Presents for teachers

[atestingtime]

I too can confess to keeping many a handmade gift received from children I taught - the fairy on the top of our tree each year is a dough angel from a girl who is probably decorating her own one with children now - well not now - at Christmas - that would be weird!

I loved the gifts that made me smile - big tub of chocolate covered coffee beans from girl called Coco comes to mind. All the cards made and written by children just say so much, priceless.

Others I remember are the Y6 boy with the huge bunch of sunflowers he took round and handed one at a time with muffled thanks to each teacher/secretary/TA in the school, tasting club membership of a certain Hotel of Chocolate from a class collection, a box of chocolates arrived once a month for a whole year and was a great way keep the memory of a good class going.

Team shirts, rugby or football, with names on the back are a good gift for male teachers. Eldest DS organised a collection and bought really cute, boxed, baby trainers for male teacher when he became a Dad - teacher not DS - time to stop, my ability to write coherently has left me!

[jersey girl]

hi can anyone recommend a decent inexpensive wine for a male teacher. not a wine drinker myself so a little lost. thanks

[Snowdrops]

It may be best to find out if he likes red or white - he could like both and then you'll have lots of choice (I can't stand red wine myself and many's a time I've been bought a present and given it straight to oh ). You could always ask in the staff room, someone's sure to know

[doodles]

As DS1 was leaving his prep school last week the thought of all the presents I would need to buy was sending me and my bank account into a spin. Then I read this thread and taking advice from here DS wrote a personal postcard to every teacher he wanted to - this came to about 15 as he had been there since he was 4 - and do you know I have had more comments and thanks for those cards than I have ever had for end of year presents. The teachers and support staff really seemed touched that he had bothered to write to them (in most cases it was only a couple of lines) and had made the effort to do it himself.

Thanks for the advice it worked a treat.

[turtleglos]

My ds1 has discovered that he seems to have a talent for writing poetry and on his last day of school he had his teacher(one of the tougher ones)in tears with a poem he had written for her!
She has been so supportive and rebuilt his confidence after he was bullied the previous year that he wanted to do something nice for her.

[KS10]

Update ...

The collection idea did not work out so that was quickly scrapped. Went to the sales and saw some lovely stuff in a dept store at Brent X and ordered some seriously reduced Folio books online. Unfortunately I have to replace one of the presents as I loved it so much I decided to keep it for myself!

DS would never think of writing something nice so I have given him a nudge (verging on a prod) in the right direction.

[wonderwoman]

My fav pressies this year - 2 boiled sweets from the most delightful child, he saved them specially. Also a thank you card with horses, because the child knows I ride, carefully chosen. Of course it is very kind of parents to buy gifts and I'm always surprised by their generosity, but those two stood out.

[millie33]

I expect everyone has now bought their gifts and enjoying the holidays with their children! As a teacher I feel that gift buying at Christmas and end of the year has become too much. I received loads of lovely presents from my class this year, but the cards and the words they actually write inside them are this most important and really let you know what the children feel, rather than a gift that Mum has gone out to buy. I spoke to a a fellow member of staff about asking the children not to bring in presents next year - but her reponse was that they wouldn't if they didn't want to. Which I suppose is fair enough - it's just that it's almost the expected thing to do and all we are doing is our job. I'll miss my class loads - they were a fab year

[KS10]

I agree with your colleague, millie33, that if they didn't want to they wouldn't. It is one of the few ways in which we can say thank you. Anyway, it tends to stop when they get to secondary as it's no longer cool! As for what the kids write, yes, it is lovely when they write from the heart (DD) but sometimes they don't say what they mean for whatever reason (DS) which means that you won't find out how much you were appreciated. Btw, I would love for my kids to be one of those desperate to spend the little money they have on a bar of chocolate for the teacher, but they haven't yet suggested it. I could put the idea into their heads but it woudn't be the same.

[SSM]

I actually disagree KS10, a lot of parents/kids feel obliged to buy presents as everyone is giving presents and they would stand out.

At my DSs indie, everyone was asked to contribute so that a large present would be bought for the teachers. However, after the first Christmas I realised that the majority of parents still bought individual presents (I say bought because they were never made, and would usually be gifts worth £10-£15).

My children used to feel left out if they went in empty handed and so would always want to take a present. In the end I resorted to home made cakes/biscuits which my DSs help to make or small bunches of Daffodils/tulips nicely wrapped.