With the end of the school year fast approaching, it’s time to think about end-of-year teacher gifts.
But if you are like me, finding the best teacher gifts can feel like walking in a minefield. On one hand, you want to provide a monetary praise for someone who has nurtured, mentored, and loved you kiddo(s) for the last nine month. (And taught them multiplication.)
On the other hand, trying to buy the right gift for someone you barely know is freakin’ hard!
Caveat: No matter what you purchase, teachers are always happy to be acknowledged. They appreciate everything and anything they receive…with that being said, if you are going to spend some of your hard-earned money, it would also be awesome to know you gave one of the most appreciated and best teacher gifts ever.
So here are some tips and ideas for Best Teacher Gifts (as well as how to avoid some pitfalls) from my friends, neighbors and family members who also happen to be teachers.
Best Teacher Gifts Tips
1. Money is no object. Most teachers don’t expect a gift. But like any human being, they are touched when there is thought that goes into the one they receive. Keep in mind, sometimes a handwritten card and $5.00 gift card may mean more than a $20.00 candle.
2. If you child has been influenced by others than a teacher, think about thanking them too. Others might includeL Assistant teacher or para, reading or math specialist, PE teacher, music teacher, bus driver, principal, school secretary, nurse, crossing guard or art teacher.
3. Avoid items that are too personal or create clutter. While another coffee mug with “#1 Teacher” or photo frame with “#1 Teacher” is appreciated, it also isn’t very practical. Also, just because you LOVE those peacock feather and turquoise earrings, doesn’t mean she will. Try to choose gifts that are practical and less personal.
4. Work with other families. If you have 20 kids in the class and they all chip in $5.00, you are able to give a $100 gift card (which would make any teacher smile). Or work with other moms and bring in Sonic Route 44s to all the teachers. They might not remember a $20 Yankee Candle , but they will remember their slushy that arrived at 2:00 on a Thursday afternoon.
Best Teacher Gifts
Items Teachers Need
Office Supplies (Post-it Notes, Dry-Erase Markers, Paper Clips, Notebooks, Pens, Paper, Scissors)
School Supplies (Markers, Paper, Pens, Pencils, Erasers, Colors)
Cleaning Supplies (Wipes, Sprays, Paper Towels, Washcloths)
Age-Appropriate Books (Chapter Books, Learn To Read Books, Non-Fiction Books)
Personalized Labels (This belongs is TEACHER’S CLASSROOM)
Gift Cards to stores like Staples, Office Depot, Office Max, Walmart, or Target
Items Teachers Want
Hand-Written Letters or Notes
Higher-end Personal Care Items (Burt’s Bees, Aveeno, Philosophy, Aveda, Bath & Body Works)
Personalized Stationary
Colorful or Large-Sized Desk Calendars
Gift Cards to iTunes (as more and more schools get iPads)
Gift Cards to Grocery Stores
Gift Cards to Restaurants
Gift Cards to Gas Stations
Items Teachers Would Rather Not Have
Candy
Coffee Mugs
Photo Frames
Homemade Snacks and Goodies
Home Accessories
Candles
Perfume
What about you? What is the are some of your ideas for best teacher gifts? Leave a comment and share the wisdom!
As a teacher, I completely agree with your lists! 🙂
And this makes me happy! I’m serious when I say I created the lists based on my friends, family, and neighbors who are teachers.
Nothing says love like a Starbucks card! I’ve given small boxes of Godiva chocolates; that has been known to work well and very small tokens (I found a small smooth quartz stone with the word “amazing” engraved in it once) with a card and well thought out message did well.
When my son was very young, he had the same team of teacher for three years. I gave them each a scrapbook with a picture of the last three class years included, with a note about memories. The rest was left for them to fill. I only did that once though.
I agree. Starbucks cards are like gold, aren’t they?
Gift Cards to movie theatres and/or RedBox. A lot of teacher’s have families and a gift card can help have a fun weekend!
Great ideas! Love the Redbox idea!!
I love your ideas! I taught for several years and was not nearly as excited about the homemade goodies as I was a gift card or a handwritten note, especially by the student themselves.
I always do a Sonic gift card along with a Starbucks card for each teacher plus a handwritten note signed by my kid (who are too young to write a note themselves.)
I think the student signature is key. Great idea about combining my two beverage destinations…Sonic & Starbucks.
Some good tips & ideas. However, I disagree with not giving candy. We give good candy/chocolates at Christmas and end-of-school-year. Trader Joe’s and World Market have some great choices. And we also give a small season appropriate plant. Again, Trader Joe’s has some nice small plants.
As a fairly new (2nd year) teacher, I still get super excited about ANY gift. I would LOVE homemade goodies/candy/home decor. Now, if you ask me again in 10 years, my viewpoint may change. But right now, I think all of these are excellent ideas. Especially the Sonic Route 44s!
I have to tell you the Route 44s are a HUGE HIT!
Thanks for promoting us teachers! I myself enjoy any gift but gift cards are fun because then I get to show the student what I selected and got a great deal for the item. Thanks for discouraging mugs.
I am sentimental and keep my notes for years-17 so far!
The teachers I interviewed also said that hand-written notes were their favorites, especially when they were written by the kiddos.
I think this list is great! As a teacher, a couple things I would personally change…1) I’m really picky about bath and body works scents, and I think others are, too. And 2) I think coffee mugs can vary. I love having nice coffee tumblers that keep my drinks warm/cold.
In the past, I have picked a day during the last week of school and bought my kids teachers lunch. I either email them a menu or drop one off from a local restaurant, they decide what they’d like and I deliver it.
Love this idea!!
For Christmas, we gave my sons teachers homemade cookies and a homemade ornament (glass bulb with paint swirled on the inside).
For Teacher Appreciation Week, we gave his teachers a personalized keychain and homemade bundt cakes with the message, “Thanks a “bundt”ch for all you do”.
For the end of the school year gift, I’m planning to get a picture of my son with his teacher & one with her assistant and frame it with a poem. I haven’t decided what we’re going to do for the librarian, gym, art & music teachers yet.
His teachers love the baked goods!!
I definitely agree with avoiding both candy and homemade goods. I love the idea of making something at home with the kids, etc., but we have several teachers at our school that are diabetic or have severe food allergies. Every year they feel terrible because they know people have spent hard earned time and money on something they won’t be able to have, and would be wonderfully happy with a kid-made construction paper card. I know people think gift cards are impersonal, but cards to stores like Target, etc are so helpful since many times teachers use them to help but things for their classroom or for the students that they would otherwise spend their own money on.
By far the best gifts I have gotten were homemade lunches (tamales are a personal favorite) and notes from parents telling me exactly why it was meaningful that their child was in my class. When parents tell me they are so grateful their child learned to read this year, I remember why I worked so hard all year.
Teachers like liquor store gift cards too! Send with a funny message about how they might need this after teaching your child ….lol
OMG….I’m totally doing this. I know of at least a couple teachers who would LOVE this gift. Great idea!!
I’m a teacher, and one of my favorite gifts, which I use all the time, was a small tote from 31. I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s maybe 6″ x 6″ x 7″ tall. I think they only cost about $10-12. It can be used for all kinds of things and it can sit on a desk or on a shelf. Great gift!
Another great idea. Thank you for sharing!!
Thank you for mentioning bus drivers and para-professionals…as a bus driver I have received fabulous gifts from my students…favorites include Starbucks card in travel mug, Movie passes, 31 monogrammed tissue holder and lunch bag, small Vera Bradley items, a lanyard, personal sized hand sanitizers and hand lotion, Tervis Tumblers, OPI nail polish,and group gifts that included manicures, massages, dinner and a movie, and bowling for my whole family ….they were ALL greatly appreciated!!..Drawings from students and special notes from the parents are especially appreciated!! Many of my male co-workers and custodial staff have received creative gifts such as gas and oil change cards, haircut and carwash gift cards, 7-11 gift cards, Home Depot cards, grocery gift cards, and tickets to local sporting events!! Parents are so creative and the gifts are SOOOO appreciated.
As a former teacher, I appreciate your ideas, however, many of them aren’t very cost effective. I have four boys. One of my sons has Down syndrome and has several different teachers, two para-professionals, a speech therapist, a occupational therapist as well as a bus driver and bus aide. I have another son who struggles in class so he has a Intervention Specialist teacher on top of his classroom teacher, specials teachers and bus driver. When I add them all together along with those who work with/teacher my other two sons, I have made gifts for as many as 27 teachers/staff/bus drivers before. Even if I were to buy a small $5 gift card to Starbucks for each of them, I would be spending $135. Sometimes baking cookies, brownies, candies, etc. and giving them on a cute little plate you picked up at the dollar store along with a handwritten note is all a family can afford to do. While it may not be their “favorite” gift, I hope they would appreciate the gesture and the thought behind it. I know I would.
Shannon – I completely understand where you are coming from, which is why I said that a hand-written note is sometimes the best gift you can give.
For Christmas, we give a $50 gift card for a massage or pedicure at a nice spa. For end of year, we usually give a nice gift card somewhere that correlates to what they teach (i.e. Art Store for Art teacher, NIKE for Gym teacher, etc.) and for the “main” teacher, we usually do something more personal, if we have that type of a connection and feel comfortable doing that. If not, we will give a “tour of” our city by providing gift cards to restaurants, book stores, etc. in the area.
Great ideas, Crystal.
This year my son had a male teacher. He was the best. So I filled up a lunch kit with 6 beer and changed the label from Lunch bag to beer bag. I attached a ice block and we wrote on it “Coolest Teacher”. Then we made a picture with a tree and attached a whole bunch of lotto tickets on it and wrote I was so “lucky” to have you as a teacher. He said he liked beer so I hope he liked it all. 🙂
That is an awesome, awesome idea.
Thank you 🙂
Love this list. I like to give small unexpected gifts throughout the year—I feel like it relieves me of the pressure of Christmas and end-of-year gifts when teachers are inundated with gifts from everywhere.
Last year for Christmas, I made a frozen lasagnas and bought a loaf of frozen garlic bread for each of my daughter’s teachers and administrators. I packaged up paper plates/utensils/napkins and delivered this to their desks with a note letting them know that there was a lasagna in the freezer for them to take home–and I made up some sort of poem about letting me handle dinner and dishes for them. They were pretty enthusiastic, and most told me that they used the lasagna for dinner the very night they received it. Busy folks with families to feed, just like the rest of us!
Every year I hand write a letter to the school principal outlining all of the good things that I saw in the teacher and the impact they had on my child. That way the teacher’s boss gets my feedback and hopefully a positive letter in their file. I then put a copy of the letter into a card for the teacher along with a gift card to buy themselves something or find out what their summer plans are so I can give them a gift that goes with it, like one year a teacher was taking a long road trip with her kids, so I bought her a gas gift card to help out with the costs….
I have been fortunate to have some of the MOST outstanding teachers and school staff in my community! I wish I could do more for them, god knows they deserve it!