Teachers- what’s the most thoughtful thank you gift you’ve received?

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Coming up to the end of term and my DC’s Reception teachers have been incredible. I’d really like to get them a thoughtful gift each when my DC leaves their class in July. Teachers- what do you like to receive and what shows that a family has really thought about and appreciated you?

The gift really doesn't matter - to me.The handwritten cards with a thoughtful message last a lifetime.

The 3 best presents I ever received cost very little. One was a rubber that was a visual representation of an on-going joke I had with a child. One was a flower made by a child that summed up a situation that helped her build her confidence and was a huge step in her development and one was a keyring that had my 'catchphrase' stamped on it.

There were all given to me 6 or more years ago (I've changed jobs since) and I still have them and still use the keyring everyday.

Big gestures were never as good as something personal.

Agree with PP
My best 3 presents:
A key ring bought with child’s pocket money linked to a sport we often discussed
A picture a child drew - talented Y5 child, I’d love to know if she is doing something arty now.
A hand decorated plate with home made mince pies
Go for a card with a personal message and 1 for the headteacher too to let them know how fab the teacher has been.

I am just coming to the end of my 23rd year of teaching and my three favourite gifts in that time are (in no particular order):

• a bath robe from a child I taught for 2 years! It might seem like a strange gift but I was moving overseas to a cold, snowy location on an international job swap! This was in 2003 and I still wear the bath robe on a daily basis.
• a poem that a child wrote that included so many of the things that had happened throughout the year. It was framed and is still on display in my classroom.
• a drawing a child did of my favourite things that I had mentioned or shared or used over the year. He finished it the night before the last day of Y6 and was on tenterhooks all morning until his mum brought it in having taken it to be framed. It is still on display in my classroom.

I don’t do my job to receive gifts and really appreciate any and every gift I receive. The child/parent who gave me a bag of red bounties (my favourite chocolate) and 4 cans of Dr Pepper (my favourite drink) also sticks in my mind, as do the children who gave books for my class library.

Nursery Nurse/Nanny here, like others have said not so much the presents, though I have had some lovely ones, it is the cards, thoughtful messages and pictures that are really special. I still have ones from 20 years ago in my memory box and a A4 Christmas card of a handprint Christmas Tree from 2004 goes up on my wall every Christmas, nowadays alongside the artwork my own DD has made.

I have kept cards in my memory box. Definitely treasured, to know you're appreciated. Teaching can be wearing sometimes so a boost knowing a parent appreciates you is great. Even better if you mention to the headteacher you think that teacher is great, too!

My best present was a packet of pound shop sticky ninjas bought by a boy who was almost non-verbal (in Reception) but apparently pointed at them and said my name (we'd had some in class at some point). The ninjas are long gone but the memory of his dad telling me is a sweet memory.

The most useful is a blanket (or maybe a shawl?) that I keep in my sofa and wrap up in to get cosy while watching TV. It's just soft and warm and I've had it about 6 years but I use it most days!

Agree with the card with comments about the difference you have made to that child- priceless. Things I have kept- one pot teapot and cup from a Mum who knew she had been a challenging parent and thanked me for listening to her; a cushion hand made and embroidered by the parent; stationery.

A "world's best teacher" certificate, handmade with glitter pens, put in a frame, from a yr 11 boy. Still have it 20 years on. I also have some books where all the kids in the leaving year 11 class wrote me a message. Oh, and a lipstick in a way-to-young-for-me colour that 2 year 11 girls bought me with their pocket money - was touched by that a) it was not a wealthy area, and b) they thought I could pull it off!

a bar of chocolate from a child who remembered I said it was my favourite one time, and decided to get it off her own back.

some small art supplies for a hobby I enjoyed. It was an older child and she went out of her way to find something she thought that would be related

a chunky bead necklace that one of the mums had chosen for me based on the colours I often wore. It wasn't expensive or fancy, but the colours were just exactly right.

I've also enjoyed a gift certificate for a coffee and cake at a cafe, gift certificates for plants, books, etc that are hard for someone to choose or awkward timing (plants just before a holiday aren't always good). Not large values necessarily, but hugely appreciated because it again showed that there was a specific reason why they chose that particular gift certificate, and I thought of them when I had my cake or whatever.

I don't get that many gifts, and don't expect them, but I do appreciate anything I am given, and especially when there is a personal element to it - and obviously cards are often the most personal. I once got a card several years later, and it absolutely made my day.

A tiny card yesterday thanking me for everything I had done, telling me that they had absolutely loved my lessons and that they will miss me.

A bookmark that a child designed for me because they knew I love reading. That and homemade cards with messages In.

Cards and notes.
Not the gifts - always the messages.

Having said that, I was once given a slanted (hard to describe) Be Nice To Me I've Had A Hard Day mug which used to fascinate the children when it was on my desk - but you are not allowed mugs on desks now, so that is not an option.
A friend is given a £5 to the child's family's cafe each term - enough for coffee and cake, but as a couple of us always go with her, the cafe does quite well out of their £5 outlay!

Slanted mug - not quite this one but similar.
images.app.goo.gl/GQDuLRijGEXzyqQG7

It's the children's pictures, cards and handwritten messages I cherish, I have kept all of them.
In terms of best gift, a class made me one of those photo book things that compiled pics of the children with messages starting 'I love Mrs* because...'
Loveliest present ever. I never expect presents but was so touched by the thought that went into that gift.

A hand drawn picture of me (as a skeleton) doing a science experiment. Framed. From a year 13 student :)

These things are so lovely. I am welling up at the effort put in by children to do something nice for someone they have built a relationship with and who has become so valued.

At one point during the year, teaching year 6, we'd been sharing silly stories and I'd told my class that my favourite treat when I was little were those little kinder chocolate sticks. You didn't used to be able to get them in this country so we only got them if my dad had been to Germany or Belgium on business. It was the treat I would eat until I felt sick and then keep eating because I loved it so much.

On the last day of term one child gave me a pack of kinder chocolate sticks and I cried. It had been such a throwaway conversation, much earlier in the year, but they'd remembered. The chocolate was cheap but the sentiment was priceless.

I once got a lovely gift which was a kilner jar full of handwritten messages, one from each student in the class. One of the girls had marbled some paper and the boys had written things like 'I know I didn't do much work Miss but I did enjoy the lessons' . I also used to use KitKats a lot as examples in lessons (Economics) and one student bought lots of different sizes of KitKat and put a bow round them!

I also worked somewhere rather posh where the students clubbed together and got me vouchers for the Royal Opera House.

The best gifts are personal (or if you don't know the teacher very well, stationery always goes down well). My own family have never thought to get me KitKats or opera vouchers. I guess my students know me better.

I had a group of parents club together and buy me a cherry tree. One of them was a gardener and she came and planted it in my garden for me.

I'm not a teacher, but my mum taught from when she was 18 and went to teacher training college till she was 60. She'd get loads of mugs, flowers, chocs etc etc. But when I was sorting through her stuff after she died last year, I found an envelope where she had kept what were obviously her favourite child drawn cards from over the years, some of them more than 50 years old as they were in her maiden name and those made me cry. I didn't have to throw away any teacher mugs, but there were some very much loved books that she would have read to her class which had been given to them

A parent caught me after school and let me know in secret that her 8/9 year old son had been working on a picture for me every night. He was a sporty, busy child and she was shocked he was sitting down and colouring constantly. The picture in the end was almost a whole sheet of yellow, I forget what the meaning was but I absolutely loved it for all the effort and dedication and love that he put into it, for me. I had some lovely presents over the years but this is one of the most cherished, twenty years later!

I've just been given a book which I'd been talking to a child about as a birthday present. It's honestly the loveliest gift I have ever received- so so thoughtful.

I was given a whistle with my name engraved on it when I was a trainee teacher by a parent and I still have it, use it and love it.

I should add, I now give the same present to the trainee teachers that I mentor.

I’ve always treasured cards with beautiful messages acknowledging all I did for a child.

I’ve liked framed ‘wordle’ style gifts- thoughtful to list words which describe me.

Presents, although thoughtful, are not necessary. If chocolates or wine are given it’s nice to be asked what type you like as a teacher. Children usually find out favourite chocolates. I’d rather my LSAs were gifted than me.

If you’re a parent of a child who takes up a lot of school time/ where a lot of support is given, please do say thank you. We find in schools that where the most is given, there is often the least amount of appreciation expressed.