Gift for school bus driver - cash or gas gift card?

[NotUrsula]

My kid has the most WONDERFUL bus driver; nicest guy. He has even swung back around to get DD when he finished his route a bit early and she hadn't boarded, so he was worried about her. When she was little he would wait as long as it took for an adult to show up to get her off the bus, even if he had to come back after dropping off other kids. (Our jobs are pretty far away, and on occasion we get stuck in traffic on the way home.)

You bet I give that man a nice holiday gift. Ask your kids what your bus driver likes; they always know. Ours has a thing for big soft drinks, so we parents gift him with enough QuikTrip cards to keep him in drinks for most of the year. (There is a location right next to the bus yard, so he stops there going to or from work.)

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

I HAVE never hear of giving the bus driver a present-much less cash
it seems nowadays everyone wants to gift everyone for doing their JOB!
How is it a "thankless job"??
Our bus driver did it a few hours each day-then worked at her husbands small biz the rest of the time

I am sorry what when i was in school gifts I gave my teachers during holidays were not thank you gifts they were because I like you as a person gift I never have never will view holiday gifts as thank you gifts

 

[CandleontheWater]

so you guys don't think that giving cash is tacky? I didn't even consider giving cash because I wanted it to seem like a gift, not a payment, but maybe I'm being overly sensitive. I just didn't want to insult the bus driver and I was afraid that a cash gift would be insulting. Maybe next year I'll do cash instead, I really agonized over what to do for my DS's bus driver, and I ended up getting him a $10 gift card to Moes so he could have lunch on us. He is such a nice man and so kind to my DS I really wanted to do something for him, but I don't really know him that well, but I figured that most people like Moes. The holidays can be so hard!

 

[Poohforyou]

kids do not give gifts in middle and high school

That's absolutely not a true blanket statement. Maybe it's true of the people you know. My 16 yo dd, who's a hs junior, has been giving gifts to teachers and others since she started school.

I haven't ever given a gift to a bus driver but I don't think any gift is too big or too small.

 

[TAX GUY]

It's getting a little salty in here.

Is this your first time here?


Bus driver doesn't apply to us. Elementary school we drove our son and now in middle school, he walks.

Someone mentioned the trash collector..... not here. The guy that drives truck for my pick up is beyond lazy. The newer style trucks with the motorized arm that extends out to grab the container and lift it so the bags are dumped into the truck, plus, a few times he skipped us because he claimed the can wasn't curbside, when in fact it was but he couldn't get close enough to grab it with the mechanical arm. Once or twice I did forget to move it curbside and left it in my driveway and there was no effort to "help" by getting out and rolling it out (driveway is all of about 20-25 feet). Because of that, he gets a big fat nothing extra from me.

 

[smokeyblue]

My brother is a the biggest jerk in the world, he is also a school bus driver, mechanic and groundskeeper. Kids and parents love him. I have no reason why because again, he is the biggest jerk in the world, but they do. Little old grandmas knit him socks and make him delicate, delicious baked goods. My parents and I are just baffled. I guess everyone has a good side to them.

 

[Mark P.]

My wife is a school bus driver for elementary age kids for 10 years. At Christmas, Halloween and last day of school, etc., she hands out little goodie bags for her kids. I'll say it...She's the best, and it is truly a thankless job.
DW receives a few gifts at Christmas from the kids, from gift cards to handmade projects, such as tree ornaments, and they're all appreciated by her equally. That said, it's known that she loves coffee, so she tends get Starbucks or WAWA gift cards.

 

[LynnTH]

It is not the norm to give Bus Drivers gifts. But we always did at Christmas and at the end of the school year. It was our way of showing our appreciation to them. Usually gave them a $25 Target Gift Card or Starbucks/Caribou if my kids noticed they drank coffee.

 

[mom2rose&john]

I always give a pair of gloves or a scarf and a gift card to our local grocery store. A bus driver transports our children safely to and from school 180 days out of the years. IMO, they deserve a token of gratitude for the work they do.

 

[mjkacmom]

Is this your first time here?


Bus driver doesn't apply to us. Elementary school we drove our son and now in middle school, he walks.

Someone mentioned the trash collector..... not here. The guy that drives truck for my pick up is beyond lazy. The newer style trucks with the motorized arm that extends out to grab the container and lift it so the bags are dumped into the truck, plus, a few times he skipped us because he claimed the can wasn't curbside, when in fact it was but he couldn't get close enough to grab it with the mechanical arm. Once or twice I did forget to move it curbside and left it in my driveway and there was no effort to "help" by getting out and rolling it out (driveway is all of about 20-25 feet). Because of that, he gets a big fat nothing extra from me.

Our garbage is collected the old fashioned way, and if a can is even still touching our driveway, they won't take it, even if the other one is fully on the road - they'll just dump the one.

 

[Minnesota!]

if you do a visa gift card watch the fees. they lose their value if they are not used by certain time

Not all of them! I get them from my credit union and they don't lose their value.

kids do not give gifts in middle and high school

You forgot to add "around here".

AROUND HERE, they get gifts.

 

[JPPT1974]

Glad you get alone with your bus driver. Just follow your heart is all I can tell you all! What you feel is right.

 

[MSLRAC]

Wow- who wrote that rule? My daughter is in high school and she and a group of friends were talking the other day about what to get for their teachers- the only difference now is that she pays for it on her own- one thing they decided on some type of star wars shirt for their physics teacher since he is a big star wars fan- so not only do they give gifts they put a lot of thought into what would be perfect for each teacher they want to give to. In junior high I thought gift giving was over but many of them still gave gifts- only now it was multiplied by how ever many they wanted to gift. And in grade school the bus driver got a gift but in middle school and high school I just drive her so no bus driver to buy for now.

DD11 is in the first year of middle school and she spent hours looking for just the right quote for each of her 6 teachers to have put on mugs for them for Christmas. I prepared her to be the only kid that brought anything in but she said that lots of kids brought in gifts. Anyway, OP, our bus drivers get all sorts of stuff for Christmas and I think cash, a visa gift card, or a gift card for somewhere else would all be fine and I'd spend $20 if you can swing it.

 

[indygirl99]

so you guys don't think that giving cash is tacky? I didn't even consider giving cash because I wanted it to seem like a gift, not a payment, but maybe I'm being overly sensitive. I just didn't want to insult the bus driver and I was afraid that a cash gift would be insulting. Maybe next year I'll do cash instead, I really agonized over what to do for my DS's bus driver, and I ended up getting him a $10 gift card to Moes so he could have lunch on us. He is such a nice man and so kind to my DS I really wanted to do something for him, but I don't really know him that well, but I figured that most people like Moes. The holidays can be so hard!

I personally do not think giving cash is tacky or insulting. You don't know the driver well enough to
give a totally personalized gift but want to give out of appreciation.

I have a friend who drives and she pools the cash and buys herself something that she would never have spent her own money on and then remembers that years kids every time she sees it.

One year she bought a really amazing landscape painting that hangs in her living room and every time someone comments on it she says something she remembers about those kids that year on her bus. This year she said she is going to use the money to landscape and plant a small flower garden just off her sitting porch because one of her kids loves to talk about plants and flowers.

 

[okeydokey]

kids do not give gifts in middle and high school

I think what you meant to say is that YOUR kids do not give gifts in middle and high school. There are teachers that my kids are very fond of and appreciate and we do give them gifts. One of them last year was the bus driver who went above and beyond for my family.

I am surprised you feel Middle and High School teachers do not deserve gifts. What grade do you teach?

 

[bsblady01]

I think what you meant to say is that YOUR kids do not give gifts in middle and high school. There are teachers that my kids are very fond of and appreciate and we do give them gifts. One of them last year was the bus driver who went above and beyond for my family.

I am surprised you feel Middle and High School teachers do not deserve gifts. What grade do you teach?

I teach first grade. when I was growing up the teacher gifts stopped after 5th grade. you were called a teachers pet if you gave gifts in middle and high school

 

[gotomu212]

My brother is a the biggest jerk in the world, he is also a school bus driver, mechanic and groundskeeper. Kids and parents love him. I have no reason why because again, he is the biggest jerk in the world, but they do. Little old grandmas knit him socks and make him delicate, delicious baked goods. My parents and I are just baffled. I guess everyone has a good side to them.

I don't know, someone can be a COMPLETE jerk but if they are taking my child away for a little while I sing their praises!

 

[mjkacmom]

No bus drivers here, but I always gave the crossing guards gifts - dunkin gc's, or cookie tins from Costco. Usually $10. And something for the students patrols when my kids were in the younger grades.

 

[MSLRAC]

I teach first grade. when I was growing up the teacher gifts stopped after 5th grade. you were called a teachers pet if you gave gifts in middle and high school

That is where you live and when you were growing up. That doesn't mean that it's like that everywhere now.

 

[Kitty 34]

I teach first grade. when I was growing up the teacher gifts stopped after 5th grade. you were called a teachers pet if you gave gifts in middle and high school

.....and what's wrong with being referred to as a teacher's pet?? I sometimes think it's not brown nosing which would be a teacher's pet synonym; more like being referred to as appreciative.