Nanny leaving - nice ideas for how to mark it?

[AnnaBafana]

Our lovely nanny is leaving us in a fortnight and I'd really like some ideas of how to 'mark' the occasion?

I was thinking of having a little tea party for the kids on her last day (she has a child too, who comes with her to our house), getting my children to make cards for her...any other ideas?

We'd also like to get her present, but have no idea what to get as she doesn't drink, isnt one for chocolates etc and I have already done the 'vouchers' thing for Christmas/birthdays. Flowers would be good, but dont seem enough, as she has been truly wonderful.

Any ideas?

Is she moving on to another role? Maybe make up a "care" package of bits 'n' pieces. I once had a nanny who went to do an admin role for a childcare agency. She had never worked in an office environment before so we gave her a large mug filled with lip balm, mini hand cream, funny pens , mints etc wrapped in cellophane. Otherwise what about a digital photo frame of pictures of the kids, things they did together etc already pre-loaded? One of our nannies gave us that as a present when she was leaving and we loved it. Or a piece of jewellery? Simple silver pendant or bracelet?

What about making a plate? (well getting the children to decorate a ready made one...like the cheap white ones from ikea with ceramic paints.) would be a nice keepsake? X

One of my old families gave me a necklace from Tiffany when I left, one gave a handmade glass plate they found on holiday.

Our nanny is leaving soon too and I got from woodenkeepsakes.co.uk a photo album, the front of which I engraved with X & X Happy Memories and put lots of photos in there of her with our daughter. I also got her an engraved silver charm (she likes those for her bracelet) . I thought it would be nice to have things to remind her of her time with our daughter.

When I finished a temp position, I got a lovely card, a gorgeous bunch of flowers and an itunes gift card, which really touched me as it showed they knew me pretty well!

When I left the family ordered a notebook from Photobox wiht the kid's pictures on the front and the back, it was lovely, I still use it on a day to day basis. Other family got me a scarf with gloves, never worn them to be honest, a personalized present means so much more than anything else.

One present I still use today (some 10 years later) is a Mug which the child then a toddler had drawn on. They had not actually drawn on the mug... but using a template that then got put on the mug and it must have been glazed over as it's lasted 10+ years and been through dishwasher quite a bit. It is like the AllMyOwnWork Individual Mug - I think their minimum order is only 1... though postage would be quite high as that is done on a per-order basis.