Readers shared some lovely ideas for teacher gifts. I know I’m more than a little late posting this so if your kids are done with school already, file these ideas away for another time or other occasion.
From Danielle:
I just made sets of little 3″ x 3″ monogram note cards (pictured) for my kids’ teachers. I noticed that throughout the year the teachers need little thank you notes and they can also be used as gift enclosures. Their small size makes them easy to make and use. I use paper scraps, a couple of paper punches and a alphabet rubber stamp for the monogram.
From Rachel:
We had each child in my daughter’s kindergarten class finish the sentence “I love Mrs. R. because …” and then they drew a picture and signed their name. We are getting the pictures copied and bound in a book with a picture of the class on the cover.
From Ginger:
My favorite teacher gift recently has been shutterfly photobooks!
I set them up so each child/parent has a page to work on…
They can put pictures, scan drawings, scan poems, notes, etc…
Add other text with the shutterfly editor, etc…
And then I add all the photos from the year in the back in collage form.
Any photo company would do a great job — we just personally love shutterfly!
And for the younger version you can have the kids write things like:
Favorite color, friend, part of the day, what they loved about the teacher, etc…
And for the preschool I would have bought just an 8×8 scrapbook at Michael’s and have each child paint and press their handprint then add whatever other memories they want to their page! I have never seen teacher’s faces light up so much and they have all told me they will treasure them for years!
Some teachers even leave them out on their coffee tables for when they have visitors over to share their ‘kids’ with them!
An inexpensive gift when you divide them over 20+/- students, so there may be extra money for a gift certificate or two!
From Melissa:
For the teacher who loves to garden, a gift certificate to a nursery or purchasing a plant such as a hydrangea bush that will bloom every year at this time will serve as a lovely reminder of the class.
I think teachers can always use gift cards to places like a bookstore, craftshop, or all purpose store depending on their interests. Try to personalize it with a handmade card, ornament, or bookmark…
I am a teacher. The gifts I like are letters from kids, but only if they are spontaneous. I guess I’d like a gift certificate to someplace cool to take my lady if it were from some rich parent, but usually gifts make me feel sad that people spent their hard-earned money on a hideous crystal chess set or on anything for me at all.
We’re giving our cool kindergarten teacher a gift certificate to Dish in Warren, as a class.
I’d like to hear ideas for what to give a teacher everyone hates.