Gift Ideas for Teachers/Teaching Assistants/Dinner Ladies

My son usually wants to take a gift in too....last year i got a big wicker basket from pond shop and filled it with home made biscuits that my son had made and iced, homemade truffles and fudge which again he made and snowman soup, but we also put in satches of coffee and tea too with 4 cup (not best teacher ones) just some nice normal ones which can then be used by all in the staff room.

This year he wants to make a biscuit board for the whole staff room, so we are going to make 4 cookie xmas tree's and he is going to do most of it himself and then make some various xmas shapes biscuits, put them all on a tray and wrap in cellophane with a message handwritten by my son....it can then be left in the staff room for them all to enjoy.

What about a nice bookmark? or a nice pen with their name on? maybe not the most luxurious of ideas but will certainly get used lots I would have thought.

Last time we got ours some lovely fabric covered beaded notebooks from Accessorize - thought they were very pretty and would come in useful too.

Another vote here for anything made by the child itself! Doesn't have to be expensive, or particularly crafty, but will mean a lot more than commercial carp!
Over the last few years, my daughters have personalised mugs (29p each from good old Woolies RIP) and added hot chocolate/coffee sachets, decorated clear pencil cases (foam letters to spell out teachers name), decorated cheap notebooks and, more recently, home baked cookies (shhh - I used a packet mix - currently 3 for 2 at Tesco) and presented them in an old chinese takeaway container covered in stickers. Each time our gifts have been gratefully recieved and have cost a fraction of 'shop bought'.
Just to add, my daughter left primary this year and we made a huge batch (well, 3 batches actually) of rocky road (google nigellas bog standard recipe and use supermarket value biccies and chocolate) and presented each of her teachers/TAs with a few pieces each then put the rest in an old ice cream container and asked someone to plonk it in the staff room. Cost just a few pounds but went down a storm - I was messaged on fb asking for the recipe by the office staff and a TA spotted some in my youngest's lunch box last week and said 'Oh, I remember when your sister made me some...' so I think it was a hit!
Other than that, maybe something to use in the classroom? One year my DDs class ran out of glue sticks so a quick trip to home bargains and for less than the cost of a bottle of wine, we sent a load of cheapo glue sticks and some glitter glue! This year, I'm sending in a couple of mega packs of pencils bought from asda for 48p!

My wife is a teacher, and the best present is a voucher of some sorts, as combined with other vouchers, makes a very nice, wanted present of her choosing.

I agree that mugs are plentiful in the house, there is only so much chocolate that you can eat and flowers (cut or potted) only last a short period.

Although vouchers may seem impersonal, when grouped, they are far more meaningful. We have several really nice presents around the house that we use often, and the OH knows exactly who bought them for her.

as someone who works in a school as a technician - boxes of biccies that we can all share, same with choccies.

lots of homemade cakes, biccies etc. dont seem so appealing when they've been in a bag all day carried around the school.

as a gift for a specific teacher - booze or gift cards or a homemade card type thing

mugs, pens etc no thanks! we have hundreds