Friday, December 11, 2009

Worth Reading: Holiday Gift Ideas for Teachers


You'll want to read this article!
Holiday Gift Ideas for Teachers
by Jo-Lynne at Musings of a Housewife


As a teacher, I often get asked about teacher gift ideas from friends. I can wholeheartedly second Jo-Lynne's advice (in addition, I happen to like the author's name)! While ornaments, candles and teacher mugs are nice, there's not a single teacher that doesn't have boxes full of them. It's always nice to get a thoughtful gift that can be used!

MY absolute favorite?

A gift card. Even if it's for a single DVD rental, one cup of coffee, or just enough to cover a Panera bagel, it won't add clutter or collect dust! Teachers often live on a tight budget (most of us don't enter the career for the money!) and dining out is not always an option.

Other honorable mentions:

~ Bath & Body Works items, especially the antibacterial soaps!

~
Personalized notepads or sticky notes from Vistaprint
You can even order a photo notepad, personalized with a class picture!

~
A charitable donation in your teacher's name
One teacher I know encourages her students to take their intended teacher gift money and use it to buy items for the church's food pantry! Laura has more ideas for charitable gifts here!

~ A heartfelt note of thanks
It costs nothing, but compliments are rarely shared with teachers (and the encouragement goes a long way).

Do you have a good teacher gift idea? Please share!

5 comments:

  1. My husband is a teacher, and I agree that gift cards are a great option. His students see him drinking coffee, so he often gets Starbuck's cards, which he uses to treat himself on Friday mornings. He also enjoys homemade gifts like cookies and fudge and cookies in a jar, but gift cards are hands down the favorite.

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  2. The kids and I every year decorate a box to put our finest Christmas baking into. Then they make a card thanking their teacher for all they do. I am particularly fond of both their teachers this year, they are fantastic. We may just throw in that gift card option too :) Thanks for the ideas.

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  3. This being my first year a "couponer" I have a huge bin of school supplies. So I ordered cute totes for under 3.00 and we are going to fill them up with supplies. I now think that we will include a gift card for a coffee or something a little more personal also.
    We donate to childrens childrens dept. at church as they encourage us not to buy each teacher a gift. We have always made a "super cookie" wrapped with a bow for each teacher and they love them.
    Jessica

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  4. Such cute ideas! Too bad the room mom's in my son k-5 are just making everyone turn in $10 instead of a personalized creative gift. *sigh* maybe next year!

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  5. Another great idea is a grade level appropriate book for the classroom library! When I was teaching that along with homemade treats (edible and non-edible alike) and gift card were my favorite gifts to get.

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