Teacher gifts? 🎄🎁

[MummaChristmas]

Hi fellow Christmas lovers!

It's my first year buying teacher gifts so looking for some lovely ideas! They're (school) nursery staff and there's 3 of them, all women and I'd say about 40+ if that matters. They've already been so wonderful with my son and I'd like to show them that we really do appreciate all of it.

Ideally I don't really want to go for a mug or anything as I'm sure they've got plenty already and are likely to get even more over the Christmas period.

I know wine is usually a go to, but I'm not a wine drinker myself so I have absolutely no idea what's good and what's not 🙈

I don't have a set budget in mind but I'd say at absolute most, maybe £60 altogether? I appreciate any ideas or advice! 🎄

My youngest always chose an Xmas Bauble for each of them. Christmassy and they can take it home or redistribute to the Class xmas tree/ one in the hall etc! A proper thank you in an Xmas card.

Ah @Mcdhotchoc that's a great idea! I imagine if my son picks a decoration it'll likely be the Colin the caterpillar one 😆

I was thinking of writing a thank you card too. I do tend to get carried away writing those though 🙈

£20 each is quite a lot. A card especially child made would be appreciated.
Some nice chocolates or biscuits each or shared would be nice if you want to buy something or a nice hand cream.
( EYFS staff wash their hands a lot)

I’m a teacher. All my colleagues like a gift card.

I think £20 is an awful lot really.

It's just a token, I usually send a small but nice quality box of chocs, unless the teacher has a particular interest the dc know about.

We have a lovely independent bookshop in our town. Book vouchers are a brilliant choice for people working in education - they can treat themselves to a lovely book, or buy resources for their classroom (that often come from their own pockets).

I'm a teacher. The thing that I most appreciate is a message of thanks in a Christmas card. I keep every card.

Gift cards are good if you really want to give something (if I could choose, it would be a book token). Otherwise, I have had a couple of students get me really nice tea which was much appreciated (they know I am a tea drinker), and chocolates are always good at Christmas.

I’ve bought all sorts over the years;

candles & diffusers
chocolates/biscuits
christmas tea & coffee
vouchers
nice socks
real mini Christmas trees (M&S)

all sorts

I do agree £20pp is a significant amount, however we do have a very small list of people to buy for. Of course when there's more and more teachers to buy for we won't be able to do so much. I think also I was planning £20 (max) each dependent on what I could find. Unfortunately I don't think I'd be able to guage any of their personal interests as DS is autistic and wouldn't understand it :(

Vouchers are a great shout! @mmgirish is there any in particular you would recommend?
Book vouchers sound brilliant 😊 Will definitely have a look to see what independent book stores we have also! Thanks all 😊

@Besidemyselfwithworry a mini Christmas tree sounds lovely! I think I may need to invest in one for myself 🤭

At Christmas I used to send in a batch of cakes for the staff room a couple of weeks before the end of term.
i used to occasionally help in school
and they knew that I held a food hygiene certificate so hopefully had no worries about enjoying them!
At the end of the year, the class teachers and TAs got a Costa gift card and I sent in more cakes for the staff room.
It always seemed to be well received

They’re really nice in a pot, usually covered in a hessian fabric but then you can plant them in the garden afterwards. They went down really well.

The most appreciated gifts were homemade fudge or chutney (we had an apple tree). Do not spend £20 - that’s ridiculous.

I've always bought a bar of snowball dairy milk for all of my kids teachers (7 bars last year cuz DD started nursery with 4 members of staff in her room!) and a nice little card. It's the thought that counts, not the cost!

If they work in a nursery get them hand-wash, soap or hand cream. Or maybe nice hand sanitiser.

@MummaChristmasit depends where you live. Where I live, we have this great online gift card that can be used in pretty much every shop and online platform. Most teachers get those at my school. I also use that for my children’s teachers.

If you are in the UK, gift cards like Amazon. M and S or whatever big supermarket is nearby is always a good option. That way the teachers can treat themselves to something that perhaps they wouldn’t have bought themselves.

I'd love a mini Christmas tree as a gift!

Notebooks are always useful, you can get them personalised.

M&S or JL vouchers - I always try to tell the class rep what I bought is is a class gift, I've had towels, lamps, glasses, a jam pan!

Something from the White Company.

I’ve thought about this deeply! We do a card for the teachers with two photos of the kid on the front - their first and last day of school that year, so you can see how they have grown. Inside, I write a very touching note about how much they have meant to our family. (The kids are young, I imagine this will change as learn to write.)

Then I add a box of chocolates from the bougie chocolate place in the village. Even if the teacher doesn’t like chocolates, they’re easy to pass on. And even if they put them straight in the bin, our money has stayed in the local community, not enriching Amazon or whatever.

I've always avoided giving chocolate as my mum was a teacher and used to come home with an overwhelming amount every year! If you do go down that line go for something really yummy (even if I had a cupboard full of chocolate I don't think I could resist some Tony's!). Maybe team it with a cocktail in a can and a Simple sheet mask for a relaxing moment.

Over the years I have given: fancy tea from Fortnums, Christmas tree decorations bought from a Christmas market, gifts from the local "made in [Town name]" store like cosmetic bags/ trinket dishes/pretty tea towels, vouchers to the cafe nearest the school as the teachers pop there when they are at lunch, l'occitaine hand cream, stationery

I’m a teacher and love getting chocolates (can never have too many in my opinion!) and gift cards. I get a few for Costa which I love. Last year I got a £10 Tesco voucher and actually really rated that, got myself a book and some chocolate with it.

This is probably my last year buying teacher Christmas Gifts, as DD will be in secondary next Christmas.

I've done £10 Costa/Starbucks/Waterstones gift cards for the last couple of years for teachers and TA's and will do the same this year, always well received.

The Yr6 class teacher is an absolute legend and the children have been desperate to be in Yr6 and in her class so she'll be getting a very good bottle of wine too because I know she loves a good red.

It really is just a token gift, and it is so true that a heartfelt message means more than a gift.