subject: Great End-of-the-year Gifts For Teachers [print this page] The school year is drawing to a closeThe school year is drawing to a close. That means its time to say thank you for all the hard work your childs teachers put in this year. Choosing the right gift for an educator can seem difficult whether you are in charge of only your childs gift or a class-wide present. We put together a few tips and tricks to make gift buying a breeze for parents of Catholic elementary school students to middle schoolers through Catholic high school graduates.
If you do not know where to begin, consider asking other school staff members about a teachers interests. This is best when you have a young child in elementary school, as you will likely only be purchasing a gift for one teacher. If you still do not have any good ideas, consider getting a gift card. Cards for bookstores, movies, local restaurants, spas and even school supply stores will all be appreciated by any teacher. Try to stay away from making a food item. Be it cookies, jams, sauces or brownies, a teacher can only eat so many sweet treats. If every parent in the class baked a dozen cookies for one teacher, most would probably go to waste.
For those parents in charge of a whole class gift, the task may seem even more daunting. Again, the following suggestions will work best for elementary school or even middle school students who have only one or two teachers.
Consider sending letters home with your childs classmates and request the parents anonymously give the amount they wish. Encourage the parents to send the money to school with their child to deliver to your child. Also, include two to three gift suggestions in your letter and request the parents to include a vote with their contribution. This will take the gift choosing pressure off other parents, and, because everyone is voting, it takes the pressure off you as well.
If you know a little bit about the teacher, you can plan a personalized class gift. If he or she is getting ready for a vacation at the end of the school year, put together a beach tote with a disposable camera, photo album and gift card to a book store for beach reading. If your students teacher is a new mom or dad, give a restaurant or movie theater gift card for a night on the town. You can take the less expensive route and have each child in the class make a page for a memory book. Encourage the children to write the teacher a small note and decorate the page. Collect the pages, find an appropriately sized book and you can put the project together in no time!
For high school teachers, try to find a time when a group of parents can visit the school and bring a treat to the teachers lounge. Make the educators breakfast, throw a banana split party or just bring specialty coffees and pastries.
Remember, the gift does not have to cost a lot to make the teacher feel appreciated! Put a class picture or field trip photo in a wide-border frame. Have each child sign the frame with a special message. Or you could take the photo and turn it into a mouse pad for the teachers desk. Even something as simple as a handwritten thank you note will make your son or daughters teacher feel appreciated. No matter what you do, please take time to say thanks to an educator before the school year ends. They will appreciate it more than you can realize!
