to not do teacher presents?

[OutOutLetItAllOut]

at the school gate today and one of the mums was talking about buying bottles of wine, (i made a comment about her making sure to invite me over!) and she said that they were for the teachers. turns out she is buying wine and chocs for the teachers, not just the main teach, but the 2 class room assistants and the 2 t.a's, ( all 4 are part time), also the head, the secetary and the chair of goveners!
a few of the others chipped in that they were doing flowers, smellies or other gifts!
i have NEVER bought a gift for a teacher at xmas, we normally bake a cake the week b4 they break up and take it in for the staff room, or make fudge.
am i the only mum who doesnt do gifts?

agree Stillbobbysgirl, it is just a token of appreciation and thanks, not a tip! My kids broke up early last week and i have had handwritten thank yous for the champagne from the staff already. Ds has physical sn, and they have been amazing with him. He also made card for all his medical team too.

Ds gets his teacher a very small gift at the end of the academic year but we don't do Christmas pressies.

When I was growing up my mum always made me give the teacher a Christmas pressie, I always felt embrassed as there was only one other gift giver. Now it seems to be the norm and we are in the minority not giving gifts.

I'm a high school teacher and one of the best presents I ever received was from some of my A level students.

They went out and bought me a cup (the sort you win if you're a sportsperson) and had it engraved with my name, the class's name and a personal message. Although it didn't cost a fortune, they had obviously put such a lot of thought into it.

Ten years later it is still my favourite gift ever! They were a very special bunch of kids to teach.

This year I gave a gift for ther classroom . Noit the indiv teacher's /teaching asssitants.

I started last year buying the teachers and teaching assistants for my two children a small Luxury Christmas pudding from M&S, they are £1.99 each or 3 for the price of two. I think it is nice to have a small gesture as the teachers are lovely. Other children walk in with huge presents, bouquets of flowers, bottles of wine and chocolates, not to mention many large unidentifiable boxes, which seems a bit extravagant. I want my children to enjoy the pleasure of giving without the expense.

Herecomes:
giving the time is a great idea- just hearing readers once a week makes a HUGE difference. I'm feeling realy bad as I have done it every year up until now (DD is in Y4) but I'm not sure an 8 month baby is much use in the classroom!

I'm a secondary teacher and certainly don't expect presents but have been really touched/delighted by some gifts I've received over the years. One student recently overheard me joking with a colleague that "I never go out with my husband anymore" and gave me a cinema voucher for two. Another really special gift was a lovely set of booties when my son was born.

Perhaps the most touching of all was the bunch of flowers I got from a 16 year old boy, in my form, infamous for his tough 'challenging' behaviour. It really helped to remind me that no matter how difficult a student may be, they do really care underneath and their tough exterior is pretty much always a front. The image of him awkwardly producing the flowers from inside his hoodie made all the hard work totally worth it.

No, OP, YANBU. If a child wishes to give me a present, then I am always really chuffed, but I certainly wouldn't expect it. That would be unreasonable!

Herecomes - shame about them tea-towels.

We took in our knitted goodies. Felt abit of an arse-licking berk even though the teacher was lost in her pile of goodies from the kids.

Did tell her she has been jolly brilliant and my eldest has had a great start to his school life with her as his teacher.

Handed a very dull gift to the TA who was giggling and dancing around the kids squealing with glee at receiving gifts and wonky cards. She'll not be squealing on Christmas Day when she sees how predictable a gift it is.

Can i say 4 kids
through to end of High School
never gave present yet
cards to staff only

Last year my 2 girls made cards for the teachers and CAs and we made a donation to a local cancer charity instead of buying gifts. Teachers and CAs all made a point of thanking me after the holiday for doing something that had more meaning than competitive present buying
Doing the same again this year

In the primary school where I teach-This is our fourth year of asking for a voluntary donation of whatever they can afford to give in lieu of the many presents parents generously send-teachers and classroom assistants nominate a charity each and tell parents in advance-last year we raised £1200!

When ds1 was in Year 1 his best friend made a christmas card to go with his gift to their teacher. After the children had come out, his mum realised he'd left something behind in the classroom, and nipped in to get it whilst I watched the boys.

She came out really cross, because she'd seen her ds's home made card in the waste paper bin in the classroom!

And when ds2 was in Year 4 his teacher, a young aussie bloke (who was a great teacher) actually asked all his class for cans of Fosters as presents - and had a huge stack built up in his classroom. I was stroppy about this and bought him a joke book instead - not because I objected to alchohol as a teacher present, but because he'd asked for alchohol.