I am a teacher, and this time of year is full of graduations, going away gifts for staff members, and gifts for my own kids' teachers. I think it is important to acknowledge and thank people who were important in my life, but how much money should I spend on everyone? I have already sent money to my husband's far-away relatives for graduation (I never even heard a thank you back), put money in for a classroom gift for my son's two preschool teachers, and I still need to buy a gift for my older son's teacher (I already have little treats for all of the specialist teachers who work with my boys). On top of that, I just heard that 3 staff members are leaving at the school I have been working at for one year, so they keep asking us to give money for that as well. I don't want to be cheap, but I am not made of money either! I would love to hear how much money people give in these situations. Thank you!
Seriously-- I don't feel the "need" to give $ to all teachers. I do if they've been extra special.
Rule of thumb, give of you want & what you can.
Don't be railroaded into the "group gifts"!
I give letters to the teachers for their personnel files. Those are free.
I think a $5 gift card is more than enough.
For the teachers that are leaving, unless you are super close to them, I would give them a card, with a note about what you admire about them or learned from them. If they are teachers you worked really close with maybe consider inviting them to a happy hour this summer.
For your sons teacher how about a gift card to a teacher supply place or movie passes.
Never spent $ on preschool teachers (did homemade cards and gifts) and in elementary school the room mom took up a collection of $5 to $10 per family and gave a gift card with a card and flowers. Some people did their own gifts as well but only a few.
We have given a little extra here and there over the years to special teachers and staff members that we wanted to express our sincere gratitude to (like my daughter's resource teachers.)
We only give monetary gifts for high school and college graduation, $50 for family, $25 for friends' kids. College graduation gifts have only been for a few family members so far, and I think we gave $75 for those, and in one case, no money at all but co signed a loan so our nephew could get a car.
I don't disagree with the other posters, but that isn't really what is done in my town. (I teach and have three kids in school.). Most kids send in a gift and card or a gift card of $10 to $25 and a card. Our room moms are not allowed to ask for money, ever. I brought in a vase and asked each parent to send in any flower, even one from their yard, to make a unique bouquet for one awesome teacher. My kids take each teacher flowers and a mason jar filled with a dry mix for brownies or cookies at the end of the year. At Christmas I take in a bottle of local wine for each teacher. I skip specials, although I feel bad doing it. Three kids with specials, speech and OT would be 28 teachers, still not including aides! I have one teacher that STINKS and she is getting nothing. Bus drivers also get nothing this year, it's just too much.
As a mama and a teacher a $5 gift card to Starbucks or a Target $10 gift card is what I gave/got.
For your son's teacher, $10 MAX. I would do a gift card to Target and a note. Same for the retirees. If they are asking you to contribute "per person", then put in $10 for each person. If they are asking you to contribute and they will divide it up, then throw in $20.
I know this won't help you now, but at the beginning of each school year I make a list of all my son's teachers and put money aside each week/month for any gift or gift cards I want to give them at Christmas and end of the school year.
Example, I knew we had 6 board members on our PTO this year, so I set aside $30 to get each of them a $5 gift card from somewhere.
If I want to give/make a gift, I also have a file I've collected over the years with lists of suggested thank you gifts and pages ripped out of magazines or printed from the internet. When I need an idea, I just go to my file. Its mostly ideas of homemade gifts I can personalize for each person.
I also agree with giving them a nice note or letter. 10 years from now they won't care about the bottle of room spray or Starbucks gift card you give them, but I can guarantee they'll treasure a heartfelt note of thanks and blessings. The only thing I would add is a cute little something to go with it, like a packet of Kool-aid and a little tag attached that says "You are Kool" or a little packet of Smarties "Thanks for making your students Smartie pants this year" or a $1,000,000 candy bar "Thanks a million for being our teacher". There are tons of cute and cheesy sayings like that online.
Used to be they had a bon voyage cake for you and everyone signed a card... and that was good enough..... We had a lot of gift buying going on at my son's school as well and it does begin to add up...being as he has SIX different teachers.. whew...
I'd say $5.00 at the most... If they get enough people to participate, then they could get $15.00 gift ctfs for them..I am down for recognizing peoples' efforts, but I also think people have budgets and sometimes those putting together the party, don't always understand this .. OR if they themselves tend to over-buy, they have no concept of when enough is enough..
Do what YOU feel you can afford.. if anyone questions, tell em you have a budget and you are already exceeding it...
Well I always send $25 for high school graduation and $50 for college graduation. I sent in $10 Walmart cards to my kids teachers plus homemade treats for Christmas. When they got to middle and high school, I sent in treats only if the kids wanted me to. If and when there was a group gift, I'd give 5 or 10 dollars. I wouldn't give a teacher a gift at the end of the year, that adds too much to the expense. At our schools we had to take in lots of things throughout the year, that is why I say that. Also, I would not feel obligated to give anything to people who are leaving, I think a nice card with nice words and thoughtful memories would suffice, it is more important than an object anyway. I personally watch how much money I am handing out to everyone, because if you give to everything that comes along, you will soon be broke. That's why cards are nice.
