Thank you present and good bye present for an amazing family

[NJE]

I have worked for an amazing family for nearly two years. It was only one day a week as well as occasional babysitting etc. Anyway... as my living arrangements have changed I will now start a FT position for another family next week and I have to sadly leave this family. We became friends over the period and do not have a typical employer-employee relationship. I am treated like a part of the family.

Four weeks ago I was thrown out where I lived (Long story... I worked for a single mum a couple of hours a week in exchange for a room, when I gave her my notice (we had an contract that said 4 weeks notice) she turned up with someone else within three days and throw me out.) the family offered me to stay with them as long as I find something else.

I move out next week and would like to give the family a good bye present. I was also thinking about giving the parents a gift card for a nice restaurant in London (They love Gordon Ramsay).

Still, I would like to hear any suggestions you might have.

Thanks,

Nadine

The restaurant gift card is a nice idea, but very expensive if you are thinking about Gordon Ramsay; it sounds as if you're thinking of spending a three-figure sum on them, which is very generous (and I'm sure reflective of how much you appreciate what they've done for you, and how much it means to you), but may make them feel uncomfortable.

Maybe you can choose a present that they can enjoy as a family? Vouchers for a day out, or for the cinema?

In any case, you sound really lovely and thoughtful; I hope that your new job and living arrangements work out for you, and that your new family as as nice as this one.

Thanks for your reply. They done so much for me and I really really want to show that I am grateful. Both parents are very hard working and hardly ever have time for themselves (Dad often comes home from work around midnight etc.) and Mum works very hard too. It might be a bit more expensive but they done so much for me etc.

Well, the important thing is that you show them you appreciate them, and I'm sure that that will come across whatever it is you choose in the end.

If you do decide to give them the restaurant gift card, perhaps you can offer to babysit for them while they go out?

Yes, I would do that. I know about the present for the parents but I would like to give them one for the whole family as well (something nice to remember?!) Too bad I am leaving now in winter otherwise I would have liked to do a picnic or so..

The nicest gift I got from a nanny was an album with lovely photos of the kids stuck in it. Snaps she had taken over her time with us. It was great. I would have preferred that much more than a voucher for a restaurant btw.

Another au pair baked a huge load of cupcakes and iced individual letters on them and put them on the dining table so they said "Thank you I will miss you all!"

That was really sweet and the kids loved it ;)

Like Freshmint, I had an AP who left me a photo album with a few words on each page written to DS and talking about her time with us - eg a page would have a photo of my DS playing on the trampoline, and underneath she had written "The times I played with you were some of the most fun times I have ever had". It read like a story of both the AP and my DS's development over the 2 years, and at the end she told my DS to stay muddy and happy and try not to forget her because she would never forget him. It is without doubt one of my most treasured possessions.