Teachers - can I ask what your favourite end of yr presents were?

[ssd]

assuming you got the usual things from the kids, what were your favourites?

looking for ideas for next yr, wasn't too inspired this yr (chocs!!)

PS, I'm a mum, not a teacher

Chocs
wine
flowers

I did DS's teacher a basket thingy that DS made out of cardboard and put strawberries in it. Always fancied something like that for myself.

Vouchers

An ice scraper for my car.

We had been writing winter poems and I had told them how you can have ice on your car and that I used cd's I have in the car to srape it off. One lad thought it would be better if I had a proper scraper...

His mother was very embrarassed as he insited this is what I would have liked.

It was the best present ever!

My Ds 1 said his nursery teacher would like a yellow whiteboard pen. She cried when he gave it to her as she said he was right and that they were always looking for that pen. I did make her a cushion with her name on it for her chair but Ds's pen was by far the thing she liked!

had some body shop smellies one year - that went down well!

do teachers mind if a few parents get together and pool their money for a voucher - it's not too impersonal?

Nope, would be very pleased. Likewise wine, chocs, flowers.

One parent always gives champagne, and we are all always chuffed if we have one of her 4 children in our class, but I do think that's way too much to spend!

Best present I ever had was when I went off on maternity leave - a little girl gave me her 'special pebble' for good luck. I still have it

I got some Jo Malone bath oil!

Most ponciest and best received present everrrr

AFWIW I think it's best to club together to get something big from everyone. One can only have so many scented candles and bath salts.

oh feenie, that depressing, the thought of a teacher being chuffed to have a certain child in her class because the mum gives champagne for a gift, sounds like you are being bought

Oh don't be silly, it's just a nice treat!

My mum would say:

• no to 'favourite teacher' stuff
• yes to booze and NICE smellies
• No to cheapo smellies, and no to all soaps
• meh to chocolates (get eaten, but get too many)
• yes to plants
• yes to vouchers
• no to decorative items of any sort (unless you really know your teacher taste. And even then, probably not)
• yes to anything the kids have made themselves (but she would concede to be unusual here) - homemade food rather than 'items' again
• no to any bloody candles

And extra yes to anything that shows you have understood the teacher and taken her tastes into account (helps if you have a teacher with an obvious hobby/quirk)

my mum had one pupil who was from Belgium, and produced HUGE fresh boxes of belgian chocolates after every holiday and half term. She was outrageously popular

Ooh yes, I had a Ukranian girl whose parents gave me a tin of caviar and a bottle of chilli vodka once!

wine always goes down well imo

although o got homemade parsnip wine once

My mum loved getting vouchers - she could put them towards something she wouldn't necessarily buy out of her own cash ..

My mum HATED chocolates & candles - they didn't help her migraines ...

forkhandles - i am a teacher and I think most teachers would be delighted with clubbed together vouchers gift for two reasons:- firstly it shows that a majority of parents thought you were doing a cracking job to take the time, effort and energy to team up and come up with a plan, and secondly because when a teacher gets separate gifts - which is obviously still lovely as money and thought has gone into it to show parental appreciation - teachers end up getting duplicates or perhaps candles aren't really their thing. A pool of vouchers would allow a teacher to buy something she or he would really like but might not be able to afford and really treat themselves!
I would be dead chuffed with vouchers and am trying to organise likewise for my dd's teacher

I like all the usuals - wine, smellies, chocolate BUT the best thing ever is to get a letter/card from the parents telling me what a great job I've done with their child. I still have all the letters/cards I've been given over the years and look back at them at the end of each year (some of the 'children' are now 18+ and I taught them in the Infants!).

I had a child come into Reception this year whose Mum was in my first class! She's a young mum (17), but I felt SOOOOOOO old!

My friend, a teacher, confided that she would have preferred wine to the chocs and smellies. A reflection on the stress of the job, maybe.

Personally I like the wine option.

I do know 1 teacher who would buy a botle of wine a couple of days before the end of term, put it on his desk and announce to the class 'I'm not going to embarrass this person by naming them but thanks, it's my favourite kind of present." Come the last day he was given about a dozen bottles.

I'm getting DS's teacher a memory stick as I know she's not got one and they're always handy.

It is a stressful job at times, but not all teachers drink! I become the caretaker's best friend every Christmas, or I trade with teachers who would rather have booze than chocolate etc.

Personally I can't have too much chocolate, but even one bottle of booze is too many!

The nicest present ever was homemade shortbread, it was absolutely delicious.

Vouchers, wine.
Best pressie was when parents each put in a couple of pounds each (much cheaper for them)and gave me an Amazon voucher - fab!

No smellies, absolutely no candles!

And (as someone else said as well) no waste of money fave teacher stuff. They're just exploiting you! Don't fall for it!

My nicest one was a token for a manicure - started off the summer hols by getting my blue-tack/chalk/staple ruined hands and nails nicely repaired!

Me and another teacher have a swap going on Lindt and Fererro chocolates! They are v popular and we each only like one of them.