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More than an Apple
Heartfelt gift ideas for teacher that break the mold
It's natural to want to find nice gifts for teachers. After all, they spend six-plus hours a day, five days a week with your child. But this year, instead shopping, why not encourage the kids to make or do something special? After all, teachers say heartfelt gifts are their favorites (honest!).
Pay it forward
"(Teachers) never expect to receive gifts. We really don't," says Ann Debien, a kindergarten teacher of nearly 30 years currently at Tonda Elementary School in Canton. "When I was a young teacher and kids would bring me gifts, I was always so thankful and appreciative."
But it wasn't always something she needed. Holiday gifts could add up to a lot of popcorn tins, mugs, and other trinkets. So Debien began to brainstorm ways her students could pool efforts to give a gift to serve others.
For the last few years, around the first week of December, Debien sends out a letter to her students' parents, letting them know that in lieu of gifts, she would ask parents and students – if they're interested – to donate to a cause.
In the past, she's had her students collect food items to provide dinner for families that would otherwise go without a holiday meal; she's signed up to give gifts to families in need through the Salvation Army
Last year, she suggested her students donate to Maybury Farm in Northville. Kids gave money to "adopt" animals there; through their collected funds, Debien was able to sign up to provide food and care for a bunny, a sheep and a goat.
"I let the students vote on which animals we should adopt," says Debien. Later in the school year, students took a field trip to the farm to visit "their" animals.
Get creative
While Debien appreciates her students' desire to get her something special, she says the best holiday gift is something that the student has created. That's right. No expensive gift basket, no pricey gift certificate; just a card made with crayon and paper.
"I don't think any teacher can really express how much they love receiving those cards," says Debien. "Getting something students created on their own, that shows how much they've learned. I can't stress enough how much teachers like seeing something they've drawn and written. It's a compliment."
When students bring in a card, Debien tries to make a big deal out it, thanking the child and hanging it up near her desk for the whole class to see. The cards, which usually say something like, "I love you," "You're my favorite teacher," or "You're the best," stay up even after the holidays.
Joyce Bayer, a kindergarten teacher for over 20 years, agrees that teachers' favorite gifts are those that come straight from students' handiwork. As a kindergarten teacher at a charter school in Detroit, she says many of her students' parents don't have extra money to spend on gifts for their own kids, let alone offering presents to teachers.
She suggests that if kids insist on giving their teachers gifts, take them to the Dollar Tree or another discount store, and let them pick out something inexpensive. "One year one of my students gave me a scarf from the dollar store that the parent had put my name on," remembers Bayer.
Still, Bayer's favorite gifts, like Debien's, are the handmade sentiments. "I love getting the cards with glitter sprinkled all over and crazy spelling," she says. "It just shows you how much (the students) appreciate you. You know it's coming straight from the heart."
Great ideas. Teacher gifts are always a tough thing to decide about.
I taught nursery school for a year and still remember my pleasure at receiving a vial of massage oil from a student whose mom was a massage therapist, decorated by my student with glitter. It was one of my favorite gifts that Christmas. Sometimes a little imagination will produce a heartfelt gift that does not cost a lot but means so much to the recipient.
These are great ideas. With many teachers in the family, I've seen how these little trinkets pile up.
My daughter's preschool used to give us money back from the per week fee if we pulled her out for vacation. So whenever we went on vacation, I just told the director to keep the money (I'd already budgeted for it and it automatically came out of our checking account) and instead give it as a bonus to the teachers in whatever room my daughter was in at the time. This obviously doesn't work for public school. I love your suggestions. I think one additional gift idea that you didn't mention would be a gift for the school room--art supplies for the art teacher... that sort of thing.
For me, the greatest gifts are not the ones that someone orders from a catalog or buys from a store, but something much harder- one that takes a lot of thought and personal effort. That's what is really most meaningful!
For me, the greatest gifts are not the ones that someone orders from a catalog or buys from a store, but something much harder- one that takes a lot of thought and personal effort. That's what is really most meaningful!
This is a lovely article. It reminds me, again, that most of the time we don't need THINGS but experiences, creativity, gratitude. I wrote about what a postpartum family can best use and my list does not include baby clothes or toys (that post is here: http://mothering.com/jennifermargulis/newborn-care/what-every-postpartum-woman-needs). Teachers do get inundated with things they can't use and a heartfelt thank you is so much more meaningful.
What a great article! I think that kids are so much more proud of gifts they make themselves, though a trip to the dollar store can definitely be gratifying too. :)