What is an appropriate generous holiday gift for preschool teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our children's preschool collected from all parents and divided among the teachers, who do such important work and get paid so little (I was on the board of directors of the private preschool).

I'm sorry, but $50 us an insult. We always gave one month's tuition.

One month's tuition is 2k for us. Should we really be giving a 2k holiday gift to my kid's teachers???

Umm, yes. Your kids preschool teachers probably make between $30k and $40k. Think about living on that! You paying an extra month's tuition on your salary, you can afford it, whereas the teachers need it

I would be happy to give this much because we’re lucky to be able to afford it (my employer completely covers childcare costs at the moment, which I know I basically unheard of). But short of a pooling situation, it sounds a bit awkward to do *that* much?

If I wasn’t paying for daycare then yes I’d give them a very large gift. You are saving 25K a year!

[Anonymous]

$100 each for the main teacher and assistant, in Visa or Amazon gift card format. Other staff (afternoon staff who are more babysitters than teachers) get $20-25 gift cards to Starbucks or Amazon - there are a good number of them. Admin get a card - I feel weird giving them a gift card in addition, but DH likes to.

[Anonymous]

My kid goes to a preschool in the morning/eat lunch, and she goes to another school for a few hours in the afternoon. Should I give less on giftcard amount since there are 2 different preschools involved and more teachers?

[Anonymous]

We do $200 cash. They are so underpaid for the enormously important and challenging work they do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do people give just straight cash? This is what I assume would be most desired, but somehow feels wrong? not proper? something? To just pop a $50 bill into a card. I usually do a target/Amazon gift card but I can also imagine the teachers probably get a lot of those and it's a lot to keep track of... Again a NW DC preschool. Someone please give me more insight into if people do cash or cards more? And teachers opinions are obviously the most important!

When we were at an in-home daycare, we gave cash (there were 3 caregivers, I think we usually gave $100 to each). At our center, someone organizes a collection to be divided amongst the staff, we are asked not to give anything to teachers individually (we are encouraged to save that for staff appreciation week in the spring). I agree, somehow at a center it feels more weird to give $$.

[Anonymous]

I'm giving $40 each cash. My kids have winter birthdays so they're both transitioning between classrooms right now which mean I have 13 teachers to cover. I feel bad it's so little but money is tight this year. I have a personal vendetta against Amazon so I give straight cash in handmade cards in the teacher's favorite color. No overheads and they can use it for whatever they need.

For those of you who want to give more but feel like giving directly would be awkward, can you approach the director of your school about providing a holiday gift to be given to all the staff anonymously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm giving $40 each cash. My kids have winter birthdays so they're both transitioning between classrooms right now which mean I have 13 teachers to cover. I feel bad it's so little but money is tight this year. I have a personal vendetta against Amazon so I give straight cash in handmade cards in the teacher's favorite color. No overheads and they can use it for whatever they need.

For those of you who want to give more but feel like giving directly would be awkward, can you approach the director of your school about providing a holiday gift to be given to all the staff anonymously?

$40 each is fantastic.

I love your suggestion, too. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm giving $40 each cash. My kids have winter birthdays so they're both transitioning between classrooms right now which mean I have 13 teachers to cover. I feel bad it's so little but money is tight this year. I have a personal vendetta against Amazon so I give straight cash in handmade cards in the teacher's favorite color. No overheads and they can use it for whatever they need.

For those of you who want to give more but feel like giving directly would be awkward, can you approach the director of your school about providing a holiday gift to be given to all the staff anonymously?

If you have 13 teachers to cover $40 is very generous, but giving just a great box of good cookies, or chocolates would also be a good gift. Money is not always the only thing that you have to give. You could also attach a $5 coffee card if you wish. These little things are also appreciated, its the thought that counts.

Signed A preschool teacher.

[Anonymous]

We do $200 each for the two main teachers and $50 to a couple of regular subs and the woman who handles the food for the center.

[Anonymous]

There are something like 7 floaters in my kid's class. What do we about them? 25 dolalr gift card for each?

[Anonymous]

I’m a teacher too so I do $40 or $50 per teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$50 is very generous, $150-$200 is ridiculous. A weeks tuition is crazy to me but hey do what you want with your money.

If you can't afford it or don't want to spend it, fine you do you. Calling it ridiculous is bizarre to me. We do $100-150 per teacher. We have multiple teachers per kid. They are amazing, have such an important job, and aren't paid enough so the $ will mean something to them.

OP the ranges you are talking about are normal/generous and will be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are something like 7 floaters in my kid's class. What do we about them? 25 dolalr gift card for each?

That sounds right. We have given 50 but way fewer floaters.

[Anonymous]

My child's daycare costs more than $2k a month, and they close for 1.5 weeks in December. There are 2 teachers with 24 kids there. And, my kid does not attend full day there. I have 2 teachers, 1 floater and some admins to gift at that daycare. I am not gifting them 1 week of tuition, sorry.

And, there are 3 more teachers I need to gift for the afternoon daycare. Plus I have 4 more staffs to gift from . And, extra 3 more staffs to gift for weekend school.

I have close to 20 pp need to gift on behalf of one child.....omg

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child's daycare costs more than $2k a month, and they close for 1.5 weeks in December. There are 2 teachers with 24 kids there. And, my kid does not attend full day there. I have 2 teachers, 1 floater and some admins to gift at that daycare. I am not gifting them 1 week of tuition, sorry.

And, there are 3 more teachers I need to gift for the afternoon daycare. Plus I have 4 more staffs to gift from . And, extra 3 more staffs to gift for weekend school.

I have close to 20 pp need to gift on behalf of one child.....omg

Give what you can. I view it as a way to say thank you to caring for my kid while I’m at work. It’s an incredibly important job that they do.