Don't feel like you have to give money. A nice note is also appreciated. I am a teacher and never expect anything

Our school does a gift and a catered lunch. But it is organized school wide, not per class. I have no idea what the gift is, probably whatever is left over after lunch expenses are paid. We are asked to donate whatever amount we feel comfortable giving. I gave $75. No idea what others give.

PP again - OP, since you mention that you just came to the country - the next time you go back home, buy small trinkets from whichever country you are from. Teachers love the exotic gifts from other countries. You could buy small things for the special teachers and something more expensive for the class teachers. My friend used to do this all the time.

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in preschool and they’re asking for weird stuff to be brought in each day, like “a cold drink” or “a sweet treat.” I’m just going to give his 2 teachers a card and a gift card with a drawing from my kid and call it a day. Not sure how overboard parents go with teacher appreciation week at this school, if they actually stick to the small gift suggestions or if they get the teachers elaborate edible arrangements and expensive bakery cookies/cakes.

When my kids were in preschool, this is what we did:

Flowers day - we had my kids pick flowers from our garden and from the trees nearby and gave to each teacher. Other parents bought a bunch and gave one flower to each teacher. The teachers had a vase that they filled with every flower the kids brought. The kids enjoyed giving flowers and the teachers loved it.
Spa Day - a small $2 lip balm or lotion would do
Cold Drinks day - Naked juice, Bolthouse farms juice, Boost protein shake (the small $2 ones)
Sweet Treat/Candy Day - a $1 godiva bar or 3 lindt truffles - we get those for $1.09 at CVS in a small bag near checkout. Or just buy a big bag, ask your chuild to draw on a white paper (make a card) and attach it to that
Movie night Day - You could buy a bag of popcorn and give it. If you can afford, attach a movie ticket to the nearby theater.

Give the gift card the last day of the week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They begged for $150 donation from parents. So, nothing else.

$150 per parent? is this private school?

NP but I doubt it. At our MCPS, they ask for $150/child. When we were in DCPS it was a lot higher (because PTAs there can pay for aides).

Which MCPS school was this? Was this Bethesda or Potomac? $150 per child? That is just ridiculous.

Ours collected $20 per child for school parties and teachers appreciation. Even if $5 each went to the 2 school parties, there was $10 per child left over for a gift card, assuming all parents gave the money. Which would be atleast $200 in giftcards, so $100 for Christmas and $100 for Teacher's appreciation. My kids also gave their own gifts for Christmas and will be doing another gift for Teacher's appreciation.

Not going to name it, but it is not in Bethesda or Potomac. It has a very diverse student body, and I’m sure many of the parents disregard the suggestion. But others with higher income give that amount or more.

To the OP,

The first year of preschool (my child went for half day - 3 hours), we followed whatever the school said - flowers one day, spa items one day, cards one day etc. We did not do gift cards for the movie day as well as the card day. We did just one gift card of $20 for the whole week for all 3 teachers in class, but did the other little things. My kids enjoyed giving the flower, candy, lip balm.

The gift card amount could be whatever you can afford. My cousin works at a preschool (a pretty expensive one at that - $25K a year for whole day) and she said that 2 parents out of 8 gave her something. Which is sad considering their children spend the whole day with these teachers. She was very appreciative of the 2 lotion sets and the one gift card 3 parents gave her. So anything you give would be appreciated since most parents do not even care.


We also did $10-$15 gift cards for every specials teacher for my preschooler, but it added up quickly, so we skipped the gift cards and gave some small gift to the specials teachers the following year.

Now that we are in public school, we will be giving small gifts to all the specials teachers and big gifts to the class teacher.

My kid is in preschool and they’re asking for weird stuff to be brought in each day, like “a cold drink” or “a sweet treat.” I’m just going to give his 2 teachers a card and a gift card with a drawing from my kid and call it a day. Not sure how overboard parents go with teacher appreciation week at this school, if they actually stick to the small gift suggestions or if they get the teachers elaborate edible arrangements and expensive bakery cookies/cakes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They begged for $150 donation from parents. So, nothing else.

$150 per parent? is this private school?

NP but I doubt it. At our MCPS, they ask for $150/child. When we were in DCPS it was a lot higher (because PTAs there can pay for aides).

Which MCPS school was this? Was this Bethesda or Potomac? $150 per child? That is just ridiculous.

Ours collected $20 per child for school parties and teachers appreciation. Even if $5 each went to the 2 school parties, there was $10 per child left over for a gift card, assuming all parents gave the money. Which would be atleast $200 in giftcards, so $100 for Christmas and $100 for Teacher's appreciation. My kids also gave their own gifts for Christmas and will be doing another gift for Teacher's appreciation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They begged for $150 donation from parents. So, nothing else.

$150 per parent? is this private school?

NP but I doubt it. At our MCPS, they ask for $150/child. When we were in DCPS it was a lot higher (because PTAs there can pay for aides).

Anonymous wrote:They begged for $150 donation from parents. So, nothing else.

$150 per parent? is this private school?

They begged for $150 donation from parents. So, nothing else.

Yes, give a $15-20 gift card to each of the teachers if you can afford it. Ours asks for a bunch of crap. I"d rather do a gift card than a flower as they can get what they want/need.

Our PTO collects money at Christmas and uses some of it for Christmas celebrations for the teachers and then the rest for teacher appreciation. My daughter writes a thank you note to each teacher at the end of the year.

We just do what the school asks us to do - typically writing a card to the teacher, bringing in a flower, etc.

We are new to the country and this is new to us. Have twins is in PK3.
We donated to the general PTA fund, do we need to give all 3 teachers (2 teachers + 1 assistant) something separately? if yes, what for example?
How much $ is acceptable?

Thanks,