15 presents - childminders, teachers, TA's

[fia101]

I am thoroughly appreciative of everything my childminders, after schools club helpers, pre school teachers and primary teachers and assistants all do for my kids but I've calculated I need 15 presents.

Even a box of ms biscuits and wine each will set me back over £130.

I live in Belgium, just saying so you'll understand things are a bit different. Personal gifts to teachers are discouraged really, but a gift the whole group can enjoy is usually very welcome, like a book 📚 for the class-library. That and a nice card or a drawing by your child with a personal thank-you note.

I'm a TA. In foundation year.
Crap wages, we work over and above scheduled hours, often buy supplies. Clean up children when the have a accident or are poorly.
Wine, we need lots of wine or

Don’t buy them anything!

I’m a teacher and I can’t honestly remember who buys a present and who doesn’t!

£130 is far too much

I buy stationery that benefits the teaching team and class.
I was forever supplying my classes when I was teaching (secondary so no culture of presents except maybe for form tutors)
I gave my primary teachers presents in the 80s and 90s so it's normal to me. I wouldn't spend what I can't afford, and if there is a culture of present giving in the school, a large quantity generic presents like wine or chocolates would lose its gloss.

I'm a ta and the nicest thing I ever recieved at xmas/end of term was a card from a child. They'd written me a beautiful message thanking me for helping them learn something specific and keeping them safe all year. Obviously wine and chocs are lovely too but I still have that card and it was given to me about three years ago.

"I'm a TA. In foundation year...Wine, we need lots of wine grin or gin "

I know this is tongue in cheek, but 15 x £5 bottles of wine plus say another £1 each for a gift bag = £90.

It's too much OP. And I don't know anyone who gives biscuits AND wine. Imagine if everyone did that - 30 boxes of biscuits and bottles of wine per teacher, 60 or 90 for some TAs/after school club helpers who cover more than one class. Madness.

A card with a thank you or a box of Maltesers is all that is needed. I've received quite a bit this year which is lovely and it's so nice to feel appreciated by the parents of my class, but not expected in the slightest.

We definitely gave teachers presents in the 80s and 90s - I remember the teachers' desks covered in presents on the last day of term.

I normally make some cheap and cheerful Christmas decorations with DD for teacher presents - they look really fab but honestly cost pennies - this year and last we did pine cones covered in glitter and with some rustic twine hot-glued to the top to hang them up - they looked amazing and shops are selling similar for a lot more! Collect the cones in autumn, dry them out, then cover with white poster paint on the edges and roll in silver glitter - or paint with glitter paint. The twine was £1 a roll from Tiger, and the hot glue gun was £5 last year from Tiger and comes in super-useful anyway for crafting. Wrap in a piece of cellophane and tie with a ribbon - lovely and very tasteful (plain cellophane rolls £1 from Tiger as well!)

I saw a market stall earlier in December with home made decorations that I'm going to copy next year - pine cones with those tiny multicoloured felt craft pompoms glued all over into the cone in between the spines, then a loop of red grosgrain ribbon glued on the top to hang. Looked amazing! You can get multipacks of similar mini pompoms in hobbycraft, The Works or Tiger.

Other decoration ideas - handmade red gingham cotton stuffed hearts - you can make them out of scraps and remnants; or you can often get hanging wooden letters from places like Matalan which children can decorate with paint or glitter (with the teacher's or TA's first name if you know it obviously!) Or what about a Christmassy cookie cutter tied with pretty ribbon? (I use these as tree decorations too as well as biscuit cutters!) Or Danish baskets made out of felt squares (google for instructions on how to make), filled with some inexpensive chocs like Lindt balls. Any of these things in a cello bag tied with some ribbon and accompanied by a handmade card would be just lovely!

I also recommend for next year, to look at sites like Sass & Belle and Dotcomgiftshop in the January sales - I often get lovely small Christmassy things for kids/teachers reduced to a pound or so and stick them in a box under the stairs for the following year. One year I got lovely small boxes of Christmassy cookie cutters reduced £1 each for nursery assistant and DD's friends' gifts.

Similar pine cone decs at this link (both pompom and glitter) - just hot glue a loop at the top (or bottom) to hang.
www.easypeasyandfun.com/pinecone-christmas-tree-decoration/

For my children's classes, we had class collections to which we each chipped in £5, but on the last day of term, some parents were coming into school laden with armfuls of gift bags - for the teachers, TAs (and there are a lot of TAs in Nursery!), admin staff, headteacher, deputy headteacher, lollipop man...I think it gets a bit over the top and people are perhaps worried about looking mean.

The school is facing a funding crisis and the HT doesn't want to ask parents for donations as a few schools have done (other than to support the work of the PTA) but I wonder if all that money spent on gifts could be put to better use for the school. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to deny teachers their well-deserved treats.

I think I'll write the teachers a personal note in July to thank them for all they have done during the year and must get the children to make them a card - I meant to do that for Christmas but didn't get round to it.

I picked up 3 Christmas smelly candles in glass jars from Ikea and my kids gave those to their teachers + a Christmas card. I think that's enough. I usually spend a little bit more at the end of the year (or contribute to class gift).

When did this buying presents for teachers thing start? Didn't happen in the 70s and 80s!

Of course it did. My DM was a teacher- she got boxes full of christmas gifts.

For Nursery staff I bought a mini bar of nice chocolate each, and then got a big box of mini bath bombs and gave them all a few each. Calculated it cost about £2 each. Her keyworker got a box of posh chocolates which cost £4 and that was it. Then made cards with DD which they loved.

I sent each child in with a gift bag of Aldi Christmas food (stollen bites etc) to hand to the teacher a few days before the end of term to share in the staff room. A gift for the child minder is reasonable. Usually give to Brownie leaders but kids missed last couple of weeks due to sickness/school Christmas plays.

Don't do it then. A card is ok.