Christmas Gifts for Teachers
Don’t forget to add your childrens’ teachers to your Christmas list this year! McKenna originally published this list last December. A few friends who are teachers told me that they do not like teacher themed ornaments. Also chocolate or coffee may not be a good idea, because you don’t know their taste or they be diabetic. Gift cards may be the best gift. You can get them gift cards to Lakeshore for school supplies, to Target, or Barnes and Nobles. What are you planning on getting your teachers this year?
Original post by McKenna:
There are some very special people on our Christmas shopping list that are some of the hardest people to shop for! Around this time every year, I panic trying to think of a good gift for my daughter’s teachers and developmental therapists.
Here are some gift ideas I have come up with and I’d love to know what you will be giving to your child’s teachers for Christmas.
Personalized Stationary or School Supplies
- Note cards, notepads, and pens that are either personalized with your teachers’ name on it or hand decorated by your child. Teachers also LOVE sharpies, apparently, as several of my teacher friends have said they get really excited when they buy new sharpie pens. Who knew?
Personalized Aprons
- A friend of mine has a monogram machine and suggested purchasing inexpensive aprons and monogramming the teachers’ initials on them.
Group Gift
- Get together with some of the other parents from your child’s class to purchase a more expensive gift together. You can get your teacher a spa gift certificate or a gift certificate to a teacher supply store!
Photo Memories
- If you’re handy with a camera, take pictures of the children in the class, arrange the pictures in an album, and have each child sign their name by their picture.
A Special Ornament
- Have your child decorate or pick out a special ornament for their teacher. You can try to find something that reflects on the current school year memories.
Calendar
- My daughter was in our local Down Syndrome Association’s yearly calendar, so all of her teachers and developmental therapists received calendars that year as gifts! They all loved that her sweet face was Miss November (and all the other precious faces in the calendar) and my purchases supported our local Down Syndrome Association!
Pay Close Attention
- Try to find out if your child’s teacher has a hobby or collects anything. Does she wear a charm bracelet? Does she have Willow Tree figurines on her bookshelves? Does she have a collection of kitty cat magnets on her filing cabinet doors? By paying attention to those subtle details, you just may find the perfect gift idea that is uniquely special for your child’s teacher!
What about you? What are you giving your child’s teachers this year? What special gifts have you given them in past Christmases?
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These are great ideas, McKenna! I like the personalized note cards. Myra at Moon and Back Studios makes some great ones.
All great ideas!! At the risk of sounding ungrateful, I will say, as a former teacher, the best gifts were of the non-dollar-store variety – though I do like unpacking all of my random Christmas knick-knacks each December. I need a whole bookshelf to support them all. We use the Christmas mugs that I received as a teacher all year long – because they outnumber our “regular” mugs. Ha! I did receive Sharpies from one student and used them up till they were dry. You know what else is the BEST?? Uni-Ball pens. Oh, how teachers love good pens. Trust me. You cannot go wrong with Uni-Ball pens. I also loved anytime I received a gift card – lunch at Panera, coffee at Starbucks, picking something out at Barnes & Noble – all fun!! We’ll probably be going the gift-card route with our pre-school teachers.
One student gave me candy in a really practical, cute bowl (from Target, I’m sure) – which I use for cereal now all the time. A good gift doesn’t have to have Christmas decor all over it!
You know what else is fun but different? A new throw blanket. There are so many soft, pretty, fun varieties, and they range in price the same as some of these other gifts listed.
We’re going with small-amount gift cards to places like Starbucks or Barnes & Noble, plus of course letters from the kids.
Amanda – I am commenting on your May 4, 2008 post entitled “A Peek into my Nursery,” but I’m doing it in this more recent post to make sure you receive it.
I noticed that you mentioned your daughter receiving Pottery Barn’s Marley the Monkey as a gift for her first birthday. I came upon your site in the desparate search to replace my son’s Marley that we lost in a major house fire. Pottery Barn has discontinued Marley and has none left, yet my son continues to ask for him. Unfortunately, we have been outbid on eBay several times. If you are anything like us, we have multiple toys for our children that they never use, and I’m writing you on the off-chance that Marley is a toy that your daughter does not really use or care about. If so, I would happily purchase Marley from you at whatever you think is a fair price. Please email me at soccer_man at yahoo.com and let me know.
I hope you don’t think my inquiry is in poor taste, I’m just a dad concerned about my son and trying to help him recover from the trauma of a house fire.
We have given a gift card to Starbucks to the teachers at Ewan and Isaac’s preschool. Nothing super fancy–and yet, practical. I don’t know what we’ll do this year. One of Ewan’s teachers also works part-time at Starbucks so I don’t think she would like that. She does like to knit so I am thinking a gift card for a yarn store will be great!
We are going with a Spa gift card from Sam’s Club for Spa Finder. You get two $50 gift cards (one now and one for teacher appreciation day in May) for $80 ($40 each). $20 off!! I hope she enjoys it.
My mom and my sister are both teachers so I usually check with them before I purchase something for my children’s teachers. They have told me that gift cards, school supplies, and generally things that any person could use are great gifts. They said that items that say teacher on them are cute and all but they get a lot of them and don’t really have a place or use for it and they eventually have to get rid of it. My sister loves spa gifts but my mom does not because she won’t go to a spa so when she gets them, she has to give them away.They both spend a lot of money on taking pictures of the class for projects and other supplies for their classrooms so this year I decided to give a Christmas platter of cookies, a gift card to Wal-Mart, and a Christmas ornament made by the children with a card made by them as well.
My kiddos aren’t in school yet, but when I was teaching daycare, my favorite gifts that I received were those that the kids made (or helped their parents make). I still have them!
My favorite was a picture frame that two brothers in my class made for me… it was simple… 4×6 frame. They painted puzzle pieces with bright solid colors then glued them around the frame. It was really sweet and personal. Also, another student of mine helped her mom make me a pillow with pillow cases for each season. Just sweet treasures! 
I’ve always wondered if teachers’ homes were overwhelmed with mugs and home-made gifts from the kids. So we’ve always given gift certificates.
This year I think we’ve decided on gift cards from our favorite bakery. Mmmmmhhhhh…
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As a teacher myself I know that classroom items are greatly appreciated. Each year I call Scholastic and have $20 added to the teachers account. They can use if to buy books from book orders or anything trim the scholastic teacher store.
I love the idea of the personalized supplies!
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