Valentines Day; Gifts for Teachers?

My son is in 1st grade and he goes to an in-home daycare after school.

I took my son to the Dollar Store. We chose Valentine pencils to give with his cards at school. For his daycare we chose small individual playdough to give with the cards because there are smaller children who don't use pencils yet. For his sitter and teacher he chose small bundles of fake flowers which I wrapped in white tissue paper when I got home to make them look like a bouquet tied with string. I printed off homemade, personalized cards for both as well and had him sign them. My son insisted on buying another bouquet of flowers which I cut into singles and he is giving those to his teacher's assistant and the yard ladies.

So I spent a total of $9 for both school and the sitter's.
2 sets of Valentines Cards - $2
3 Bouquet of flowers - $3
2 sets of 6 ea playdough - $2
2 sets of 12 ea Valentine pencils - $2
(had tissue paper and card stock at home)

I agree that for the Christmas and any other holiday a small gift card is always appreciated sometimes more then the cute nick nacks. But how do I tell my son "no" to giving a lady flowers? :)

Any gesture of thanks and acknowledgement is appreciated. If you chose to buy something a bit more, it's nice to get a small gift card and write "have a cup of coffee on me" or "have a breakfast on us" or "treat yourself to a smoothie" - just a $5 gift card from a place that you could get a $5 treat. Thanking the teachers is something that I always try to do at Thanksgiving, Christmas and sometimes Valentines and/or end of year. Also, as you get more into the school thing, you can send notes around to other parents and do a group gift certificate (like for Christmas/holidays). OH and don't forget Teacher's Appreciation Day. Sometimes sending in a fresh donut, fruit and juice or something to that effect is a welcome touch.

Basically, I suggest you do what you can afford. Thanking our teachers with a token of appreciation is always positive for them. Plus, on a sneakier note, I always take care of my daughter's teachers and treat them like royalty and I think it reflects (at least to a small degree) on how they treat my daughter.

As an instructional aide, I always appreciate the personal cards and small tokens of appreciation that my students bring in for us. The students enjoy giving them to us.

As a veteran teacher in Las Vegas, 25 years, a card with your thanks is always appreciated. I especially like when parents highlight a specific area that I have been able to help their child in....it just gives me a charge and truly helps me to keep my focus on each of these little individuals. A Starbucks card is ALWAYS appreciated....doesn't have to be anything more than $5.00...one thing we usually do not need is more teacher knick-knacks....they are darling, I know, but packing them up each year if you have to move classrooms can be a pain and how do you throw them away!!!! Peace!

I know it's alittle late, but, I gave to my son's teachers Gold Canyon Candles, "Strawberry Shortcake" scent. The scent throw is amazing on these candles! I figure the scent itself was sweet and zero calories too!

I did the same thing for my son I did get a little box of chocolates for his teacher, I think it is nice to give the teachers a little something to show them how we appreciate their hard work... Sometimes a simple card is greatly appreciated...