Teachers gifts. Do you buy gifts?

[KB921]

At the end of the year? I previously but I have 2 in school now. Both have a teacher and 2-3 Ta's in their class so £££. Last year we did not do gifts because of covid - but we did do cards.

Do teachers expect it?

I was thinking a £5 gift voucher each but what kind of gift voucher can get you much for £5. Can't afford anymore. It'll be around £40.

I'm sure teachers are fed up of chocolates, mugs etc.

I had an idea about Costa gift cards at £5 each. Is that lame? How much can you get in Costa for £5? I am not a coffee drinker myself so I have no idea!

Wwyd? Do teachers expect it? I do really admire teachers but money is tight!!

Normally it’s just a card, but this year I am baking cakes as well. (They like the cakes and I asked then which type they wanted) As the teachers and the TAs have gone beyond this year.

I either buy gifts for them or cadge something off my DM who has a habit of stocking up on gifts "just in case". More often than not, it includes wine.

I think Costa vouchers are a nice idea.

I've got 8 nursery teachers to buy for so I've gone for:

Anti bac hand cream (to help with all the hand washing. 3 for £4 Amazon
Pen with their name on £3.45 Etsy
Mini boxed chocolates £1 each supermarket
All in a coloured paper bag decorated by my 2 dc.

About £55 all in - and I think that's just about reasonable.

I'm a teacher and I don't expect anything.

I was a teacher before having DDs and really appreciated a nice card. I received lovely things over the years and still have lots now. My DDs love using my ‘best teacher’ mug collection!
Before I stopped teaching, the ‘class gift’ was becoming more common and I received vouchers often. I remember just before having DD1 on mat leave, spending one for about £400 in a big shopping Centre gifted to me from my P1 class for the baby. My parents were always so generous. It’s appreciated but I often felt embarrassed- DH has a good job too and we didn’t ‘need’ extra money.

I’m going to send thank you letter to the school and to my children’s Y6 teacher as she has been amazing this year (and every year). I really like the small, personal gifts such as the child saving up for the bon bons or the home grown plants.

Any gifts above a certain value can’t be accepted at their school and the school I work at - there is a policy in place. I’m thinking of making a donation to the school to help buy resources for the children. Imagine all the books the school could buy and how good the library could be if class donations went towards that.

We always do class collection split between class teacher and TAs. They get a decent amount of vouchers, can be delivered electronically so no breaches of school Covid rules And they don’t have anything g to store or find room for at home.

I would be delighted with a £5 costa card - coffee and cake perfect!
If you can’t afford it or are feeling obliged to - don’t just send a thank you note or card

If you’re a teacher would you not be embarrassed to receive £200 worth of vouchers? Absolutely no criticism of teachers at all… I think they do a fantastic job but I feel what has been happening in my class is a bit excessive. One year my we did a collection at Christmas too… its driven by the class rep and seems to have moved away from a token of thanks.

I have loads of teachers to buy for this year I popped into the body shop the other day and they had hand creams and nail file sets in little boxes on offer for £6 so I just bought those. Thought it was a change from wine.

In every class we’ve always done a class collection. Really nice for the teacher to get a decent gift. If anyone can’t afford then they don’t contribute and I have no issue about the gift being positioned as from the whole class.