Is it too early to have the "what shall we buy the teacher?" thread yet

[ladymuck]

Though actually my real question is if there is a teacher and a TA in ds's class, I assume there are 2 gifts - are they the same? I think that the TA spends part of her time with another class too.

I can safely say that DS1's teacher won't be getting anything from us.
Apart from a piece if my mind!

Pure lèche-cul, IMO. But i'm in a shitty mood today & think teacher is a git.

lèche-cul = arselicking

I was horrified to see that everyone had bought dd1s teacher presents at the end of the school year despite the fact 75% of them were back in her class the following year.

and really show off ones too like 2 bottles of champagne and a box of chocs

In dd's class one parent sent around a note saying that she was organising the present for the teacher and TA and that if we wanted we could contribute £5 towards it. So I did. Easier than coming up with ideas.

Though last year when they wanted £10 at Xmas, I balked and didn't contribute. No chance. DD didn't like last year's teacher and vice versa. This year;s teacher is fab and I probably would have paid £10.

nothing

I will buy her a present when my DS leaves her class

I think she's great but don't like this thing of giving christmas presents .. I have enough relatives and close friends to buy for thank you

(I am a brave first christmas with a proper teacher mother here .. back me up)

We have a school year that follows the calendar year and so I am preparing presents for dd1's teachers - 1teacher, 1ta and a part time ta. Have bought a lovely bowl, mug and coaster and mug - intend to fill with handmade soap I bought at markets here and some home made white chocolate fudge..... wrapped in cellophane and tied with a ribbon - kind of a chrissy/thank you present.....

BUT

Dd1's teacher/aides are FAB so I don't mind doing it.

truthfully, i would be happy to contribute to a gift were I happy with the teacher. This is far from the case at the moment, tho.

I will give a bottle of wine to head, TA and teacher for xmas

If our school year follwed the UK school year I would not be buying them a Christmas present - perhaps just a card from dd1

At my DD's nursery there is a teacher and two full time teaching assistants. I was getting worried about how to only spend £2 on each of them and what on earth I could get. However, a few of us have clubbed together, all put £6 in and are getting them vouchers so they can choose something big (a top, jewellery, booze) or whatever they want. My friend is a teacher (and diabetic) and gives away at least 20 boxes of chocs at christmas and at the end of year to friends that she cant have so she ends up with nothing at all! Although at the end of year she did have 11 bunches of flowers (and went on holiday the next day) when she got back they were all dead! She wants my daughter to be in her class so I can organise some vouchers for her so she at least gets something she wants!

I actually asked ds1's teacher yesterday because I wanted to know if they got overwhelmed with edibles and would prefer some sort of resource for the classroom. She told me that actually, they love getting shareable edibles, because they have so many different helpers in and out of the classroom, it was nice then to be able to share it all out so everyone would get a bit of something!

Going for the big box of biscuits I think...

I have bought two Newbridge Silver Deocrations, they were only £6 each and bearing in mind a bottle of wine costs at least a fiver I think it is money well spent.

Here they are,

My Mum teaches and every year ends up with 20 or so boxes of chocs; and 20 cheap ornaments (think poundshop).

She doesn't expect gifts and would definitely prefer something other than chocs and tat that ends up in a charity shop.

Our class rep is organising contributions from parents in order to give the teacher a voucher. Not so exciting perhaps, but would think that a teacher would appreciate being able to buy herself something she actually needs/wants rather than lots of boxes of choccies, etc.

DD will also make a card for the teacher. And, that will be that.

Does anyone bother with a gift for the head?

OK, so if we're giving gifts (and it is likely to be wine) then those who have mentioned it seem to give to both TA and teacher. Hadn't really thought about the head, as I haven't really had anything to do with her - the others are a daily part of ds's life, and he likes them both.

I guess I need to check out the playground in terms of what eveyone else is doing. I was assuming it was the done thing as I've always given something to the nursery/preschool workers, and the start of term letter started off with "Thank you for all of your lovely presents!"

The only reason I'm wondering about the head is because she stands at the front door and welcomes the children each morning as they enter the building. She calls them by name too. DD was out sick one day last week, and on the day we returned to school, the head asked dd if she was feeling better. So, she is definitely an involved presence - albeit a distant one. That's why I wonder if some sort of holiday gift to her is appropriate. Maybe just a handmade card from dd will suffice.

This year I am giving dd2's nursery teachers Jars of home-made jam. She has been at pre-school for 2 years and there are about 15 or 20 regular 'helpers'. So I made a huge batch of blackberry and apple jam and will put a 'Daisy's Jam' label on each. When dd1 left I did mini voltive candles (about 50p each) wrapped in pretty tissue.

For dd1's teacher she will get a hamper of home-made goodies like jam, chutney, biscuits. Cost a total of £5 ish

I must say that I am relieved to no longer have to cater for the hoards of playgroup/nursery workers (ds1 went to both on different days!), and a bottle of wine seems so easy in comparison. I got ds1 printing onto mugs last year and filling with pick and mix. Nice cheap gift - mugs were 35p each from IKEA and the paints were £5 or so. But I did feel that I was running a sweat shop - ds1 was happy for the first couple of mugs, but lost interest when he saw that there were 15 or so to go!

Ladymuck

wine again as usual for teacher and TA

I think wine or a tin of biscuits to go in the stafroom are the most appreciated at my ds1's school

The head, my dd's teacher and the two assistants are wonderful (call me an arse-licker if you like, but it's the truth) and as it's the only real chance I get to show them any real appreciation, I will be buying small gifts for all of them. If that makes me show-off or a brown-noser then so be it.

I always used to enjoy and appreciate choclates and we did share them around especially with non class teachers who dont usually get anything. It got out of hand last year with people trying to outdo each other, I got a €150 designer handbag and my friend got a €300 luxury hamper. not to say they werent appreciated but a bottle of wine would have been just as good. We always buy little presents for our kids too, just a token gesture but the kids loved it. Sorry i'm mixing my tenses here, ive just stopped teaching.

I think it's always worth asking - as every place is different.

When I asked at nursery last year, it turned out that they could really do with some nice new floor puzzles for the kids (as their current ones had got rather well loved over the previous year ) rather than have yet more edibles as they drowned in them every year. Whereas, on the flip side, school (as I've said) prefers the edibles because they can be more fairly shared out among all the people who contribute to the smooth running of the classroom.

My sister is a teacher and gets embarrassed by all the showy presents she gets, but loves the homemade ones.