Gifts for Teacher

It's always difficult at this time of year. Should you get your child's teacher an end of year gift? You want to show your appreciation and, more importantly, your child wants to show their teacher how much they've enjoyed being with them since September.

On the other hand, I know teachers don't want or need thirty gifts. They do treasure a handwritten card from the child more than any number of boxes of chocolates. Having said that, I know they all enjoyed the bottles of wine we gave them for Christmas. Some of them sent thank you cards to the children saying thank you for the wine you gave me for Christmas, I liked it very much.

This year I was looking for a compromise. Between them my boys have four part time Class Teachers and four full time Teaching Assistants. That's eight gifts, plus Lunchtime Supervisors, and not forgetting the office staff.  So I decided on token gifts, costing less than £2 each, and a handwritten card. We had already made the cards using leaf rubbings.

I managed to find some china mugs in the John Lewis Clearance, £1.50 for four. We then went to the supermarket and looked for small items to put in the mugs. We decided on a sachet of hot chocolate, a packet of marshmallows, a mini-muffin, a wrapped cake and some sweets.

We filled each mug, then wrapped it in cellophane (bought from Ebay). I tied the cellophane with an elastic band (supplied free of charge by Royal Mail).

The final decoration was the handwritten left-rubbing card. After a year in Reception, both boys were happy to demonstrate their handwriting.

I hope the staff will be happy with a mug full of goodies. I would be.

What do you give your children's teachers?







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