To buy or not to buy...Teacher's presents

themaccas

I caved in to the commercial pressure this year and ds gave his teacher a homemade card and a starbucks £5 gift card.

meeps

it was my 4.5 year old son's last ever day at pre-school today and it does seem to be the done thing to give a gift - and there are 7 members of staff, so with a tight budget we went to ikea and got 7 plants for 29p each, 7 pots for 29p each and my son decorated them - so, 'gift wrapped plants' that they might not really want but they were very appreciative and I was glad we did it.

thriftlady_2

meeps wrote: »

it was my 4.5 year old son's last ever day at pre-school today and it does seem to be the done thing to give a gift - and there are 7 members of staff, so with a tight budget we went to ikea and got 7 plants for 29p each, 7 pots for 29p each and my son decorated them - so, 'gift wrapped plants' that they might not really want but they were very appreciative and I was glad we did it.

I think if I'd seen those I'd have bought them too- bargain -no, the plants I saw in my playground last week were great big rose bushes in terracotta pots covered in bows etc. There did seem to be a teensy bit of competition going on there:D

I gave in actually and went home and made a batch of coconut ice for the y6 staff to share. Homemade stuff is always appreciated.

The thing is where do you stop? In primary schools these days you have the teacher (my two had 5 teachers between them this year due to job shares and mat leave), the TA, then there are those kids who give to the dinner ladies too:rolleyes: and the head.

annie_d

My husband is primary school teacher. He receives gifts at the end of each term and (dreadfully, i think) bins the majority of them. Sad (and rude) but true.

tiff

Which is why its such a waste. Someone I know bought a present for her son's teacher and he doesnt even want to give it to her so Mum is going to hand it in to the office! Its just crazy, it should be child led and meaningful imho.

victory

I am in the buy camp but only because the little one insists that everyone else does and he does not want to be left out and look as if he is th only one that hasn't given a present:rolleyes: it is normally something from the 75% off boots sale back in Jan, a home made card and that, one of my friends really used to go OTT and buy not only the 2 teachers but the teachers assistants, the ones that helped the kids read, the dinner lady, I mean she spent a small fortune and a long time on the last day of term handing out these perfectly wrapped presents for one and all, mad:rolleyes:

morganb

I made nursery staff a cake today,they were chuffed!

barjam_2

my kids usually take in things that are edible/drinkable and it's down to the individual teacher if they want to share with other teachers in the staff room or take them home and eat/drink themselves;)

tootie

As a secondary school teacher, the best gift a student can give is a "thank you". A card - bought or handmade is nice but people are right, you don't need to give anything.

As a suggestion, if a little one wants to give a gift "because everyone else does" then why not something handmade from the child?? It means a whole lot more to see soething a child has put effort into

arlybarly

Reading this thread reminded me of a few years ago when my ds left juniors to go to secondary school and one of the parents bought the teacher GOLD EARRINGS, i mean, how over the top was this.