10 Tips for Picking the Perfect Teacher Gift

Teachers are such an integral and important aspect of kids’ lives that, as parents, you may want to thank them for their hard work and dedication to teaching and serving your children.  Several times a year occasions arise where you may want to give your child’s teacher a gift to express your appreciation.  While the teachers won’t tell you that they didn’t like your gift or that they tossed it out, you do want to make sure that you are giving gifts that truly reflect your appreciation, as well as the teacher’s interests and tastes.

1. Find something she likes.  Be observant when you meet with your teacher for a conference.  Look around the room.  Do you see a lot of monkeys?  She might really like monkeys.  Do you see her always walking around drinking Mountain Dew or a mocha latte?  Ask your child about her teacher’s favorite things. The answers provide hints to choosing the perfect teacher gift.
2. Try to always give consumables.  Chocolate is most always an appreciated gift. Gift cards are too. Things that can be eaten or used tend to make great gifts.  Figuring out where to buy the gift card is the tricky part.  Shoot for teacher stores, coffee places – unless you know for a fact she doesn’t like coffee, book stores, and retail centers that are close by the school. You can also opt for a pre-paid VISA gift card.
3. Personalize the gifts for her.  Give her thank you cards with her initial on them or better yet, “From the Desk of”… with the teacher’s name. Teachers use thank you cards all the time.  Bake for her or buy her candy and put it in a cute jar with a ribbon.
4. Bring her flowers or a plant.  Your child could bring her a single flower just to brighten her day or a complete bouquet in a school-themed vase.
5. Give her a magazine that she may like.  If you know she does scrapbooking, then give her a scrapbooking magazine.  If she loves to run in marathons then give her a magazine about running.  Ask your child what hobbies the teacher talks about to get an idea of her interests.
6. Give her things for her classroom.  A bouquet of pencils or a jar full of glue sticks can be practical and appreciated.  Be clever and turn the jar full of glue sticks into a vase and turn candy bars into “flowers” by taping them to a skewer and sticking them into the jar.  Add a ribbon around the jar and your gift is ready to give.  It’s both festive and consumable.
7. Bring her lunch.  For this gift, you can just tell her you’d like to treat her to lunch and ask her what she would like.  You can go pick it up and bring it back to the school during her lunch hour.
8. Bring her some of her favorite soda. Teachers can usually have drinks in their classroom so that would be a nice treat for her in the middle of a busy day.  She’s talking a lot to the kids and probably gets thirsty.
9. Get the kids involved.  Have each child put their thumbprint on a big popcorn bowl and paint around each print and turn it into a piece of popped popcorn.  Add the child’s name next to it so that the teacher has a memory of all of the kids in her class that year. This is something that is fun and useful.
10. Let your child draw the teacher a picture or write her a note.  Kids can be so sweet and having the present come from the child is many times more special than anything that you can buy at the store.  Take a picture of the teacher with your child and frame it for a fun gift to give later in the year.

P.S. This post was  proposed to me for publication by Hannah Anderson. I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information: 
 http://www.fulltimenanny.com/blog/10-tips-for-picking-the-perfect-teacher-gift/