Christmas Gifts Your Child's Teacher Will Love

Parents and caregivers love to show their appreciation at the holidays for the people who spend time with their child each day. Many times they want to give a little gift that shows their appreciation that also doesn't cost a fortune. It doesn't have to be an expensive gift to show your appreciation. As a teacher myself, I can tell what some of the best gifts were that parents and students gave me.

Some of the best gifts were letters that parents wrote to me that told specific things that they appreciated that I had done for their child. I had a file in my drawer where I kept all the special cards/letters where the parents and students had written special messages. I still have this file and will open it up from time-to-time and read these special messages. It only takes a couple minutes to do this and it always meant a lot to me to receive these gifts.

Gift cards are a welcome gift for any teacher. If you know of any hobbies or interests that they have, you can give them gift cards to stores that would sell those items. Some people feel like a gift card is not a personal gift and don't like to give them for that reason.

I've found that a gift card can be personalized with the combination of a heartfelt letter as mentioned above, with a christmas ornament, a picture of the child, or some other small token gesture. If you do the teacher a christmas ornament, be sure to write the child's name and the year on it with a permanent marker so that the teacher can always remember them each year as they put the ornament on the tree. In fact, I have many ornaments with my previous students' names on them and I love to remember them as I put the ornament on our tree each year.

A great way for each family to be able to be a part of giving the teacher a gift without each one having to shop for something is to do a class gift. Usually the room parent is the coordinator for such gifts, but any parent could take it upon themselves. It allows each family to chip in as much as they would like while at the same time giving the teacher a nice gift. Some families may only be able to chip in a dollar or two while other families might want to give a little more.

Some of my most memorable and treasured gifts were homemade. One mom made me homemade fudge and caramel. It was delicious and I savored every bite.

One student wrote a poem to me and compared me to items and then gave me a bag with all of those items in it. It was such a creative idea that she had fun doing and was so memorable to me.

Re-gifts are sometimes thought to be tacky by some people. But, some re-gifts are perfectly good presents for others. I received several re-gifts over the years. Usually, they were from students whose families had financial difficulties. I was not insulted in the least by getting a re-gift. On the other hand, I was humbled and treasured their gift as much as (if not more than) the other gifts I received.

For those families who would like to do something nice for the teacher, but just don't have the money, you can always consider the gifts of time or service. You might have the time to help with something or the skills to do something that would be helpful to the teacher or classroom. In fact, it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be able to go to the school to help. Below is a list of some ideas that you might consider.

• Put clear lamination on paperback books for the classroom
• Help out with bulletin boards
• Help out with small groups in classroom
• Make decorations for classroom

When it really comes down to it, it's the thought that counts. It may sound cliche and seem too simple. But, teachers just appreciate being remembered at the holidays.