Tell notonthehighstreet.com what you’d give a great teacher – chance to win £300 voucher - plus teachers: share your ideal gift NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

The end of the school year is fast approaching, (or perhaps already here for some of you), and notonthehighstreet.com are keen to hear how your children show appreciation to their teachers at the end of the school year.

Here’s what notonthehighstreet.com have to say: “Whether you're overjoyed about the little one's grades or just want to say thanks for coping with a whole class of kids, we've hundreds of brilliant gift ideas that'll leave teacher smiling 'til next term”

Visit this page they have pulled together with ideas for teachers gifts and tell us which ones you think your child’s teacher would love to receive (and you’d love to give!) by leaving a comment below.

Teachers of Mumsnet, we know you might well say no gift is necessary but if your arm was twisted, we’d also love to know what your ideal end of year gift would be.

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 notonthehighstreet.com voucher!

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

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I buy a gift (nice hand cream or something for ladies, not sure what the male teacher will get this year....) and we make home made biscuits or fudge. This year there's a choir teacher and violin teacher to think of too so I've just ordered a musical note shaped biscuit cutter.

My son (8) has suggested we buy his teacher a new David Walliams book for him to read to his next class .

One of the best things I ever got was a mug with a picture of me and two students on it. The words 'we will never forget how you were always there for us' where written on it.

Some fab ideas on that link, I always struggle finding presents that's aren't naff!

We usually do a handwritten letter, and a small token. We have lots of student teachers and TAs to buy for as well, so it can get very expensive with 2 DC.

I'm the spawn of two teachers and they always liked a personal message in a card and a bottle of plonk so I normally go with that. They dreaded Bath Milk from the Body Shop (this was the 90s)....

We try and make something + bottle. This year hama bead luggage tags!

I love anything handmade, letters or cards are lovely and I always appreciate flowers.

My favourite gifts are the kind that link to a shared experience with the child. For example one child gave me a lavender plant because we'd made lavender bags for a school fete and I'd mentioned that I loved them. Another pupil brought me a small stuffed frog because we had a long standing joke that when she sneezed she sounded like a frog.

love the giving to charity ideas in some of the comments - had never thought of that as a teacher gift - but it is a great idea. If i have time i like to make personalised biscuits and get the kids to write a card or note. If short of time, tends to be nice chocolates. Prefer to do individual gift as once gave a tenner for group gift and then my son insisted on buying something that cost 30 quid so I spend £40 on one teachers gift! She was amazing though. For final year of primary got nice wine and chocolates for around 8 of my son's teachers - that was another expensive year! I guess we've had the misfortune of witnessing some really bad teachers and so now we have good ones we want to show that we value and appreciate them.

On the ideas website - love that there are lots of personalised ideas - the key ring, the class names apple, and the bags I like a lot.

When I was at school I never gave any of my teachers a thank you at all. My DD is 16 and just completed her GCSE's and has also never given a thank you gift. My 6 year old was home schooled until February and settled very well into school and has told me he wants to make his teacher a thank you card but not the TAs.

A handmade card and then some wine - I take the view I would like wine, so it's pretty possible they would like wine too after dealing with my two!

A handmade card which child writes inside what they have enjoyed most that year
Handmade/bought card which parent writes the positives from the past school year in

This is a self esteem boost, easy to keep, shows thought, good to show (future) employer...

I have a lot of friends and family who are teachers and they (whilst not wanting to seem ungrateful) have huge collections of awful mugs so when deciding on a gift for my daughters nursery teachers I was going to get them some flowers, pretty, temporary and don't have to cost the earth but then another mum (far more organised than I) decided to do a collection. It's not a huge class (12) but the two teachers got a nice gift voucher and a sweetie each.

I'd rather a collection and gift from whole class and I bet teachers would - who wants 10 pen sets and 10 best teacher mugs all from the same local supermarket ! If I was in charge of buying a class gift I would go for something like a gift voucher for a shop that suited the teacher eg Garden centre vouchers for the teacher with a classroom windowsill full of plants, sports shop for the maths teacher that always goes on about what sport he did at the weekend. It makes more sense than a lot of repeated gifts and sometimes useless toiletries they wont ever use and give to the school raffle!

The parents of the pupils in my son's class usually put together a small amount ( £1—£2) each and we buy the teacher a gift voucher for between £30 & £60. This seems like a more affordable way of showing the teacher appreciation and better for the teacher than receiving 30 boxes of chocolates.

Our school does class collections, makes it easier she gets gift vouchers not a pile of small things.

Ds has also done handmade cards which seem a bit more personal.

I'm fortunate that my 8 year old little girl is pretty artistic so it's a bit of a tradition for her to make a picture for her teacher with 'thanks for being a great teacher' or something similar on it which we then frame. I know that her teachers adore them, and most go up in home offices or similar. They have such a tough job and I think the gift always brings a smile to their face!

By drawing them a picture or writing a poem - it is not something I would spend money on.

In my daughters school, one or two of the parents in each year take it upon themselves to collect donations from the parents which are used to get a collective gift.
This must be better than getting 20 or 30 boxes of chocolates.

I'm a teacher, and my ideal gift is either wine , or a card with messages from my students in. I love looking back at their messages years later and remembering them all!

My son likes picking flowers, leaves and gather sticks on route from school and share his collection either me and our home. An idea We had was to make a little bouquet fom his nick nacks to give to his teacher at end of term, along with the complementary card of course. Previously, had baked cupcakes as pressies.

My DS goes to a special school so our relationship with the teachers/TAs are probably more involved than most - DS also has challenging behaviour and the staff have shown real commitment in supporting him. I always bring a few boxes of chocolates at the end of term for the various staff members which has always gone down well - I know a few of them don't drink so wine is generally avoided. It isn't practical to arrange a class collection as most children go by minibus or taxi so we don't have much contact with other parents.

We prefer to make something for teachers.

We buy them some (cheapish) chocolate as there are a lot of them. The kids write their own cards, with a personal message - thanks for the last year...I really liked...etc.
Glad to do it as am really appreciative of the teachers at the DC school.

I like to buy a small token of appreciation for my children's teachers and assistants. I like to give a card that my children have written (in their best handwriting as I hover over!). My son had a wonderful teacher for two years so we spent more on her that year (a paperweight) but only because she was so so lovely.

My daughter is autistic and so has a 1-1 teacher, she has really helped my daughter and is so amazing & patient. We will be getting her a nice big box of chocs. I also buy a gift for her bus driver (who picks her up&drops her off in the mini bus each day)