought 10 large pizzas), one year we did a couple of platters from Chick-fil-a, and one year we bought Jersey Mike's giant subs. They LOVED it.

This is a WONDERFUL idea! We have parents that do this every year and it's so appreciated!

 

[cabanafrau]

Glad to hear that, I thought I might be cheaping out. When friends started talking about $100 per teacher/teacher aide I thought that was a lot. Of course, those people are spending 30k a kid for kindergarten, so, there’s that.

I think someone may be embellishing if they're leading you to believe they're spending 30K for kindergarten tuition.
Two of the leading private schools in Detroit Metro charge in the 30K neighborhood for high school tuition -- University of Liggett and Detroit Country Day(Robin Williams was a student here back in the day).

 

[Floridaman999]

I think someone may be embellishing if they're leading you to believe they're spending 30K for kindergarten tuition.
Two of the leading private schools in Detroit Metro charge in the 30K neighborhood for high school tuition -- University of Liggett and Detroit Country Day(Robin Williams was a student here back in the day).

Yeah, I agree. I think the amount is a bit of a stretch.

 

[amberpi]

I think someone may be embellishing if they're leading you to believe they're spending 30K for kindergarten tuition.
Two of the leading private schools in Detroit Metro charge in the 30K neighborhood for high school tuition -- University of Liggett and Detroit Country Day(Robin Williams was a student here back in the day).

I looked it up because I always took the woman at her word, and I have several other friends with kids there that just generally say how expensive it is. It's 20k, that's a sure lot less than what I was thinking and high school is "only" 24. Now that may still seem silly high but not what I was led to believe. Thanks for piquing my interest I thought one friend with 3 elementary aged kids was paying almost six figures on grade school!

 

[mjkacmom]

I think someone may be embellishing if they're leading you to believe they're spending 30K for kindergarten tuition.
Two of the leading private schools in Detroit Metro charge in the 30K neighborhood for high school tuition -- University of Liggett and Detroit Country Day(Robin Williams was a student here back in the day).

This is a few miles from my home https://www.mka.org/admissions/tuition-financial-aid Private schools tend to be expensive here.

 

[BearFamily]

When mine was in daycare, I knew the daycare workers were not making great wages, and they were wonderful. We usually did $50 gift certificates for things we knew they liked - craft store, book store, etc. plus something handmade if we could.

Once she started in preschool, she switched to the school where I work. We get paid a reasonable professional wage. We've been much more likely to do $25 gift certificates and a small ornament or something else handmade by my kid. Some years someone bothered to start a "class gift" collection, other years no one did.

I guess that seems kind of weird, but I guess I felt guilty for how little the daycare workers were paid with respect to what an important job they were doing, really well.

I also have a hard time imagining 30K for kindergarten outside of certain areas like NYC/CT/NJ. I know tuition there is through the roof! Our area is pretty notorious for high COL compared to many others, and our private independent schools (there are several) top out with HS tuition well below 30K.

 

[Kellykins1218]

She doesn't want the expense of the school, so has her parents watch them. Which is fine, but, no, she is not involved with this.

That’s so awesome. My kids were lucky to be able to stay with their grandparents, too. Spending time with grandparents is so much better than being stuck in day care.

 

[karmic]

When my kids were in pre school another mother and I sent a big bagel basket with all the fixings- there were tooo many staff for individual gifts- they loved it!