My children go to the YMCA daycare full time. I am very happy with them and really want to get the teachers somethign nice. My concern is that they have SO many teachers. My DD has two head teachers, plus 3 others she regularly has, plus her favorite teacher from when she was in a different room. That is atleast 6 in total. My son has two head teachers, plus 3 other assistant teachers. That is eleven!!!!! I don't want to leave any one out, but am not rich. With 10 nieces and nephews to buy for, my xmas budget is WAY out of hand as it is. My sister is a preschool teacher and so I know that she doesn't really want any more mugs, or candles.
How much should I spend? Any suggestions other than homemade cookie or gift cards?
Edited to add that last year when my kids had only been there a couple months, I got a gift for the class to a local teaching supply store. They are now out of business
I decided to get the teachers antibacterial hand soaps (in neutral fresh scents) from bath and body works and dunkin donuts gift cards, with a little tag that says "so you won't be sick or tired" or something like that. And then i am going to attach a note to teach of them telling them how much I appreciate them. Still ended being pretty expensive in the end, but hopefully they will like it. Thanks for all the input.
You could make a candy tree for them to all share. Take a styrofoam cone and attach candy to it with straight pins. You could actually do one large and two smaller ones and place them all on a plate. Decorate one w/ tiny candy canes, one w/ lifesavers, and one w/ mini Snickers or 3 Muskateers.
My son's daycare has a lot of teachers. I got holiday packages of Lindt chocolate balls. They loved them, and they were about $3 a piece at Walmart. I got myself one too! ;)
work together with the other parents & provide a nice lunch or dessert table for the last day that you'll all be together before Christmas. Make sure that each teacher has her own goody bag of treats to take home.
A simple way to do this is to ask the teachers to hand out a sealed note to each of the families....asking them to contact you if interested. Times are hard & if you do this early enough, I bet a lot of families would appreciate not having to buy gifts......& as a daycare provider, I always prefer gifts such as this over anything gimmicky!
Oooops, one more option: have each family pitch in something to add to a gift basket. This would require more work, tho'!
With that many, spend as little as possible. I like picture frame ornaments and you can find them pretty cheap ($3-5) at Hobby Lobby (if you have those in CT) and they're really pretty. Then they can put whatever picture they want in there and enjoy it year after year. My tree is covered in them from each year since my husband and I met...they're my favorite ornaments. =)
My local YMCA is frequently having fundraisers for various local charities/programs they work with. Have your kids make them cards, include a note explaining you are donating in lieu of a gift. Just a dollar or two each (every little bit helps), most people understand how expensive it is when you're gifting to multiple teachers/caregivers etc. I can't imagine anyone being offended by your helping someone in need on their behalf. Your money will go where it is needed instead of being wasted on a gift that will likely end up in the trash.
If you would rather they receive something for the classroom/daycare, simply contact them and ask what is most needed, give a gift basket of supplies rather than individual gifts.
Hope this helps. Merry Christmas!
Write a nice letter of thanks/gratitude and have the kids draw a picture too. You can also make flower pens get a nicer pen not just a ten pack but nicer disposable pen and put some essential oil on the flower. You can give these to grandma"s and aunts too.
J. O
Last year I gave out homemade jam and crocheted little flower necklaces as teacher gifts (from an easy, free pattern I found on ravlery.com)
Also -- and this is important in my opinion -- unless you are absolutely sure that all of the teachers celebrate Christmas, I would stay away from ornaments and other Christmassy things and instead stick to a winter theme.
How wonderful that you are including all the staff who work with your children. I can tell you that teachers love when you recognize all the others, too. Small gift certificates to Dunkin Donuts, perhaps. I know I just broke the gift card rule. It's just that DD cards are ususally so well received. :)
Go to www.bronners.com. they have great gifts, there shipping is a little steep but you can get personalized ornaments and plaques and stuff like that
This is why parents organize by classroom, so that everyone can chip in and they can really buy the teachers something nice. Believe me, as much as teachers appreciate your gratitude, they do not need a million little things from every child at every holiday. They don't need something hand-made by the child either, as they deal with this every day, and besides, who has a refrigerator big enough to hold every child's "special" drawing or craft?!!
So, usually there is a "room parent" or otherwise just a note goes around to the other parents from some volunteer who steps up - everyone kicks in $5 or $10, whatever they can afford (I used to have a big envelope with every parent's name on it -- when they put something in, they crossed off their name, and no one paid attention to how much (we gave guidelines but didn't make people adhere to them or verify their amounts - too embarrassing and too pointless). It takes the economic pressure off of people like you who have large families, and off of people who are struggling and can barely keep their kids in the day care to begin with.
I asked for suggestions from parents too - but if we could give each teacher a $100 or $150 gift card to a spa or a nice boutique, the teachers were thrilled. They really treasure gifts "from the class" and it lets them get something bigger instead of trying to find a place or a use for 15 small gifts.
it's easier for all if you do it this way!
You could give them one giftcard that they could use to buy something for the classroom. If there are no teacher stores, you could try lakeshore learning.com. That way it could benefit the whole class and they wouldn't each be getting very small gifts. They probably spend their own money on teacher stuff anyways, so it would help them! I'm a teacher and I love to get gift cards to teacher stores.
Wow.... You all are so nice. I'm a single mom, and I've never given a teacher a Christmas gift. Not that I didn't want to I just couldn't afford it. But I do like the idea of a group donation for a larger single gift from the whole class. I could probably have come up with a few dollars to donate.
I would stress the point Bess made that not everyone celebrates Christmas. There's not much use for ornaments and candy canes if you don't.
i'd keep it to like $3-5 a gift. i got little snow man ornaments (made from glass scraps) and another vendor had tins of altoids with a little poem about snowmen/winter on them.
as for your nieces and nephews - you might want to start a kris kringle/secret santa/yankee swap idea with them. this way you are only buying for 2 of 10.
Why not get your children's favorite book and give it to the school?
When I was a daycare teacher I recieved books for the classroom and loved it also some parents would get together and do lunch for the teachers in whatever classroom they had children in, or a basket of breakfast stuff for each room. Anything you do the teachers will appreciate that you thought of them even a nice note and some chocolates or a plate of cookies. Happy Holidays!
I also have a lot of teachers to cover, with kids in daycare, pre-school, and elementary school. This year I was particularly on the ball and ordered a big batch of bottles of OPI nail polish on e-bay for about $4 a bottle. I got cute containers at Christmas Tree Shop for $1 and I'm putting in a bottle of nail polish, a couple of tea bags, a cocoa cone, and an assortment of cookies and snacks. I'm giving them out this week with note along the lines of "thank you for all that you do, take time to pamper yourself." In the past, especially for daycare where there are a lot of teachers in one room, I have given a large basket of goodies for the teachers to share (I find this is more welcome early in December vs. the end of the month, when we're all cookied out) or have given the whole classroom a gift certificate for a local take-out restaurant from which the teachers would regularly order for lunch. If that's outside of your budget, then getting together with other parents to do that, or get gift cards to a local nail salon or other local business that you know they frequent, is a great idea.
Ever since all my girls started school and I end up with about 10 teachers as well. I have made goodie baskets of homemade cookies, breads, muphins ect. You can get inexpensive cookie tins and pack them with the cookies. The teachers are always so greatful and I am not stuck with a ton of christmas cookies around my house :).
I know this sounds really cheap, but I have this problem with my son too. I usually take him to the Dollar Tree and let him pick out some things there. They have some really cute things, like their mugs and Christmas ornaments, frames, etc. It depends on what you get. This year he is giving his teachers and others (OT, counselor, etc.) little apple ornaments that he is going to personalize with a permanent marker. This was his idea so I am going with it. We got two 6-packs of these apple ornaments last year at Marden's - they might have them at Walmart or somewhere else too.
I also like the idea of baking stuff. Don't worry they will all understand! I am a child care provider and I never expect anything from any of my kids... though it is definitely nice to know I am appreciated!
