# I never do teacher gifts but...



## Rags

Hi, I never give end of year gifts to my Ds's teachers, generally it's not something I agree with, but I think I want to send him in with something on Friday as I'm not convinced they will be back before August and I think she is only in the school until June and shes worked so hard to keep things normal during the past few weeks. What do you think?


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## Bevziibubble

I don't have any advice sorry, but what a lovely idea <3


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## mrsmummy2

Sounds like a lovely idea which I'm sure she will appreciate in these uncertain times <3


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## Babybump87

What a lovely idea

I hope you managed to do something she liked. 

We usually do individual gifts for teachers but it gets too expensive now with DD2 having teachers! We are just gonna do like tea/coffee hampers and give them the week before they break up . As we don’t know now when the kids will be back if it’s not until September I will still make them over the summer and give them to their old teachers when they go back in September 

It was meant to be DD2s last few months in nursery , feel so sad she may miss them . But lucky because she’s way ahead of most of the other kids so I know she won’t struggle. 

Really hoping they get to go back for at least one term before officially breaking up for summer


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## Rags

Hi yes, I did send Ds in with an Easter egg, a card and a bottle of prosecco. His teacher had planned ahead and his class were all given a small gift bag of eggs and sweets. I'm really glad I did it, although I grumble every year about how unnecessary it is this year it just felt appropriate.


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## Babybump87

Aww lovely ! bet the whole class was delighted to get something xx


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## Bevziibubble

That's so lovely :)


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## AmberPi

In our school, it was officially banned, any gifts to teachers, even flowers. Also, if teachers make a picnic, the money is given to the person responsible for it from the administration, not to the teacher. As I understand it before there were many incidents when teachers collected money from students for repairs and eventually spent it on themselves.
In your case it looks very nice; I am sure that the teacher will be happy.


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## Rags

AmberPi said:


> In our school, it was officially banned, any gifts to teachers, even flowers. Also, if teachers make a picnic, the money is given to the person responsible for it from the administration, not to the teacher. As I understand it before there were many incidents when teachers collected money from students for repairs and eventually spent it on themselves.
> In your case it looks very nice; I am sure that the teacher will be happy.

I think it can be quite inappropriate, there are a lot of children from low income families at my sons school and i know the teacher is earning far more than many, I feel as though it puts pressure on these families to be seen to be giving. Coming up to lockdown I desperately wanted to say a thank you to Ds's teacher as I knew she wasn't going to be back after the summer. I wont be doing Christmas gifts, I'll do my normal charity donation in the name of the teacher.


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## Bevziibubble

I'm not sure if gift giving to teachers is allowed this year at my kids' school as Christmas cards have been banned due to Covid so I can imagine gifts have too. 
We usually just give a box of chocolates, very unimaginative!


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## Rags

Bevziibubble said:


> I'm not sure if gift giving to teachers is allowed this year at my kids' school as Christmas cards have been banned due to Covid so I can imagine gifts have too.
> We usually just give a box of chocolates, very unimaginative!

I'd be very surprised if any were allowed too, at Halloween they weren't able to have props in to go with their costumes, so they really are stopping any extra "stuff' coming through the door.


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## DobbyForever

Can definitely vary by school. I'd get in contact with your PTA reps or the admin, it's usually agreed upon by the faculty and PTA.

I have never worked at a school where we could not accept gifts for holiday, but I have worked at a school where gifts and appreciation events were financed and organized by the PTA and room parents. The issue wasn't ever teachers taking money from kids for the room and spending it on themselves (I teach in an area where it's common for teachers to spend hundreds/ thousands annually out of pocket), but that there were equity issues. For example, one year a parent actually paid for a teacher to go to Hawaii... so... that was the end of free for all gifts. 

As a teacher, I never expect gifts but they're always nice. Who doesn't like gifts? I don't announce it or open them in class. I just say thank you and put them behind my desk quickly. If the child wants to see me open it, they have to stay during recess or after school because I don't open things in front of other students. I always write a thank you card, and I will quietly slip it to the child as they're leaving.

I know this post has passed, but if anybody comes across it and wants to have some ideas:
- Personal gifts are always sweet: I usually get mugs because I drink a junk ton of coffee haha, but I love the ones that have orcas or puns or a travel theme because it just shows that my students listen to my random rants about things I like haha
- Gift cards: Kind of taboo but in the teaching realm we love them. I have used gift cards for personal items or for the classroom, depends on the context. You can also always get a gift card to a teacher supply store in the area or a teaching tool (like Teachers Pay Teachers)
- Homemade cards: Make a card at home! Art Hub for Kids is a Youtube channel where a dad and son make these really cool drawings but with kid friendly directions. Talk about how to write in a card beyond just thanks for being my teacher. Sometimes, we're having an awful day and a really thoughtful handmade card just brightens everything. I also like to keep a wall of my handmade cards near my desk each year, the kids love seeing their cards up on the wall.

I don't tend to get edible gifts because the kids know I don't keep sweets in my house because I lack self control hahaha.

And as far as teachers getting paid more, again. I'm not sure how things work everywhere. I make a decent salary. But I don't get any health insurance paid. So after taxes and health insurance and dues, I actually don't make enough to afford my house payment and daycare. If I don't get child support that month, I have to borrow money from my parents to just pay bills and food and necessities get charged on the credit card. There have been years where the only reason I could even get my son Christmas presents was because of the gift cards I got from families during the holidays because I didn't have any cash and my credit cards were maxed out. I make 95k a year. I have skipped meals to feed my son. I have many friends who are teachers that always work summer jobs or have second jobs in the evening/ weekends because we can't afford the cost of living where we teach. I have one teacher at my school who commutes 100 miles every day one way because she can't afford to live near the school. She barely gets to see her daughter. She gets to school usually at 5 or 6 to avoid traffic and sleeps in her car in the parking lot before work.

Also just want to point out, this teacher didn't do something unique to make things normal and fun and loving and warm for her class this year. That's the level of dedication she and her colleagues put forth every day at work. It's just now in a fishbowl for you to see it. The absolute best gift you can give a teacher is to let them know you appreciate what they are doing and talk to them with respect because really sometimes all we need is that verbal fistpump from a parent unexpectedly to remind us why we love our jobs. ;)


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## DobbyForever

Also, be wary if you bring your kid's teacher wine because most (probably all) schools have laws about alcohol on campus. Having received several bottles of wine over the years, it's always nerve wracking when a kid walks in and hands you a bottle :rofl:

Oh idk if you have a Costco, but I love their movie ticket packets. That's usually what I give to my son's daycare teachers. 2 tickets each with thing of popcorn and a card. Because I know I pretty much live at the cinema when it's break :) Obviously not the best gift rn.

Oh another memorable gift card is grocery store! Some stores don't let you buy alcohol or tobacco with a gift card if that helps people feel better. But one year a couple families came together and gave me a gift card for Thanksgiving and Christmas and paid for the holiday meal that year. So that's what I did for my son's teachers this Thanksgiving. Not to that level because like I said I'm broke and there are three teachers and two admins. But at a time when people may not know where their next meal is coming from or they need something at home, a grocery store/department store gift card can mean everything to someone even if it's not some grand amount.


Oh or craft stores! Those cute art projects we do are typically funded out of pocket. Art supplies are low on the priority list when we get our $2/student allocation lol


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