Gift Ideas for Teachers/Teaching Assistants/Dinne...

[suemj]

Hi Ladies (and any gents that may be on here),

It's that time of year again where I'm trying to wrack my brains for ideas on what to give my son's teachers etc... for xmas gifts.

I was wondering if any of you have any suggestions - One that springs to mind are brownies in a jar, sock jam etc... or any thing that may be relatively easy to make and a bit unique.

Many thanks in anticipation of suggestions!

Sue xx

[wallbash]

My qualifications ... wife is /has been a teacher for over thirty years.
Forget perfume ( unless you do your homework) forget chocolate ...
Alcohol works ..... M&S vouchers are nice

PS most gifts! will be recycled via charity shops. Does this seem harsh??
Yes , but at least I am honest.

[MrsCrafty]

Originally Posted by wallbash

My qualifications ... wife is /has been a teacher for over thirty years.
Forget perfume ( unless you do your homework) forget chocolate ...
Alcohol works ..... M&S vouchers are nice

PS most gifts! will be recycled via charity shops. Does this seem harsh??
Yes , but at least I am honest.

Nope not harsh. Where on earth would you put 30 teacher mugs/photo frames etc. I have 4 and I am not a flipping teacher but know some

I reckon a sock cupcake would be nice. Everyone needs nice socks. dressed up in a bit of cello with ribbon and it would look lovely.

Also peg fridge magnets, see the flying pig thread or just type in pegs and look in this part of the forum.

Funny though, all of the teachers I know never ever give the wine away.

[alterbridgefan]

Hi for the past few years i have bought a cheap wine glass and engraved 'Best Teacher & name' onto the glass and let my child draw a picture and sign their name and have engraved that on too with a cheap engraver or something like a dremel that has tools to engrave. Very cheap, unique and personal! Only my time taken.

[wallbash]

What did we give our 'kids' teachers at Xmas ?
We dropped off the largest tin of chocolate ( and somehow it had to be chocolate) biscuits to the staff room in the middle of December , don't leave it to the last day.

Where on earth would you put 30 teacher mugs/photo frames etc.

yes we all see the influence of JS / Tesco etc in that.

[Rachel021967]

This year my daughter is going to make bird cake for her teachers with a homemade card.

[slummymummyof3]

Avoid smellies, mugs, candles etc - There is a limit as to what one person can do with 30 of these.....hence the charity shop or indeed the school christmas fete a couple of years down the line. ???Use your Debenhams vouchers!!

[mum2one]

what about a pen with their name on it, if you go through topcashback, then vistaprint, you get £5 from topcash back, and you can get some freebies, just pay postage.

[phunkles]

Dinner ladies?really??

Teaching Assistants - chocs/wine will always get eaten/drank

I wouldnt buy any of the best teacher stuff unless your childs teacher was an nqt and would appreciate it.

Truthfully If your a school gate mum Id try and arrange something with a few other classmates mums and club together and buy a M&S gift card or something seriously Id rather have a Tenner gift card than some random crap smelly set that will end up back in the school summer fair tombola stand

[bravobeastie]

I've made 5 pots of gold (still need to add scratchcards) but they have cost me a grand total of £2 for all of them. Debenhams are selling HUGE bags of gold coins for £6, I used my £5 Debenhams voucher so only paid £1. Hubby had a voucher too so got the 2 bags for £2

[Tamster150]

I'm a teacher. I always feel so guilty when I am given a gift by a family that I know have little income coming in. (especially because the gift usually gets forwarded on to the above mentioned places)

I would much prefer just a home made card, or a card signed by the child at least.

I buy my son's pre-school teachers a large bar of chocolate each (usually Aero or Galaxy as it always seems to be on sale for £1) and then my son "draws" on a piece of paper, adds some stickers and I use this to wrap the chocolate. On the FlyingPig thread there are lots of fab ideas for covering chocolate bars.

At my friend's school, the parents in each class all put £1 in a collection and then buy the teacher a gift voucher.

[Snowy Owl]

I've been a teacher for 8 years now and for most of that I've been support for learning / job share so the gifts aren't as forthcoming as other lucky teachers!!! The gifts I appreciate the most are the ones that the kids have helped choose/written the cards. However wine is a good, well-appreciated one!

I also like chocolate, but too much can be difficult to store of your flat is small. I did manage and one year opened my last box in June!

Mugs - i seriously have too many as it is (tea jenny)

Smellies can be good - I'm on a budget so any treats appreciated..

Presents for the staff room good - especially if the family has 2/3 plus kids in the school

Snowy

[Simba_25]

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.

[suemj]

Thanks everyone, it's good to get feedback on what others would do. I have never been one for buying the best teacher mugs and stuff as I figure they're too easy come easy go and could imagine the poor teacher having shed loads of them, so I've always tried to make handmade cards and then do a bit of chocolate and then I've given some craft items, some sort of punch for instance, but this can work out expensive. So this year I do want to try and go down the 'personalising' something, whether it's a chocolate bar, doing the sock cupcakes etc. Or may make some biscuits and wrap in nice cellophane packaging. Where is it best to get cellophane?

So does no one like the idea of the Cookies or Brownies in a Jar idea? Is that a no go?

Please do keep the ideas coming, it's especially useful getting an insight to what teachers themselves think.

As for Dinner ladies, I haven't personally ever given to any of them as wouldn't know where to start and would be afraid of missing someone out, whereas my best friend has done!

Many thanks,

Sue xx

[Greytlove]

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.

[mr_knight]

I'm a teacher but for older students so don't really get bought gifts. I really like the sock cupcake idea or the pots of gold. I'm not a fan of smellies as there are lots I can't use (also see my comment in the regifting thread about my recycled gift with the added extra of a few pubes ) The shared gift voucher would be so nice. I also like chocolate and can never have too much. But all of us teachers appreciate a nice box of biccy's in the staffroom. I don't drink alcohol but that is usually a good gift to buy.

I do have a worlds greatest Teaching assistant magnet and photo holder which mean the world to me as a student with reading difficulties bought me it with their own money (they thought it said greatest teacher). Although I wouldn't like 30 of these this does mean a lot to me.

[karenrel]

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!

[babyboysmommy]

Does everyone give their child's teacher & TA a gift? I was just going to get DS to make them cards. Is that not considered a politically correct thing to do? Should we send in gifts as well?

[serverdog]

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.

[nic2075]

My oh is a teacher and usually comes home with 12 boxes of chocs, at least 5 bottles of wine and umpteen best teacher pens, mugs etc.

The wine is always drunk over the Xmas period. Most of the chocs are regifted or put in a bowl for all visitors to eat.

This year I'll be doing snowman soup or mini bottles of wine and fererro rocher. The kids do homemade cards and help make the snoman soup.