To ask teachers and teaching assistants what you would really like for Christmas from a parent?

[Whosthecrazy]

Dd is in nursery and has I think 4 teachers in her class, 2 she is very attached to! I’d like to get them all something nice for Christmas but don’t want to fall into the trap of smellies or boring chocolates! So please, what would you really like if you could give a wish list?!

@MoomaidAhoy I hadn’t really thought about secondary but I am really surprised that primary staff wouldn’t have one. I have lots of teacher friends across different schools and areas and they all do. I stand corrected

When I have had a long term position as a class teacher then I've always been happy with chocolate and a card. The most special gift was when I was pregnant with my first dc and a parent had gone to the effort of knitting a cardigan and hat for the baby. I was so touched I cried!

Wine
Chocolate
Cake
Amazon voucher if you want to do vouchers

All top gifts for me. I have a frame with everyone's name in from my first class that a wee lad gave me and I do love that.

We did homemade fudge or truffles. Appreciate not all teachers risk eating homemade stuff. One nursery teacher liked them so much she asked for the truffles after my children left nursery, it was a running joke each Christmas to take them to her as well. Just 3 or 4 wrapped in a cellophane bag with a card, enough to have with a coffee, not enough to clutter up the place.

MoomaidAhoy-I agree!

As a former teacher and with parents who were both teachers but are now retired, I would say booze or nice chocolates are always welcome, but book tokens or John Lewis voucher are even better.

Doesn't have to be a big sum in respect of the voucher and if that is too much price-wise for some, which I would completely understand as it's an expensive time of year, a card signed by the pupil would be wonderful!

My favourite gift was a lovely handmade card which said thank you for being so kind. ☺️
Oh and I once had a very, very nice scarf (wouldn't recommend this as easy to get it wrong) that I still wear years later.

@horseymum

We did homemade fudge or truffles. Appreciate not all teachers risk eating homemade stuff. One nursery teacher liked them so much she asked for the truffles after my children left nursery, it was a running joke each Christmas to take them to her as well. Just 3 or 4 wrapped in a cellophane bag with a card, enough to have with a coffee, not enough to clutter up the place.

Seeing how many of our dc have their fingers constantly up their noses I don't think I'd be eating home made offerings, although tbf I hold their hands and one uses my arm as a tissue on occasion so that me be pointless/irrational 😆

@Thatsplentyjack

I usually get my kids teachers a tree decoration for Christmas. Just a small simple one, and some chocolate. Now I'm thinking maybe that's a shit gift 🤣

I've never received a present from a pupil that I thought was shit. Cards and notes are treasured, and I still have decorations given to me by my pupils. I dislike these threads where people come on to shit on the gifts they get and dislike. Accept the gift in the spirit it was intended

Tbf the entire point of this thread is asking which gifts are liked (therefore which are less liked - I mean no one needs 30 best teacher mugs on a yearly basis)

DH is a teacher. Doesn't expect presents etc etc, but - a voucher. For coffee, or a shopping centre, or really anywhere!

Definitely no mugs, keyrings, personalised things etc.

Two gifts that I still have 4 years later even after moving house is a hand painted pot that I use for my stationary, and an a5 planner. Both cute and also useful :)

When I worked in childcare I always appreciated wine and chocolates or just a card. I was given a framed photo of a child once which I didn't see the point of.

@Bealtaine But the question is what do teachers prefer. I would have preferred a card of £5 voucher than anything else. Of course I appreciated being given anything, but would genuinely have preferred nothing over a mug, decoration, gloves, hand cream etc. So if anyone reading this wants to know what a safe bet is, it’s a card/voucher!

A card with a lovely message is great.
If you would like to give more perhaps a coffee, book or kindle voucher or some bulbs to plant e.g. tulips, daffodils etc that come up in spring time. Not sure if you can get them at the moment though.
I hope your child enjoys nursery - such a lovely age to teach.

@Calvinlookingforhobbes

Never a mug. Ever. Wine. Alway wine or chocolates

This! Or a nice soap/bath bomb

I’m a teacher. The messages inside the cards mean the most, but if you also want to give a gift, then coffee shop gift cards or things I can use in the classroom like post it notes, stickers etc always go down well (so I don’t have to take a load of stuff home).

Personalised keepsakes from your child are sweet and mean a lot at the time they are given, but as a PP said, when you’ve taught several classes of 30 children, there’s only so long you can keep things like that before they become a bit meaningless. I mean it looks kinda weird to have an ornament from a child from 10 years ago on your mantelpiece IMO.

And for the record, no teachers ever use ‘best teacher’ mugs/notepads/teddies etc. They end up in the back of the staff room cupboard or the charity shop!

No mugs! My husband gets around eight teacher joke/motto mugs each year. Please stop!

I'm a Teacher and I would agree with every saying cards/letters. I still have letters from over 10 years ago and they are so special to me. I remember the children and families very clearly

A card or picture made by little ones is always nice. Chocs or biccies if you want to buy something but no tat that I have no space for.

My friends who are teachers always tell me that what they really want to get is gift cards - to restaurants, coffee shops, supermarkets, etc. They don't need any more mugs!

Nothing, please. Save your cash. A thank you email if you feel like it (copy in the head teacher) saying what your child has enjoyed or a Christmas card if you’re sending them. I’m a secondary teacher, so for any newish year 7 parents, we don’t normally get anything and that’s fine.

Voucher for a coffee shop ..local or a chain
Flowers 💐 or a plant
Fluffy socks and a bar of chocolate
All things I've received and enjoyed

I was given some lovely handmade Christmas tree decorations - a painted bauble and a painted wooden Santa which I treasure and hang on my tree every year. The children painted them and put the year on them too. I am very sentimental though!

Book for the class library is lovely imo. With a note as to who it's from inside.
Cards are the best present. Or an email to me (with principal cc'd) saying thanks. I keep all those emails in a special Gmail folder, to look at when twat parents strike.
I like a tree bauble but that's because I have a class Christmas tree, so it can go in there. Wouldn't put it on my home tree.
Small voucher for a coffee is nice. I won't touch Starbucks/Costa myself but I can always regift it.
Wine is good.

I do not like plants (unlike pp above!). I hate the pressure of keeping them alive Cut flowers are nice.
No mugs, no chocolates, absolutely no Best Teacher crap. Homemade food...depends on that parent and whether the child was involved!

@Calvinlookingforhobbes

Never a mug. Ever. Wine. Alway wine or chocolates

Don't drink and don't eat chocolate (or dairy).

I'd be happy with a covered mug that doesnt say world's best anything - or a plant.

As a teacher,the best gift a parent could give me is an email to the principal/ head teacher expressing their appreciation of me ! ( Also hand -written cards to me from the students)