People are giving $100 per teacher: check the preschool posts

Anonymous wrote:My kids are preschoolers (private Montessori), I was thinking of writing a thank you note for their teacher and a $25.00 Starbucks GC, is the amount okay or is $50.00 more reasonable ? This is first year of my kids school and I have no clue. TIA!

$50 is too much! Something like $15 or $20 would be generous.

My kids are preschoolers (private Montessori), I was thinking of writing a thank you note for their teacher and a $25.00 Starbucks GC, is the amount okay or is $50.00 more reasonable ? This is first year of my kids school and I have no clue. TIA!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the terrific responses so far.

Is the "no things" edict a general consensus? One idea out forward was a tray with all of the kids handprints on it. Would that be something you wish you could throw away?

Such a sweet idea, but yes it would end up in the pile of things I have no idea what to do with but can't possibly throw away. A picture of each child with their handprint and maybe a brief message would be just as sweet and so much easier to treasure. You could even get really fancy and have each child do a page, scan the pages and put it together as a nicely bound book in shutterfly.

SO glad to to hear this. Not OP but this thread was making me nervous.
We made shutterfly photobooks for our teachers. Several kids contributed artwork and we had pictures from the various events throughout the year. We also did room parent books and the kids all wrote thank you notes.

Phew! Hopefully our teachers are like you!

Best gift was braces.

At a teacher appreciation luncheon I won a raffle and they had donated left over silent auction prizes for the teachers.

I won braces for my kid.

I also received a paperwhite flower with a poem about growing (it grew in rocks) re: a child who nearly died and we all helped him recover.
Still brings tears to my eyes. I love a metaphor.

I also love Starbucks gift cards b/c I use them all summer and I don't have morning time/budget for Starbucks during the school year. Since I have kids, I share those with my kids (cake pops & juice boxes).

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the terrific responses so far.

Is the "no things" edict a general consensus? One idea out forward was a tray with all of the kids handprints on it. Would that be something you wish you could throw away?

Such a sweet idea, but yes it would end up in the pile of things I have no idea what to do with but can't possibly throw away. A picture of each child with their handprint and maybe a brief message would be just as sweet and so much easier to treasure. You could even get really fancy and have each child do a page, scan the pages and put it together as a nicely bound book in shutterfly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generous gift cards

Generous? Really? Wow. I'd skip right over you if I knew that.

- teacher and parent

The question was, "what gifts have you received that you really loved?" S/he received generous gift cards and was appreciative of them. Why the need to jump on PP for his/her response?

-former teacher and parent

Anonymous wrote:Gift cards (which is really acknowledgement that teachers spend a lot on their classrooms).

The best material gift I ever got was a series of tasteful stained glass ornaments that my student had done (middle school and her mom was a stained glass artist), but I don't expect anything like that ever again.

See, I'd just as soon have parents get me the stuff for the classroom and save some of my own money. Also gift cards can be limiting - sometimes what we need isn't available at Staples, or where ever. Plus I've had a lot of great parents who were excellent bargain hunters. I keep a link to my classroom wishlist on our class page on the school's website.

A letter from you or your child and support for the classroom. Schools are so underfunded these days, I always have a long list of classroom needs. (I keep a classroom wishlist on Amazon.) My dream gift would be someone volunteering to help me pack up the classroom at the end of the year or set-up at the beginning.

I agree with the PP about no things. Please. Not even a cute basket (or other clever container, hand decorated or not) to but all this wonderful sharpened pencils in. I don't need or even want anything else with my name on - not even a very useful tote. Whatever it is I already have plenty.

Also no food - if I ate even a small fraction of the food I've received over the years I'd be the size of a whale. It all just gets put out in the office or lounge. Oh and I don't drink coffee or hot tea and I already have plenty of water bottles.

And I'd be thrilled to never again receive anything from Yankee Candle, Scentsy, "31", Vera Bradley or Bath & Body Works.

Really, I'm happy with a card and maybe something useful. (A ream of paper for my printer would be great - or for a class gift, how about innk cartridge refills...)

Write letters to people who make decisions and have the teacher get a recognition from administrators. I know it's easier said than done but it's the best gift parents can give to a really hard working teacher who truly makes a difference.

The only thing my wife really enjoys receiving are notes and art (she teaches art) from students. These are very meaningful to her.

Apart from the fantastic cards from kids, a parent found out our favorite coffees at the beginning of the year and would bring them to PT conferences. So nice!

Most touching gift I ever received was an old worn stuffed rabbit from a girl whose family had next to nothing. I kept it on my desk for years.

Most expensive gift? A diamond necklace that was designed and made in Turkey (the father owned jewelry stores in New York). His children were royal PITA kids---never did their work, flaunted their Gucci bags and came to school (public) in a fancy car with their "driver". I tried to give the necklace back, but they insisted. I sent the necklace to my mother who had been a teacher for many years. I still failed them in my class because they did nothing.

DH travel to Europe 2-3 times a year so he stops at the store and buys several boxes of our favorite European chocolates. We given these to teachers at Christmas/end of the year and write a little note explaining how these are our family's favorites and hope they like them, too.

Anonymous wrote:Generous gift cards

Generous? Really? Wow. I'd skip right over you if I knew that.

- teacher and parent