need ideas for REASONABLY PRICED teacher gifts

[maggiew]

These are good ideas, but does anyone have ideas specifically geared to a male teacher???

My DD had a male teacher in 5th grade. We gave him a Barnes and Noble gift card. I knew he was an avid reader.

Maggie

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

If the scholl does scrip

what's that? I'm not familiar with that.

 

[Redbird Fan]

My husband is a teacher and loves gift cards of any kind. I like to give our kids' teacher gift cards for the office supply stores. I know from personal experience that teachers spend a lot of money out of pocket for supplies throughout the year and every little bit helps.

 

[buckeye]

My husband is also a teacher. Gift cards are the best!! He's enjoyed when several kids go together and get a gift card to Home Depot or Lowe's or Sear's Hardware. Also enjoys small cards to Blockbuster, Dairy Queen, Car Wash places, etc... Those gifts are greatly appreciated!

 

[The Sweetness]

I usually do a little something for all of DD's teachers (callendar, pic frame, etc... from Dollar Tree). 1 year I got a set of nice wooden apple ornaments, and personalized one to each teacher. If I have a spec. favorite teacher (she has 7, 1 for each subject) I would do something for them (One year a matching set of tray, cup, glass, plate, and cookie/ candy Jar). Mostly we do dollar tree though, things can get out of hand with 7 teachers, administrators etc...

 

[gwcollins71]

I know my wife GREATLY appreciated gift cards to book stores (with all of these purchases ending up back in the classroom for the kids!), resturants, manicures, etc. Home baked goods are also appreciated (especially by me!). But whatever you do....PLEASE do not get anything with an "apple" theme and/or "#1 Teacher" on it!!!!! These may sound nice but multiply this times all the students in the class times the number of years teaching and you get way too many! Even if the gift card is only for $5 or $10 dollars, it is still more appreciated than the dreaded "apple" gifts!

Hope this helps!

I collect apples so I love it when the kids get me apple gifts. However, I second the bookstore gift cards and the notecards idea. We need to write thank you notes for all those gifts we get.

Pencils, staplers, electric sharpeners and supplies that we frequently have to purchase on our own are nice too.

Gretchen

 

[daisyduck123]

I know my wife GREATLY appreciated gift cards to book stores (with all of these purchases ending up back in the classroom for the kids!), resturants, manicures, etc. Home baked goods are also appreciated (especially by me!). But whatever you do....PLEASE do not get anything with an "apple" theme and/or "#1 Teacher" on it!!!!! These may sound nice but multiply this times all the students in the class times the number of years teaching and you get way too many! Even if the gift card is only for $5 or $10 dollars, it is still more appreciated than the dreaded "apple" gifts!

Hope this helps!

This is sooo true for many of us teachers. Might I also add that we have way, way too many ornaments. I've been teaching 15 years & only have 1 tree at home.
It's sad to say but all the candles, picture frames, & ornaments I get usually end up in my annual garage sale.

We do appreciate gift cards of even the smallest amount.

The best gift I ever got was a coffee mug with a $100.00 bill inside!!!

 

[married2grumpy]

When my DD was in kindergarten (she is in 3rd grade now) I had given her teacher a GC to Borders at the end of the year. I wrote a note inside just saying that I knew how much she loves to read "Froggy" books (her favorite books to read to the class) but I thought she could enjoy an adult book over the summer.

Well, my younger DD just started kindergarten and I ran into my older DD's former teacher. I was shocked when she said in front of the other teachers that I had given her such a nice end of year gift and the funny comment about the "Froggy" books. I had even forgotten I had written that. I couldn't believe that 3 years later she still remembered our gift.

So anyway...I think the gift cards are the way to go for most teachers. I give cash to the bus drivers at Christmas time and a gift card at the end of year.

When my DD was in 1st grade she had a difficult year. Her teacher was so supportive and actually noticed that my daughter had a slight learning disability. She pressed real hard to get my daughter services from the school. She was a wonderful teacher who really cared about my daughter and didn't want to see her struggle. At the end of the school year, I printed out on nice paper, the "Starfish" poem. I purchased off of e-bay a sterling silver starfish Tiffany bracelet for $10. We gave her the poem and bracelet in a box and I thought it was the best gift ever. The next time I saw her she was wearing the bracelet but appreciated the poem more.

 

[fourfoxesinpa]

We've had several teachers who have respectfully requested no gifts...for these teachers, we made a donation to our local Literacy Council and asked that a letter of recognition be sent to the teacher. The teachers really appreciated that. There are so many charities that could use help...what about the local public library or a non-profit that helps children? Unfortunately, your local non-profits are really going to have a hard time in light of all the much needed support that has been given to Katrina victims. In a country, where we've become some materialistic, it might be nice to give a gift that really gives.

 

[spot28]

THANK YOU. I thought I was so clever buying candles. I'll take your advice to heart!

 

[KeepSwimming]

For my children in Kindergarten, we buy their teachers a new book at Barnes and Nobles for the classroom, and then we include a $20 gift card for them to buy a book for themselves.

Of course we make sure to include a big THANK YOU note for all their hard work.

 

[daisyduck123]

Ok....I've totally messed up this post.

 

[daisyduck123]

BUT...his brother teaches middle school in a northern suburb of Chicago. He says that he would NEVER EVER eat anything home made that the kids bring. He says you never know what those home made goodies could be laced with. Whenever anyone brings him baked goods, he says thank you, then they go straight in the trash when the day is done. So those of you slaving over home baked stuff may want to think twice...

I totally agree. You never know the hygiene level of the kitchen where they came from. I was at a neighbor's once...could see dog hair floating in the kitchen. The only goodies I eat are from moms who are personal friends of mine.

 

[Katerbug]

WOW, there are some great points on here that I never thought about. We have always given homemade goodies (bread, toffee and carmel corn). My daughters 2nd grade teacher this year is always telling the kids that she is on a diet (she does NOT need one) whenever birthday goodies are brought into the classroom so I thought I better think up something else besides food.

Thanks for all of the great ideas. I really like the gift card idea along with a nice thank you note. It will save me alot of time too since we are going to WDW this Christmas and I won't have a lot of extra time to bake this year.

 

[Julia M]

I gave my ds's teacher (who has three kids) homemade cookie dough and frosting (homemade). I gave her sugar cookie dough, molasses crinkles, snickerdoodles and shortbread (I think). The dough was all made, and in gladware. She could make it right away or freeze it for later. She was TOTALLY thrilled. She had been so busy, she didn't have time to make cookies. She was able to have the fun of doing it with her kids.

Julia

 

[Hunnybee]

I just ordered a purse for my son's teacher from Lillian Vernon (leather-trimmed canvas mini tote, to be exact). They are only $4.99 when you buy any four of them. They have 8 different colors and a winter one (light blue with white handles and a snowflake pendant) and a Christmas red one with Candy Cane handles and a snowman pendant. I ordered the other 3 for various family Christmas gifts. They look really cute! I ordered her the Christmas one, since I didn't know what color she would use the most. They do look small, but they should be big enough for the basics.


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