Ideas for small, inexpensive, class gift and card for teacher going on maternity leave?

[lucysmam]

My class teacher's going on maternity leave at the end of next week & I was going to get a small gift and card from our class, over the weekend. (I've made her something for the baby, from me).

I wondered if any of you were gifted anything inexpensive, either for baby or yourself? I need some inspiration 🙈.

Thanks!

How much are you planning on spending?

A nice photo frame, perhaps?

@Senmum2026 maybe £20 ish max.

@januarysnowdrop maybe. Although I know nothing about their decor so it may end up unused if it doesn't fit in.

For her specifically I’d suggest something like a really nice hand or body cream, solidly big box of chocolates.

A classic book for her to read with the class and then with her little one? Would be a nice connection when she reads the book. A Shirley Hughes, AA Milne for example

I like the hardback book idea above, or a life diary (you can get them on Amazon, you you write a page and a picture every three months - I have one for each of my DC and they look nicely bound and gild edges too).

John Lewis or M&S voucher as they do nice baby clothes.
As another poster suggested some classic baby books - mine used to love You Choose, Julia Donaldson books, Tiger Who Came to Tea, Dogger, Bear Hunt etc
Jellycat toy

Nice handcream. I got through loads when I first had a baby. Or a nice body butter.

I second the chocolates and a book idea too. Although I’d get her a book for her. Something lighthearted. The first week or two of maternity leave, before the baby comes, is so lovely. Relaxing with a cup of tea and a book when you know you would normally have been at work is bliss!

I think it’s easier always if it is a first baby as they won’t have as much stuff already. Dc and I chose some cute patterned muslins.

My favourite “new mum” gift was a thermos mug with a handle and super secure lid. Meant that once the baby came I could drink tea one handed while breastfeeding, and the tea stayed warm for ages. I think the same person also gave me flapjacks - a box of them that were individually wrapped so I could have a snack and tea easily. Flapjacks are good as they’re quite sustaining, and relatively healthy as a treat.

Lovely idea. I'm a teacher and would have been very touched by this. Depends how much you want to spend, but Cook meal vouchers so she can stock up her freezer and have some easy meals on hand could be good. Also second the hand cream suggestion, my hands are so dry with all the baby related hand washing. I now have a tube beside my bed, all my sinks and in my car!

Ask the children what their favourite books were when they were little, and buy a selection of those.

Think more recent/less classic than Wind in The Willows or Winnie the Pooh, even the Gruffalo is a generation old now - and she’s likely to get several copies of Dear Zoo over the years. My DC are teens now, so I’m not sure what contemporary babies and preschoolers are reading. Oliver Jeffers and Emily Gravett were the newish cool kids on the kids authors block where my DC were little.

A book for her, and a handcream sounds lovely. Any recommendations for either? No-one at work reads the same genre as I do so I wouldn't pick based on my own taste 🙈.

I'll see if I get a minute on Monday to ask the children their favourite books when they were younger - should be easy when she nips to the loo 🤣.

A classic children’s book.