Teacher gifts: No mugs and no ornaments!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate and thank students for each and every gift. But I do not keep it all.
What gets tossed, donated, or taken to the break room:
-Homemade treats unless I know the parents and their home environment very well
-store bought treats unless they are reallllly good (no cheap popcorn tins from Walmart or off brand hot cocoa mixes, for example)
-candles
-paper weights, figurines, or other knick knacks
-lotions and soaps unless really high quality
-gift cards to restaurants like Olive Garden, red lobster, etc

The good stuff:
-homemade cards, hand drawn pictures from students and/or handwritten notes from parents.
-gift cards to Amazon, target, Starbucks, or Visa gift cards
-sharpies, nice pens, dry erase markers, copy paper, notebook paper, Kleenex, other school supplies you know every teacher uses

I would love gift cards to Red Lobster or Olive Garden. I don’t eat there myself, but I would regift through my parish to a needy family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you give me an ornament for Christmas, it will occupy a place on my tree every year. And I will remember the child who gave it to me. Bonus if it’s hand made. If you give me homemade treats, I will happily eat them. I might share them with my family if there are any left. If you make me a card, it will hang on my refrigerator for weeks. If you give me a candle or lotion or a mug, I will be so thankful you took the time to go shopping for me. Literally every teacher friend I know feels the same. I’m not sure who these bitter dcum teachers are. But they shouldn’t be in the classroom.

I shouldn’t be in the classroom because I dislike useless clutter which will take up room in a landfill? Because I hate waste?

Ok, hoarder, take your piles of stuff amd have a great Christmas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you give me an ornament for Christmas, it will occupy a place on my tree every year. And I will remember the child who gave it to me. Bonus if it’s hand made. If you give me homemade treats, I will happily eat them. I might share them with my family if there are any left. If you make me a card, it will hang on my refrigerator for weeks. If you give me a candle or lotion or a mug, I will be so thankful you took the time to go shopping for me. Literally every teacher friend I know feels the same. I’m not sure who these bitter dcum teachers are. But they shouldn’t be in the classroom.

I shouldn’t be in the classroom because I dislike useless clutter which will take up room in a landfill? Because I hate waste?

Ok, hoarder, take your piles of stuff amd have a great Christmas.

Another anti-hoarding teacher here. I can tell which of my colleagues are going to have really angry adult children when they die or break a hip after retirement. Their classrooms are verging on fire traps.

[Anonymous]

I SERIOUSLY—like VERY seriously-doubt threads like this are made by teachers. I am and come from a family of teachers-20+ years in. And I’ve NEVER EVER heard a teacher complain about anything they received. Whether or not they threw things away I have no idea. But they sure as hell never complained about them. Everything was always appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Well my mom was teacher back in day before this madness started. She was happy with just notes from her students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you give me an ornament for Christmas, it will occupy a place on my tree every year. And I will remember the child who gave it to me. Bonus if it’s hand made. If you give me homemade treats, I will happily eat them. I might share them with my family if there are any left. If you make me a card, it will hang on my refrigerator for weeks. If you give me a candle or lotion or a mug, I will be so thankful you took the time to go shopping for me. Literally every teacher friend I know feels the same. I’m not sure who these bitter dcum teachers are. But they shouldn’t be in the classroom.

I shouldn’t be in the classroom because I dislike useless clutter which will take up room in a landfill? Because I hate waste?

Ok, hoarder, take your piles of stuff amd have a great Christmas.

I’m so sure the ungrateful “I will happily throw your gifts away” threads are created by bitter parents who don’t think teachers are unworthy of gifts. They get lambasted when they start those threads so this is a newer creative approach. That way they make teachers look horrible and undeserving without looking like miserly b-ches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you give me an ornament for Christmas, it will occupy a place on my tree every year. And I will remember the child who gave it to me. Bonus if it’s hand made. If you give me homemade treats, I will happily eat them. I might share them with my family if there are any left. If you make me a card, it will hang on my refrigerator for weeks. If you give me a candle or lotion or a mug, I will be so thankful you took the time to go shopping for me. Literally every teacher friend I know feels the same. I’m not sure who these bitter dcum teachers are. But they shouldn’t be in the classroom.

+1

I have almost every card, ornament, mug, candle, picture, etc. I've received from students throughout my 14 years of teaching. Though I did not ask for these gifts, I am thankful families took the time to provide them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you give me an ornament for Christmas, it will occupy a place on my tree every year. And I will remember the child who gave it to me. Bonus if it’s hand made. If you give me homemade treats, I will happily eat them. I might share them with my family if there are any left. If you make me a card, it will hang on my refrigerator for weeks. If you give me a candle or lotion or a mug, I will be so thankful you took the time to go shopping for me. Literally every teacher friend I know feels the same. I’m not sure who these bitter dcum teachers are. But they shouldn’t be in the classroom.

+1

I have almost every card, ornament, mug, candle, picture, etc. I've received from students throughout my 14 years of teaching. Though I did not ask for these gifts, I am thankful families took the time to provide them.

Where do you put them all?

Or did you get one gift a year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These kind of threads are so distasteful. Teachers are professionals. If they don’t like a gift, they should dispose of it discreetly by re-gifting or tossing it. These kinds of threads make teachers look ridiculous.

What is with all the "teacher gift" threads? Seems like there are a lot and I think ones like this might be started by non-teachers just to stir the pot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kind of threads are so distasteful. Teachers are professionals. If they don’t like a gift, they should dispose of it discreetly by re-gifting or tossing it. These kinds of threads make teachers look ridiculous.

What is with all the "teacher gift" threads? Seems like there are a lot and I think ones like this might be started by non-teachers just to stir the pot.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom still has some ornaments made for her by students she had as far back as the 70s. Every year when we decorate the tree, she tells the stories of those students.

+1 Former teacher here--I'm with your mom.

[Anonymous]

I never ever have complained about a single present I've received from a child!

Not even the time I got LINGERIE!

I tell my students though that if they want to get me a present, please bring me a candy cane. Because I LOVE candy canes at Christmas.

That way most kids can bring me a present and feel good -- it is an easy enough treat to find and doesn't cost much. (My kids are all from poor families).

[Anonymous]

Champagne please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never ever have complained about a single present I've received from a child!

Not even the time I got LINGERIE!

I tell my students though that if they want to get me a present, please bring me a candy cane. Because I LOVE candy canes at Christmas.

That way most kids can bring me a present and feel good -- it is an easy enough treat to find and doesn't cost much. (My kids are all from poor families).

My DS goes to a private school. At a recent lunch with mom friends from school, the discussion turned to teacher gifts. The consensus seemed to be that they all gave gift cards (mostly Amazon/Visa) to the teachers. $50 was the norm for teachers, with $20 going to the security guards. There are 5 of them. (All nice and friendly). Kids are in MS, so 6 teachers.

We just came from overseas where you DO NOT give gifts individually, it's done from the whole class. I almost passed out....

[Anonymous]

I’m laughing because this thread has made me realize that I got my son’s teacher a candle in a mug! (There’s other gifts, too, and she’ll get a whopping gift from all of the parents.) Also, I’m a teacher myself and just thought the candle/mug was cute. I’m always appreciative of anything my kiddos and their families give me.