Teacher Gifts

[Krafty]

It's that time of year. So, what are the things you love receiving from your students, what doesn't tickle your fancy and what have you gotten way too many of over the years? Of course you appreciate whatever your students bring you, but what truly lights up your face and what makes you force a polite thank you and smile? Parents who still need to shop want to know ;)

[javamomma]

I dont want any more "teacher" things.
I dont need any more Christmas coffee cups. :)

I love when I get things for school (colored pens, stamps, stickers etc.) I teach 3rd grade.
I love personal things (bubble bath,candles)

The best gift I got was a lunch provided by a parent.
It was all home cooked with dessert , YUM
She just sent a note and told me not to worry about my lunch on x day because it was covered.

[Krafty]

Oooo, I like the lunch idea.

[Michelle]

I love the lunch idea too - I always forget to make myself a lunch and then get cafeteria food (at least my kids and I can compare notes when we get home).

Best gifts...
I like to get kid made gifts (a student knitted a scarf last year with her grandma)
I like chocolate
candles are very nice
always things for the classroom - I like books (I like it when the book fair comes around, and teachers make a wish list and parents buy from the wish list)

I thought this thread was going to be gifts you have students make for families...

One of the best was when my son's teacher helped them make "snowman soup" it was powdered milk, hot chocolate, marshmallow and a candy cane stirring stick. It came with a nice poem. Then I took a picture of him sipping it at home and sent it to her.

Michelle

[SLP]

My favorite gift to recieve is food gift cards; restaurants (i.e. Appleby's, Olive Garden, Trader Joe's Foods, Wawa (like 7-11, but with a good deli & dairy), Einstein's Bagels, etc.. One year, my class joined together and gave me a gift card for an expensive place called "Sulllivan's Steakhouse". My husband and I went for our anniversary & the it was fantastic!

[Krafty]

I ended up going with a gift I did two years ago - bag of microwave popcorn with a bag of seasoning to shake on (cinnamon/sugar this year). With two daycares and two schools, we had a lot of teachers and I didn't feel right giving to just one or two select teachers because they are all important. We were able to give about 36 gifts for not a lot of money (my budget was really tight this year) and it was well received - we got many thank you notes (apparently popcorn is a top snack among teachers). The popcorn and seasoning were wrapped in a paper bag tied with yarn. A card on the front said about "popping in to wish you a Merry Christmas" which my oldest child helped to color the cards.

Hope next year will allow me to do bigger gifts for homeroom teachers - thanks for the ideas!

[dolmansaxlil]

My two favourite gifts this year were a giftcard to the bookstore (and it was for $25 - the student got one for each of his three teachers!), and a giftcard for the liquor store (a parent who obviously appreciates teachers! Tee hee!)

But since I teach grade 7 and 8, I find that I appreciate some of the little cheesy gifts that they've bought themselves. Usually they aren't particularly useful, but I'll know they THEY went out and put the effort in - not mom and dad. I had two students this year at Christmas say that it was the first time they had purchased gifts for their teacher, so that was really special.

[scrivener]

One student I taught at another school was notorious for giving his teachers Safeway (supermarket) gift cards for an amount inversely proportional to the grade he was getting in your class. Well, in strictest mathematical terms, it wasn't proportional, but you did get more if he was doing poorly in your class. The year I taught him, he was failing English. I got a fifty-dollar gift card--much more generous than the twenty-dollar card his science teacher got.

[Krafty]

My two favourite gifts this year were a giftcard to the bookstore (and it was for $25 - the student got one for each of his three teachers!), and a giftcard for the liquor store (a parent who obviously appreciates teachers! Tee hee!)

That is a parent that understands! Around here I don't think the liquor stores even had giftcards as they are state run and roughly half the people are strict Baptists and don't drink.

[SLP]

We too have state run liquor stores; we even call them "State Stores" even though they have changed their signs to "Wine & Spirits". I don't think they sell gift cards. But occasionally, I do recieve a bottle of wine as a teacher gift. My favorite bottle was one I received this past Christmas...it was called Chateau St. Nicholas and the bottle had a Santa, sleigh, & reindeer going around it. Tasted great too.

[SLP]

Am I allowed to post this here?
If not, moderator, please delete!
Here is a pic of the Chateau St. Nicholas bottle:

bottle:http://www.vincorusa.com/media/product_images/csn_wt_zin_pr_1_71_scn.jpg

[scrivener]

Speaking of strict Southern Baptists, I consider myself to be one, but abstaining from alcohol is not part of that in my life. I love a good drink.

So when I was teaching at a Southern Baptist high school, it was interesting when, one day after school, a ninth-grader in one of my classes slinked in and said, "Mr. D, do you drink?"

One must answer questions like this very carefully.

"Uh...why do you ask?"

"Well, because my mom gave me this to give you for Christmas and I'm not sure it's appropriate."

He plunked down a gift-wrapped box. I said, "Tell you what, Rocky. If it's something I can't use, I'll pass it along to someone who can, okay? I thank you very much in either case." He seemed happy.

When I got it home, I learned that it was a bottle of Remy Martin XO (http://www.remy.com/remy_site/classic/our_cognac/xoexcellence.htm) cognac. That's a hundred bucks a bottle, baby.

I have yet to find that "someone else." It's good stuff. Not enough Os in "smooooooooooth" to describe it!

[SLP]

WOW! That's an amazing story!
LOL

[teach1027]

Teacher's run on caffiene. Starbucks gift cards are great chocolate, a 6-pack of Dr. Pepper. I love to get candles, and things I can use in my class like notepads and stickers. Colored pens are a fave too.

[Chef Dave]

The nicest gifts I ever got were received while working as a teacher at a private international American school in Beirut, Lebanon.

I had children from some very affluent families in my classroom. One of my students was the daughter of the Governor of Beirut. She gave me an exquisite porcelain tea set for two.

The son of one of the city's most preeminent bakeries gave me a huge platter of baklava. The baklava came in a hand carved wooden box with mother of pearl inlay.

http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/95/76/23047695.jpg

A local carpet dealer gave me a Persian carpet. A local computer dealer gave me a coupon good for 10 hours of free internet time. (This was especially thoughtful since the Lebanese mail system is notoriously unreliable).

The oddest gift I got was a promissory note from a local KLM agent. I was told that if I flew out on KLM, I'd be automatically upgraded.

I didn't really pay much attention to this note because I'm not very good about calling to ask people for favors ... but lo and behold, when the time came for me to leave Beirut, I flew out on KLM. I had booked business class tickets (given the length of the international flight back to the states) and when I checked in, I was surpised to find myself in first class.

First class international is WONDERFUL. It brings a whole new meaning to the idea of "fawning." I was treated like a VIP. Instead of plastic trays filled with meager portions of plastic food, I was served prime rib that the flight steward carved himself.

Instead of having to purchase headphones to watch a movie, I had my own TV monitor with a selection of channels and a mini DVD player with several of the latest movie releases that were still playing in theaters.

It was wonderful!

Insofar as I also had this experience one week after the Israeli Air Force had bombed the city - leaving everyone on edge wondering whether we were on the verge of a new military offensive, it was really a nice way to end my international teaching experience.

[Karenrbw]

As a teacher and a parent, I have struggled with this topic. I have more "World's Favorite Teacher" mugs, Christmas ornaments, etc than I could ever need. I have talked to other teachers and hear comments like "Candles make me sick. Please don't give me candy - I'm fat enough as it is." and similiar remarks. I really try to make the gift useful and just a small token of our appreciation. With a separate art, music, spanish teacher, counselor, librarian, ect. we end up needing lots of items. I bought the regular classroom teacher packages of reward stickers for the classroom and boxes of pencils. The others get wintery notepads, pencils, pens and other items that I know everyone can use. The favorite gift that I got from a student? A gallon of fresh honey straight from the hive. But not many people have their own hives and can do that.

[kingrichie]

I love those funny little notes they write.