Small present ideas from me (TA) for the class please!

[thelongroad]

I got some great ideas for the end of last school year presents, so I am back again to ask for Christmas gift inspiration :)

I am a 1:1 (not in the UK), but help out with the whole class as necessary, and would like to give them all a little something at the end of this term.
They are 9-10 years old, and there's 20 of them (10 boys, 10 girls). I need something small, inexpensive but useful or cool, and all the same so there is no picking or wishing you'd got something else.
I did pencils, rubbers, a bouncy squishy ball and stickers/sweets all with emojis on them in summer, and those went down well.
I wanted to get them those lovely magnetic bookmarks for Christmas (someone suggested them on my last thread) but I've noticed quite a few kids have one already.
Any ideas or suggestions most welcome!

Over the years I've got the class -
Christmas cup
Xmas slap bands
Frisbees
Fishing net
Xmas baubles
Christmas stickers

What a lovely idea
I’d go for Christmas stickers and a candy cane: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Stickers-Adhesive-Scrapbook-Embellishments/dp/B09C18B3K2/ref=mp_s_a_1_15_sspa?crid=36GQIWNKIBGDA&keywords=Christmas+stickers&qid=1699455588&sprefix=christmas+stickers%2Caps%2C260&sr=8-15-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRmX25leHQ&psc=1
with
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invero®-Christmas-Decoration-Peppermint-Childrens/dp/B017NZ8CPE/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?crid=2WZO9WOWHF1PX&keywords=christmas+candy+cane&qid=1699455779&sprefix=christmas+candy+cand%2Caps%2C226&sr=8-8

or maybe a small Christmas decoration that they can decorate themselves https://www.amazon.co.uk/HBell-Christmas-Unfinished-Watercolor-Decoration/dp/B0CCW2RYBF/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=25FZCK252CDWO&keywords=colour+in+christmas+decorations&qid=1699455862&sprefix=colour+in+christmas+dex%2Caps%2C239&sr=8-3
maybe with a small pack of colouring pens/pencils.

If they don’t all celebrate Christmas and you’re looking for something more generic then these little cat crafts are cute: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Box-Buddies-Foldimals-Cats-Stocking/dp/B0BFM2TR5G/ref=mp_s_a_1_28?crid=33NAK6SUO6RTP&keywords=stocking+fillers&qid=1699455993&sprefix=stocking+%2Caps%2C225&sr=8-28
or
fortune telling fish: https://www.amazon.co.uk/25-FORTUNE-TELLER-FISH/dp/B002ATA8UG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_mod_primary_new?keywords=fortune+fish&qid=1699456252&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sr=8-1
or
Swap point colouring pencils: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rainbow-Pencils-Twistable-Crayons-Colouring/dp/B0B2S68Z8T/ref=mp_s_a_1_6_sspa?crid=2WD34U7CA7A9V&keywords=stackable+colouring+pencils&qid=1699456301&sprefix=stackable+col%2Caps%2C209&sr=8-6-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfbXRm&psc=1
or
Scratch art bookmarks: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scratch-Art-Kids-Bookmarks-Classroom/dp/B0C49B1ZWT/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?crid=159YIJ19D5JL6&keywords=party+bag+fillers+for+kids&qid=1699456452&sprefix=part%2Caps%2C229&sr=8-5

I think mood rings would also be really popular but I can think of something similar that would be good for both girls and boys.

Key ring for their book bag. A lot of kids in my son's class collect key rings

A key ring of their initial - useful for identifying book / PE bags!

Oooh key ring is a great idea! Will have a look what's available. Do you think it would be a good idea to put it in a clear bauble with a few sweets?

I'd go keyring only tbh!

something for road safety - high vis arm band? High viz stickers for book bag?

It's really lovely that you want to do it, but I'd honestly save your money. Little things like key rings/slap bands/rubbers etc are a novelty for a few minutes but then get put down and forgotten.

I agree. I don't mean to be a killjoy and it's a lovely idea but honestly my kids are constantly getting party bags and all the associated small trinkets littering my house. One of their teachers gave out a bag full of party bag style stuff as a present at the end of the summer term. It was abandoned in a school bag and then binned when I found it again. I felt really bad about the plastic waste and the money they must have spent but it was all stuff we have a thousand times over. I would give nothing, a card, or consumable eg candy canes or paper only.

One of my DDs favourite presents from a teacher was a paperdoll decorated to wear the school uniform with a photo of her face stuck on the head and a lollipop slipped through a couple of holes punched in the hand and lower arm. (they were 15/16 at the time) It was the personal touch and the thought that the teacher had gone to the trouble of making them something. SHe and a number of her classmates took them to uni with them to stick on their noticeboards....

I’d say no to plastic. What about a candy cane or a hot chocolate swizzler thing. It doesn’t need to be much, the gesture is all that counts and please no more plastic crap that ends up in the bin!

I’m a TA (in Reception Class, so may not work for you). Every year I give each child a Christmas card and put in the envelope a flat chocolate Christmas tree decoration. It’s easy to find “Free From” alternatives too.

I appreciate the feedback and am mindful of plastic tat - the stuff I gave them for end of year is being used (I see it in their pencil cases!).
We don't have book bags, the children have (huge!) rucksacks that they have to carry all their stuff in. A reflective or light up key ring to hang off it would actually be a great idea - we are currently doing road safety as a topic (the children here all walk to and from school alone).

We do Christmas socks which were popular.

What about making some large gingerbread men and putting them in a bag with some sweets to decorate and enough icing sugar to mix up and stick them on (can make a little pouch of it with greaseproof paper) and write some instructions to print and go in the bag.

Or make a kit to make an Xmas decoration.

I’m a teacher and used to spend up to £1 per child on a gift but that’s £30 to me and the gifts were tat. I really don’t think they were appreciated. I now just give a few sweets or a chocolate Santa or something, no more than £10 for the class and they are at least as grateful as they were for the tat and it costs me a lot less!

Crochet them each a worry worm.

I promise not to get tat 😁
I don't think we have such a problem with plastic crap here (not in the U.K.) - my kids have received small gifts from teachers, TAs and interns, and they've always been really appreciated. I can't imagine it being left in their bag unopened and then chucked out like a PP says.

Thank you for all the suggestions! There will definitely be some sweets, that always goes down well! I love the idea of Christmas socks but that will be too expensive for a whole class.

Oh if I had time the worry worm is a great idea too!! I might make one for my own ds though, he'd love that.

Save your money I honestly think just chocolate. They get so much and even useful stuff really isn’t used.

You are sweet to want to do this but I don't liike the growing trend of this happening. Even small gifts add up to £30-50 for the class and if it happens for a few years the kids expect it. Buy a token for your 1:1 and leave it at that. Or a little bag of haribo on the way out the door.

As a parent, I do get tired of being given more plastic stuff I have to dispose of.

Try to keep it minimal.

I agree.

The environmental impact of all these 'little things' is depressing. My kids didn't need or want a gift like this.

I appreciate that you're not in the UK so things may be different with cost of living issues, however I'd be worried this would lead to other TAs feeling they need to do similar, and their salaries really are so low a pound per child could be half a days earnings.

How about a ‘whole class’ gift like sponsoring an animal at a local zoo? Or give the teacher an ‘animal tracking’ bracelet (you can get penguin/polar bear/elephant/others). Or maybe one bracelet and the class take it in turns to wear it and track the animal?