Am I being tight?

clairibel

Its daft if you ask me, its all about money these days and who can spend the most, be individual and say no

My sons teacher today got a handmade card and she loved it, he has always made homemade cards because i feel its the thought and effort of the child that counts, not how good mum and dad are at spending money

peachyprice

No, you're not being tight. Your friend is suggesting an obsecene amount.

A token is all that is needed. My DD is taking in a tomato plant that she grew herself from seed and a card for her teacher. I don't do TA's.

trishmci

At my daughters nursery, all the mums have given a donation - no more than a fiver each and we will give that to the teachers on the last day - with the sugggestion that they have dinner some night on us! Saves any hassle of deciding what to buy/make for all 13 of them!

beckseven

Thanks for a big dose of normality everyone! Great advice and i really appreciate it. Buying choccies and a card and might get dS to pick some bunches of lavender from the garden for them as he had this in mind anyway.

tanmu

last year me and the kids made lemon shortbread hearts for the teachers/nursery teachers and wrapped them in pretty tissue paper tied with ribbon. We gave these along with a card - they loved them. Anything more is just way too OTT in my opinion. I think it's important to show appreciation as teachers spend a good chunk of the day with our children, but just because you spend more, doesn't make it more meaningful.

miggy

That sounds a lovely idea Beckseven. I'm sure it will be enjoyed but won't clutter either the house or the waistline too much!
A friend who teaches at secondary school said the most useful thng she could be given would be a box of pens - she provides so many to the children and they don't always come back to her. Ditto rulers, set squares and the like.

DUKE

£35! :eek: No way should you be paying out his amount of money. If you really wanted to buy something then there's stuff (cuddly animals with Teacher on & little books for Teacher) in The Works for £2.99 each. Or there's always Poundland. I'd agree with everyone else & get your child to make the Teacher a nice card.

delain

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

I agree with this, though I may not have phrased it in quite that way...and I am a teacher.

Its just a new marketing opportunity.

I certainly don't usually buy things, this year we are going to make shortbread biscuits and a little card for the teacher/TA.

I also only do it if I feel it's merited, all the teachers this year have been fantastic and done more than they needed to (sometimes I'd swear DD1 had been replaced with someone else's bright polite child!) and the twins are high maintenance and do take a lot more work than 'normal' kids.

Last year, when the twins had a 1:1 each I printed pictures (at home, so free!) of them pulling funny faces, real character shots, and one of the helpers got all choked up so they must have liked them!

£35 is just insane really. The teacher that got weepy also said that the things they remember and keep are the things the children made.

This is a wealthier area too and last year they asked everyone for £5 to get a spa type voucher for the class teacher. I didn't join in as we had our own projects on!

I don't think they're doing that this year though probably because the teacher is a younger lady and I don't think the posher mums are so keen on her. I think she's great though!

In response to the OP, don't feel pressured into doing anything, you don't want to line shops' pockets and the teachers would prefer an indiscriminate picture of something that was probably meant to be a horse anyway :rotfl:

redstararnie76

Wow, that puts things in perspective - I was considering whether it was over the top to include a tin of biscuits for the staff to share with the card we've got for nursery!
We did get a card and small present for my daughter's key worker when she went on maternity leave (about £3 worth - a sleepsuit for the baby), because my daughter was very fond of her and isn't likely to see her again, but I certainly wouldn't consider anything on that sort of scale!