need ideas for REASONABLY PRICED teacher gifts

[Grumpy's Gal]

thank you. I am starting to feel a bit overwhelmed at the thought of Christmas. Also, do you give gifts to ALL the teachers or only your main teacher? (Homeroom teacher, music teacher, reading teacher, piano teacher. etc)

 

[MCazer]

I get Blockbuster or Hollywood video gift card, with a microwave popcorn and a box of candy. You can also pick up plastic red white striped popcorn containers at the Dollar Spot at Target!

I also get movie passes and candy too.

 

[ElizaB39]

I usually do main teacher only, and last year my DDs teachers (main ans switch) said please no gifts, we would just like the kids to participate in each fundraiser, charity event we do throughout the year in school. THis was so appreciated, I made them homemade desserts as a thank you!

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

I also buy movie tickets at Costco. Or I buy pretty note cards at Tuesday morning. I usualy only buy for my DD main teacher but if your child has a fondness for another one something small might be nice.

 

[can'twait]

I usually give a candle or small photo frame. Sometimes we just donate to the group gift that the class mom collects. I think they buy a gift card with it. If someone has had a particularly difficult year at preschool we will give cash also.

 

[Kapp]

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!

 

[Reese]

What we do for their Sunday school teacher and music teacher, (they're homeschooled) is make homeade hot drink mix. I have recipes for toffee coffee, hot cocoa, mocha mix ect. They work out incredibly cheap to make. I package them in a jar, wrap a ribbon around it, attach the directions and tie on a plastic spoon dipped in chocolate.

We also make several types of squares and cookies. We use diposible plates and pile a dozen or so and tie it up with tissue paper.

 

[tar heel]

Nice but cheap -- a bottle of Bath and Body Works antibacterial liquid soap. You can often get it 4/$10 and pretty much always can get it 3$10. You also can make a really nice-looking gift with cellophane and ribbon. The teacher has the option of taking the soap home or using it in the classroom. This is the gift we've given to the secondary (art, music, etc.) teachers for several years. I usually got the main teacher a gift certificate of some kind.

My youngest has moved to middle school, and I'm not sure what we'll do this year. We may give Boy Scout popcorn since we need to sell some of that. I've not ruled out doing the liquid soap, though.

My favorite end of the year gift is nice paper plates in two sizes and napkins. Add a note about taking some time to relax in the summer. Sometimes I add a bookstore gift certificate. Again, you can make it a dazzling gift with cellophane and ribbons.

 

[can'twait]

Reese:

I love the hot chocolate idea! Can you e-mail me some recipes and the details?

I'll PM you...

 

[kellyg403]

Would love to have the recipie for those hot drink mixes! I think I might try that this year. Usually we do the homemade basket with goodies in it, we have done the movie night baskets, we have gotten pretty little coffee mugs at the dollar store and put special candies or something in them. With 8 kids and 8 different teachers it can really get expensive. I will confess also to buying those mug warmers at Walmart one year that were two dollars and getting a candle. (I kept the mugs). That way they can plug in the warmer and just place the candle on them with no flame. Those were a pretty big hit for about $4.00.

Kelly

 

[MumTo2Princesses]

tried editing my message and it posted twice- ooops! see below.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

Someone posted on the budget holiday thread about making personalized notepaper for the teachers on the computer, I love that idea. For the kids' teacher's main gift this year I stocked up on school supplies and prize stickers from Oriental Trading Co. so I'm going to give each of them a box of supplies and a pad of personalized notepaper.

For my DS's speech teacher I got a candle from the Yankee Candle sale. I don't know if I'm going to buy for all of the other teachers, maybe just a gift card for a free video rental or something, I don't know. I have 3 kids in school and it seems like it would be a bit much to get three separate gifts when they all have the same PE, art, and music teacher. Maybe I'll let each child pick one and give them one gift with a card signed from all 3 of them.

This may depend on what kind of area you live in, but some I've heard that some teachers prefer not to get homemade food for gifts because they don't know what kind of environment it comes from so often they throw it away. Because of that in the past I've bought the premade packages at the store or through Swiss Colony.

 

[MumTo2Princesses]

i usually do special gift for main teacher (usually g cert to local restaurant or Barnes and Noble). if you are looking for very inexpensive, i have found that a heartfelt, handwritten note is very appreciated.

for the other teachers, as well as administrators, cafeteria, media center, custodians, et al i have made a basket of goodies (some homemade cookies, some store bought treats- candy, etc) and an assortment of tea bags/cocoa and drop off to the teacher's lounge with a note of gratitude. it has been a big hit!!

ps- this is a great option for GS cookie sale too- if you want to support your local troops but not eat all of the calories purchase cookies and drop off with a note to the teacher's lounge!!

 

[barkley]

another nice homemade gift is a "cookie jar". take a mason jar and put in all of the dry ingredients for your favorie cookie recipie. attach the actual recipie to a ribbon on the jar. this way all the recipient has to do is add the wet ingredients and pop in the oven.

if it is a type of cookie that can be shaped you can also attach a couple of inexpensive cookie cutters.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

i usually do special gift for main teacher (usually g cert to local restaurant or Barnes and Noble).

for the other teachers, as well as administrators, cafeteria, media center, custodians, et al i have made a basket of goodies (some homemade cookies, some store bought treats- candy, etc) and an assortment of tea bags/cocoa and drop off to the teacher's lounge with a note of gratitude. it has been a big hit!!

ps- this is a great option for GS cookie sale too- if you want to support your local troops but not eat all of the calories purchase cookies and drop off with a note to the teacher's lounge!!

Great idea! Nevermind what I said in my last post about the PE, art and music teachers, this would be perfect! Girl Scout cookies don't come in until Feb. I don't think, but this is great for the boy's popcorn sales and I have two in boy scouts.

 

[goofyforlife]

We bought one of those gift in a jar books last year....and the jars...

but didn't have enough time to make the gifts....

This year we plan to make something......

( I know my daughter really liked the one recipe for funnel cake mix and thought I could buy cheap funnels to attach to the jar.)

 

[MumTo2Princesses]

Great idea! Nevermind what I said in my last post about the PE, art and music teachers, this would be perfect! Girl Scout cookies don't come in until Feb. I don't think, but this is great for the boy's popcorn sales and I have two in boy scouts.

In our area the GS cookie sale is in Jan and cookies arrive in March. Last year I took boxes in for "Teacher Appreciation Week" and they were appreciated, to say the least!!

PS- i LOVE the choco covered popcorn!! yummy!

 

[Sue Sullivan]

My teacher friend says that any kind of food gift is appreciated and actually used by her immediate family or extended family that visit over the holidays. She says she received enough coffee mugs, paperweights, Christmas ornaments, and apple themed gifts to last a lifetime. We usually do gourmet pancake mix and fruit syrup for main teachers, and small tokens for others (dip mixes or jams picked up a local craft fairs).

 

[dizagain]

Fun thread! Thanks for the ideas!! I think I'm going with the B&B Works soap with a Christmas themed kitchen/bath towel from Marshall's. As a teacher I have always LOVED anything B&BWorks, treats-in-a-jar, and gift cards in ANY amount. Just having a $5 Blockbuster card to use is FUN!!

 

[MEM]

Nice but cheap -- a bottle of Bath and Body Works antibacterial liquid soap. You can often get it 4/$10 and pretty much always can get it 3$10. You also can make a really nice-looking gift with cellophane and ribbon. The teacher has the option of taking the soap home or using it in the classroom. This is the gift we've given to the secondary (art, music, etc.) teachers for several years. I usually got the main teacher a gift certificate of some kind.

I do very much the same thing, except I usually buy the hand sanitizer so they have that available in the classroom and don't need water. I also tuck into the cellophane bag a $5 Dunkin Donuts gift card. The primary teacher also receives a group gift from the entire class ($5-10 per child) in the form of a Simon Mall (or similar) gift card. I also buy for both of my kids' "lunchroom ladies" because I believe they are under-appreciated and work miracles with what they have.