Male Teacher Gift

[RUDisney]

Neither of my kids have ever had a male teacher before. It's been easy for me to buy female teachers holiday and end of year gifts.

DS has a male teacher this year who is wonderful. He's in his late 40s or early 50s, if that helps with gift ideas. He's married and has grown children.

Female teachers have been easy because my sister was a teacher and would tell me everything that she loved or hated in gifts. I'd run things by her first if I thought it might be "iffy."

I bought Lenox bowls this summer, assuming that we'd have all female teachers again, so now I have an extra bowl that will look very nice in my hutch. I am an early Christmas shopper and I want to get this taken care of well in advance of the busy holiday season.

So, does anyone have any ideas they could share with me?

 

[tiggersmom2]

I would get him a gift certificate to the Mall or a nice local restaurant.

 

[Miller1412]

I don't know a teacher alive who doesn't appreciate a nice gift certificate.

 

[Debi]

As a teacher (granted, a female teacher), I always appreciate gift certificates, especially to restaurants and/or supply stores (Staples, Office Depot, etc.). What grade does the teacher teach? Something decorative for the classroom might be nice (can male teachers confirm/deny that they'd like a classroom decoration?). Please, stay away from #1 teacher, World's Best Teacher, etc. stuff - we have enough of that.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I got my (male) boss' name in a gift exchange one year, had DH make him a set of pens. I don't know how much you want to spend, and I really don't know how much it would cost to buy a nice set. DH was making them at the time, and we already had the kit on hand, he just had to turn the wood block down on the lathe and put it together.

 

[janette]

I usually get Book store certificates, would work for all of them.

 

[Barb D]

All of my kids' teachers get Barnes and Noble or Target/WalMart gift certificates. Their bus drivers and lunch ladies get gift certificates, too.

 

[KeepSwimming]

For my younger kids, we buy each of their teachers a new book (the kids pick out one of their favorites), and we include a $10 gift certificate to Barnes and Nobles in the card.

We put a little note inside that says, "We wanted to share a favorite book of ours with you this holiday season. We hope you can also find a new favorite of your own as well..."

HTH!

 

[daisyduck123]

I say go for a bookstore gift certificate. That's what we got DD11's male teacher last year. We even knew which bookstore he shopped at because we had run into him there once.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

We have a teacher supply store in town called Holcombs--don't know if they are nationwide. I always get the elementary teachers gift certificates from there. Elementary teachers, especially, spend their own $ to get nice things for their classrooms. That is for Christmas--at the end of the year I get them a restaurant gift certificate.
I would never buy anything like a mug, pen, or any other knick knack with #1 teacher on it. Even though I teach at HS and get nothing most years (some cookies would be nice, hint hint) I know the teachers at elementary levels get a lot of crap they'll never use.
At Christmas time I also make some fudge for the art, music and gym teachers. Our bus driver is such a jerk I pick my younger two up every day so they don't have to ride with him, so he gets nothing, unless I can find a lump of coal.
Robin M.

 

[Sparx]

I would get him a bookstore gift card (borders or BAM maybe?)

 

[RUDisney]

As a teacher (granted, a female teacher), I always appreciate gift certificates, especially to restaurants and/or supply stores (Staples, Office Depot, etc.). What grade does the teacher teach? Something decorative for the classroom might be nice (can male teachers confirm/deny that they'd like a classroom decoration?). Please, stay away from #1 teacher, World's Best Teacher, etc. stuff - we have enough of that.

He teaches 4th grade... and has for years.

I'm not afraid to spend money on good teachers. Last year, I spent $45 on my DD's end of year teacher gift.... only because I found a pair of killer 14k white gold hoop earrings with diamonds and sapphires on bidz.com (gotta love that site!) I would have spent more on her. She was honestly the best teacher EVER! (At least that we've run across, so far.)

I like the idea of a gift certificate, but I'm always concerned that they will be wasted. Maybe I'll be safer getting one from Target since everyone shops there. I know my sister wound up not using a lot of her GCs because they were for out of the way places or places she and her DH never went. As it stands now, we have one from last Christmas for $150 to a very nice restaurant that we just haven't made it to yet and another for $350 that we also haven't used yet. (DH does nice things for people and they show their appreciation with GCs.) It's not like we don't go out much... we just forget that they're in the basket. Now that I think of it, we've been trying to plan a night out with DH's best friend and his GF. Sounds like I should call him today and blow the dust off the $350 GC.

I'll tell DS to fish around about his teacher's likes and dislikes.

Thanks for your help! I know that I hate candles when my staff buys them for me for the holidays. I have enough of them already. I couldn't imagine buying something like that, or #1 Teacher, for a teacher.

 

[MrsNick]

How about some gift certificates to see the movies? Enough for two tickets and a soda and popcorn?

That's a very nice and unisex gift.

 

[CheshireVal]

I'm a teacher and have to agree that gift certificates are the way to go. One of my favorite gifts was a gift certificate to the movie theater! I always feel guilty spending money on movies and popcorn, so it was a nice treat to have it paid for me.

 

[ItsonlyExperiment626]

If he's a male, you can never go wrong with a Best Buys Gift Certificate.