What to buy my DS Carers for Christmas - any ideas?

[Livingtothefull]

My disabled DS has 2 carers (both female) who work with him several times each week. I want to get a present for each of them & am a bit stumped for ideas - we had talked about tins of biscuits/boxes of chocolate for each but I really don't think this is nice enough. Both of them work so well with DS, he is fond of them both & we really appreciate them.

Neither of them are big drinkers as far as I know - otherwise I am not really familiar with their tastes. Do you have any thoughts about what could be suitable? I could look at a budget up to around £50 for each.

A hamper? Marks and Spencer is always good

I would do something like, a box of chocolates and a voucher for the rest. Carers are not well paid and being broke myself at the moment, I would be flipping thrilled if someone gave me a voucher and I actually had the chance to choose myself something in a shop.

With that budget I would do £40 voucher and then a £10 token gift - chocolates or a book or something.

I would say small bunch of flowers/ponsetia and vouchers (John Lewis, m and a) and homemade Xmas card (handprint reindeer always good).

I know you want to get something thoughtful, but I imagine neither carer is on a lot and will probably really appreciate the voucher more than an item which they may or may not use.

Agree vouchers and a small gift - it would be a lovely surprise for all their hard work and care.

I would be careful spending too much unless you pay them privately. Agencies usually have policies around accepting gifts and I’ve known carers be made to return gifts worth more than a tenner when the agency find out.

I have way more than 2 carers coming to me via an agency so can’t spend a lot per person - I give each a token gift worth a couple of pounds. But I make sure to be very specific with them about why I value them “thank you for all your help and always making me laugh.” Or “thanks for listening when I have a bad day” type thing.

Honestly, when I worked in care, I always appreciated handmade gifts more than those of monetary value. Obviously I was extremely grateful for both, but the handmade were more precious. Obviously I'm conscious that this may not be possible to do in every case, so I hope I don't cause upset by saying that, but if it is something that is possible, I thought I'd suggest.

Agree with checking they can accept gifts etc first. Also agree a voucher and a small token gift may be the way to go - maybe something like Love2Shop that can be used in lots of places so they have a choice.

Thank you all. There are some great ideas here, and it has been really good to learn what many of you would personally appreciate - really helpful.

And we do employ both of them directly so shouldn't be any issue with them accepting the gifts, but thanks for checking this out.

Cash and a nice message.