Childminders, can I pick your brains over the best 'leaving' presents you have received?

[HonorMatopoeia]

Dd1 is leaving her lovely childminder (a little earlier than we had planned due to financial issues)she has been with her for nearly 3 years. She is an absolutely lovely lady and Dd1 adores her so we'd love to get her something special and hopefully that will remind her of Dd1.
So I was wondering if you could give me any tips for the sort of things you have received and really appreciated. Or even the sort of things that you don't want! Anything is helpful here
I suppose we have a budget of about £30 max.

Ooo, good idea sleepycat, will add that to the list!

I was once given a gold necklace with a large and a small heart on.

Once I got half a loaf, and a strawberry cream scone, but that's another story altogether!

Sally

when my first mindee ever left i got a lovely big bouquet already in glass vase and fancied up..i cried..mindee laughed at me(she was 3) told her mummy i didnt like flowers and i cried when i got them

I got this from one of my mums. It made me cry! I love the words and sums up cming to me. 'For those that share in the wonders of a childs life'.

OTOH I also got a crystal cake stand with nobbly bits of glass around the edge! Thatr made me weep too! Not good!

i have had a few willow tree gifts from mindees
also had flowers with a lovely vase
got a new fish for my fish tank
got a plant
a lovely letter that i could keep

I once received a photo frame which was engraved with the childs name and matchstick
man drawing ( written and drawn by childs own hand). Very lovely and also very personal.

We gave our CM of 4yrs a framed photo of our DDs, a handmade card from them and a case of 6 bottles of white wine.

BradfordMum, the mind boggles at the half a loaf and cream scone!
Great ideas here, thank you ladies
I like the idea of getting Dd1 to do a drawing and framing it with a picture. There's also a local shop that sells willow tree stuff so I'll look into that too. Thank you again.

I was given a gorgeous, colourful, hand painted plate which the 4yr old mindee and his mum had made together for me from a 'paint your own' ceramic place.

It depicts a happy stick boy surrounded by lots of spiders and popcorn (this mindees favourite things to do were hunting for spiders and making popcorn!) and has my business name hand written on it.

It hangs on my playroom wall and I love it.

just to make clear..... both the name and the drawing were engraved onto the frame, the original drawing was placed behind the pic in the frame. I still have it 15yrs later.

And do write a really good reference - it can be difficult to ask for one!

More good ideas, thank you!
Yes, I was planning on writing a lovely letter that she could put in her folder to show others. I get all choked up when I think this is the end