photo by Flickr user Stewf
Towards the end of each year, since becoming parents, Moya and I have wondered what to give to the people who teach and take care of our daughter. In 2005 I asked my favorite former elementary school teacher for suggestions. She gave me this hilarious compendium:
Here are some of my favorites:
- a letter from a family stating specifically the things I had done that made an impact on their child and/or their family
- gift cards to stores that I use to get things for my classroom (most of these things come out of the teacher’s own pocket). These would include bookstores (!!! big one !!!), grocery stores, and teaching supply stores.
- movie and restaurant passes, and gift cards for anywhere
- food! includes chocolates and anything else… at the holidays you need to have stuff around for others, so if you love it you can hide it and eat it all yourself, and otherwise you can share with guests or fellow teachers
Things I would suggest you NOT get (although I can’t imagine you doing these things, but I have gotten multiples of everything on this list!):
- candles
- candles
- candles
- hand lotions in strong smelling scents (who knows what scent another might hate?)
- candles
- bath salts from a strange dad in your class (okay, that only happened once)
- candles
- kleenex (also only once)
- candles
- a free massage from the licensed massage therapist mom in your class – too weird for me, and I never redeemed (she didn’t learn though, and gave the first grade teacher the same thing the next year)
- candles
- large heavy statues of things like water fountains, angels, and children playing
- candles
Any more suggestions for what to give or not give to all the amazing people who work at our kid’s school?
