Christmas gifts for teachers who've gone above and beyond

[actiongirl1978]

What would you give a few wonderful teachers in this scenario? They've supported DS and us through a tricky time.

Both male and female.

Standard present is wine and or chocolates, but this feels like it requires something better.

Any ideas? Are you a teacher? What was your best 'proper' gift (I know you don't teach for gifts, I know the best gift is a handwritten note from the child butt this occasion calls for something better to show our gratitude).

In case this is relevant, it is a private school.

Any ideas welcome!

Following this as I also need an idea for a particular male teacher....

When my oldest was away at school we bought nice fortnum and mason biscuits or speciality tea.

Book tokens.

Thanks both, v good ideas!

For me, the card (was in tears yesterday sorting out old cards from 4 years ago and reading them - they really really do mean a lot, I promise) but apart from that, a lovely bottle of red always works for me. Or some homemade shortbread. Or something coffee related - like fresh coffee.

Grab a pound shop xmas mug and fill it with chocolate snacks...
Put in a gift bag.
Take it first day of December that is a school day....
They will love it promise you...

Personalised stickers have gone down well with a teacher I know (primary school, though) You can order them online.

Gift voucher?

Costa or Starbucks vouchers
Received with gratitude every time

My DD's teacher helped her through a very difficult time. When she left I gave him a handmade card with this poem written in it . What Teachers make
Taylor Mali....
He says the problem with teachers is
What’s a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life
was to become a teacher?
He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true
what they say about teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.
I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the dinner guests
that it’s also true what they say about lawyers.
Because we’re eating, after all, and this is polite conversation.
I mean, you’re a teacher, Taylor.
Be honest. What do you make?
And I wish he hadn’t done that— asked me to be honest—
because, you see, I have this policy about honesty and ass-­‐kicking:
if you ask for it, then I have to let you have it.
You want to know what I make?
I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor
and an A-­‐ feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time
with anything less than your very best.
I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won’t I let you go to the bathroom?
Because you’re bored.
And you don’t really have to go to the bathroom, do you?
I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
Hi. This is Mr. Mali. I hope I haven’t called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something your son said today.
To the biggest bully in the grade, he said,
“Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don’t you?
It’s no big deal.”
And that was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.
I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.
You want to know what I make? I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write.
I make them read, read, read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math
and hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you’ve got this,
then you follow this,
and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this.
Here, let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
Teachers make a goddamn difference! Now what about you?
Mali. Taylor. “What Teachers Make.” What Learning Leaves. Newtown, CT: Hanover Press, 2002. Print. (ISBN: 1-­‐887012-­‐17-­‐6)
He said it really was the best thank you gift he'd ever gotten. You could give the book nicely wrapped up if you want to give an actual thing.
There are a few you tube videos of Taylor Mali performing the poem. It's quite powerful.

Trifle66

I assume that you live in the USA from the poem and the way you use the word gotten.

That poem isn't really in line with the Uk education system and so lots of it wouldn't make sense. For example, we don't have study hall, grade, bathrooms, math, goddam, C+, A- or the congressional medal.

There might be an equivalent version that someone knows?

Not a teacher myself but several friends who are. Their favourite gifts ever were M&S voucher, fancy stationary, champagne, selection of craft beer (male teacher who loves quirky beer). And hand written cards!
There's also been plenty of MN threads where the teachers of MN all seem to be saying the same thing: No gifts neccessary but if you are so kind, please no mugs, chocolate, scented candles or toiletries!

We like to get a nice big buiscit tin for the staff room with a note from our 2 DCs as well.

BISCUIT

I am a teacher who worked in an independent school, teaching A levels and my favourite gift was one year a class put together and bought me a bottle of champagne, 2 tickets to Lords to see the cricket, a brilliant cheese board and some white chocolate as they knew it was my favourite. They payed for it themselves not from parents. Another year I got a picnic basket hamper full of expensive goodies. I think they all brought in one thing each to go in hamper. I tend to send in a good bottle of wine for ok teachers and Amazon vouchers for the better ones who have gone above and beyond, so they can choose something they will like. My least favourite is flowers, which I do love, but then have to leave when I go on holiday which is frustrating as I have to give them away and chocs as make me put on too much weight. I have been given £100 gift voucher form child I gave private tuition to for a year and got them through A level when no one thought they could pass due to mental health issues.

I asked a primary school teacher at the weekend and she said a handmade gift from the child is lovely

Thanks all. That poem is lovely.

I'm going to try and ask one of the classroom assistants to find out what the teachers in question prefer. It's going to be trickier, but I really want to get it right.

One of the teachers is Deputy Head so I don't know him very well but I have had to deal with him a lot recently.

I will update when I figure it out

I should add that DS is absolutely not the child to do anything homemade, homework is torturous so getting him to write a card is almost impossible! This will be entirely from me and DH!

You can’t repay the time/effort/kindness by buying stuff and I think it’s better not to try; much better to say a heartfelt thank you. A lovely card, that they can take out and read over again is going to mean so much more than any thing that you buy. And it costs you more too, because it’s a lot harder to write a sincere thank you than it is to spend money. But use your own words. A poem is lovely but it lacks the connection of your own words.

Teachers are people - they like nice quality gifts too!
If you don’t want to spend much go for chocolate or wine. Otherwise fancy toiletries like molten brown, personalised mug, fancy water bottle etc
Best gifts my husband has had were personal or nice items like champagne, a handmade wreath (the mum made lovely ones!) any Poundland or card factory sadly heads straight to the charity shop!

Book tokens are excellent. Nice tin of biscuits for the staffroom.

If you want to spend more then an excellent gift would be to pay a month of a teacher's salary through one of the charities such as Oxfam.

Does your child know anything about them? What they mentioned they like,favourite book,inside joke etc?
I'm a TA and besides the lovely cards two gifts always stick to mind because they were so personal. I obviously don't come into contact with parents much so the ideas came from the kids and I loved that.

My go-to gift for teachers that have gone above and beyond is a gift basket/bucket with a Waterstones voucher, a bottle of wine/Prosecco or posh teabags if I know they don’t drink, a fancy bar of chocolate and a box of fancy biscuits, and then a wee note with instructions to put their feet up and enjoy a good book in peace. We’ve done it a few times now and it’s always gone down very well. Once we also added in one of DD’s favourite books for the class library

Alanamackree; I think you are right and that's why I'm struggling so much. Because if I spend too much it looks garish and if I just go with a bland bottle of wine, it's well, boring!

Tami, I think that yours is a lovely idea, most teachers would appreciate a book token too.

It’s dead easy to do OP and easy to personalise too.

In the summer term I’ve bought brightly coloured metal buckets from the pound shop, filled them with shredded tissue paper and then put everything into that, with one of those toy windmill things sticking out of the top. (DS was only 6 that year so it was appropriately child-like but the contents were still nice for an adult.)

I did it last year at Christmas for middle DD’s teacher who had really gone over and above when DH was going through his cancer treatment and bought a small wicker basket to put the stuff in. Again - nothing too big or it looks extravagant. That particular teacher was pregnant so I knew she wouldn’t be drinking, so bought Teapigs tea bags, a bar of her favourite Lindt dark chocolate and a small box of fancy biscuits from the local deli. I made a little sleeve for the gift card out of scrapbooking paper, and nestled everything into more shredded tissue. It was small enough to not look extravagant but still more than just a box of chocs. Total cost, including the basket (which came from home bargains I think) was just over £20

Tami, thanks that all sounds lovely!