Gift Ideas for Preschool Teachers

Hi L.

I am a consultant for Tastefully Simple and when I have needed to do thank-you gifts, or small holiday gifts or whoops..."back-up" Christmas gifts I have put together little Tastefully Simple packages. Most people really like Tastefully Simple. I could also offer you a discount. Some ideas...

Beer Bread (big hit) and Cheddar Potato Soup or Wild Rice and pack it with a bowl mug at dollar store or something.

Nana's Apple Cake Mix and Carmel Sauce and pack it with a little wooden spoon or something.

Almond Pound cake with Strawberry Rhubard and pack it with a little spreader.

Trifle Brownie mix and Raspberry Divine (or carmel) and pack it with a wooden spoon.

Etc.

If you are interested just private message me.

nicole

L.,
Stay away from candy, candles, and teacher decorations! Teachers, like myself, tend to get a lot of these gifts. My favorite gifts were gift certificates to places like a book store, Target, Panera Bread, Starbucks, etc.

A.

Hi!
I've been teaching preschool for 12 years. I have to say, those tastefully simple products are yummy.. my favorite is the beer bread! but the trio dip pack is really nice too and one of the most affordable items. You can NEVER go wrong with a gift card. In fact our staff had a meeting today and we were talking about how much we all appreciate gift cards.. no matter where.. starbucks, panera bread.. anywhere.. we love them!
so kind of you to think of the teachers.. we sure do appreciate it!!
Sincerely,
Pam

I was out of town so I know this is late coming...as a teacher in my former life, I liked getting bookstore gift cards, then I could get books for my classroom. Or for a teacher store in your area, I can't tell you how much of my own money went into making my classroom ready for the kids.

For Christmas I gave my son's preschool teachers (and aids) a box of 30 "handmade-looking" cards. They are 3D, have embellishments, etc. There are 4 teachers ranging in age and all of them separately raved to me about this gift. I've given this to several of my friends as well, and it is always a hit. I found it at Costco.

Well, now that you've heard from a preschool teacher, you may not want any more suggestions . . .but last year at the end of the year, we gave our son's teacher (there was just one) a gift certificate to Mario Triccoci.

I think anything you do though would be greatly appreciated!
B.

Hi L.,

Not super original, but I think that gift cards are super for these situations. How about gift cards to either a coffee shop - Starbucks, Caribou, etc. - or a book store - Borders, etc. Almost anyone at any age would like those, and you won't feel like you've wasted your money. I always like to receive these!

L.-

For my son's pre-school teacher's I bought somthing from Yankee Candle- They have a really nice selection from $5-$10. Depending on the transfer date they have really cute things for Halloween out already!

Good luck and that's very sweet of you!

Jackie

The gift card ideas are really great, but somethign else I've found people enjoy are some nice notecards. If you stamp, you can make them. Otherwise you can find some cute ones at Paper Source or another stationery/paper store. They're always really nice to have on hand for sending notes, and yet most people have to run out and buy them when they need to write notes. Plus, they're good for all ages!

Since teachers are always spending their own money on the classroom, a gift card to Lakeshore Learning would be great for all three. They can buy fun materials for the classroom with the card. The web address is lakeshorelearning.com. They also have a store in Palatine. Hope this helps.

C.

Our daughters last year of her preschool we got her teachers gift cards from Little Red Schoolhouse ( I believe it is called). It is in Racine. It helped them out a lot since they have to buy alot of their own supplies. Good luck!

Try making a gift basket, or the gift cards that you mentioned, or even an edible arrangement fruit ____@____.com they range in price starting at $25. Hope I was somewhat helpful.

As a former teacher, I would recommend gift cards. Dept. store or book store are safe bets. I'd love coffee gift certs., but i suppose not everyone likes coffee.

Last year we got together with the rest of the class and bought one large gift certificate to Elmhurst City Center for our preschool teachers. Your town may have a gift certificate like this as well. This means they can spend the money at any store in the town that belongs to the group. You can also do this at most malls (I know Oak Brook does this). We also used some of the money to have books donated in the teachers' honor at the local library. This year the kids and I are also going to make a special "friendship" brownie mix recipe that we found in a Tupperware catalog (of all places!) and put it in a conatiner. It's supposed to go in in layers so that it looks really pretty. I thought that would be something fun that my kids could make for the teachers that the teachers could use and would be a little add-on gift to any gift certificates that we contribute to as part of the class.

Dear Laura,

Last year we got a gift cert to the movie theater. We knew our teacher loved watching movies.

B.

Hi L.,

My kids are 3 & 6 so I have done several rounds of preschool teacher gifts and the ones I consistently get good feedback on are the homemade baked treat with a small Starbuck's giftcard and a homemade card from my child. The two homemade parts show effort and they're a nice personal touch and just about everyone can find something at Starbuck's. Even if they don't drink coffee, they carry tea, sandwiches, fresh fruit, juice and other items and they are located just about everywhere. I'd day any gift card $5 or greater would be a fantastic gift. Good luck! -D.

Hello L.,

I'm a preschool teacher myself, and I beleive they will love whatever you give them, from cookies that you baked with your child to a pretty gift basket of goodies. Gift cards are great if your unsure. I know myself and other co-teachers always use them up, especially those of us who are coffee drinkers :) I hope this helps a little.

-M.

I have to echo the sentiments of the teachers on here - gift cards are great! The Tastefully Simple items are wonderful as well.

A lot of people feel gift cards are impersonal, but as a teacher who receives several gifts from students each year they are great! Avoid the knick-knacks and things of that nature. My mother was an elementary school teacher for nearly 30 years and growing up I swear we had over 100 apples as ornaments for the Christmas tree (she'd accumulate them each year to see how many she got during the span of her career).

Gift cards are always a good idea :) When I was teaching there was nothing better than a gift card :)

My son has multiple preschool teachers and aides, ranging in ages. I gave them all Kohl's gift certificates. That is one place that you know anyone of any age can find something they like for themselves for for family members. When you start getting into food items, you never know for sure what people like or if they have allergies, etc. So, I would stick with a gift certificate to somewhere other than a food place. Other options are the mall, target, amazon.com, a book store...

My husband is a teacher and really appreciates and gets the most use of gift cards. Last year he got Starbucks, Caribou and Panera. He was able to use them for both himself and his family. I think people of any age can find something at any of these establishements.