End of Year Teacher Gift

We bought an azalea for my son's teacher, you can get young plants for very inexpensive and a variety of types.

How about a tote/book bag or sweatshirt that you put the kids handprints on and their names under. You can buy these at craft store as well as the paints. The kids love this gift as they are a part of it.

A couple of the best teacher's gifts I've received would be a personalized canvas tote bag - they really come in handy, or if you are able to get the students to fill out a 'all about my teacher' questionnaire page and make a book out of it. I received both of those when I finished my student teaching and still have both. They are very precious to me. As much as the other stuff is sweet, pretty, and cute, teachers get so much that it's hard to keep it all over the years. Oh, another gift that was nice, was a plant. Every year it comes up, I think of my sixth grade year. I heard one teacher got a massage after an especially tough year, that would be wonderful too! Just ideas, good luck.

i worked at a daycare and always loved when people baked us stuff (cookies, brownies, ect.), you only need to many mugs and bowls of potpurri. good luck

I am a part time teacher and my husband is a HS teacher and we just love to receive gift cards at the end of the year or on holidays. As an educator you can only have so many "trinkets" and a gift card allows us to buy something that we can pick (and remember who helped us buy the item) a new thing for our selves or our home. Also, a nice touch is a thoughtful thank you note written by parent/child. My husband has several from many years ago and it is fun to glance thru them. In closing, any gift is appreciated, but remember it is not necessary and that being a teacher is something we do out of the love of children not thinking about what gift we will receive.

Believe me, I am not trying to promote this for selfish reasons. But what a lot of my friends have done is buy a gift album (I actually sell them) and then the teacher can pick out a gift of their preference. it is awesome because they get something they want and you know they enjoy it because of that reason. They range in all different price ranges. There is a jewelry one that she could pick a piece out to remind her of the great year. If interested, just check out my website ( i will send you a message) and you can decide for yourself. It is merely an idea that many of my friends have used over and over. Good luck!

Willow Tree statues are a wonderful gift (and not too expensive). They are sold at most Hallmark stores. I believe they have an Angel of Learning.

As an elementary teacher, the best gifts are just something that shows the parent or child got to know me and cares about me. One example is a scarf for Christmas because my students know I love outdoors. One student got me 2 jars of pickles because she knows I eat them at lunch every day. Another gift was a potten plant with students pictures glued on the pot. Try to think of what she likes to do and something she can really use.

Hi T.,

I also enjoy coming up with more creative thoughtful gifts for my girls' teachers! One year I had my daughter decorate a terra cotta pot, then we planted forget-me-nots in it. I had her write the words, "forget-me-not" on the pot, then some words to describe her teacher. We even included a plant "stake" with her picture on it. The teacher loved the thoughtfulness, and since it didn't cost us much, we could still throw in a gift card to a favorite restaurant.
Another idea we have done as a whole class is a photo quilt. We purchased a quilt kit from the Oriental Trading catalog. You place a photo of each student in the squares, and in the extra square in the middle, you do a poem, a special message or a group photo. You tie all the squares together with ribbon and she can hang it on the wall.
Have fun whatever you decide to do!
J.

I have made mugs as thank yous for various teachers. Inside the mug, I place personalized thank you notes with teachers name or whatever you would like on the wrappers and wrap them around mini hersheys chocolate candy. You can view the many designs that the mini wrappers come in on our website. I also place a small balloon in the mug. You can also do gift baskets. The possibilities are endless. Let me know. Good luck!!

How about a poem in a nice double sided frame with a picture of your child and her or the whole class. You can also give her a plant with it.

Here is a nice sight for poems: http://www.poemsource.com/teacher-poems.html

Nice name btw:)

I found my daughters pre-school teacher a really nice bag of Sugar Cookie Mix with Frosting Mix. It was a cloth bag that held all the mixes inside. The teacher really enjoyed it. I was actually given several bags from a co-worker, but did look to see if I could buy them anywhere. The only place I found was their website it is: www.lehirollermills.com. The bags were only like $6.95 and are more healthy than other counterparts. We made the brownies at home and they were wonderful. Both my daughters teacher and para-proffesional in the classroom loved them. There are a lot of different baked good options on the website.

T.,

The last two years a group of moms from my boys classes have put together quilts. The first year a mom purchased one from Oriental Trader. It came with fabric squares and iron on papers with special crayons. The art teacher helped out by letting the students decorate their handprints during art class. We then ironed the hand prints to the squares and tacked the squares to some quilted fabric. We added some color with small satin bows in bold colors. We alternated colors on the four corners of each square. Last year I bought a premade quilt in a teacher theme from Joanne's and we took pictures of each student and transfored them to the quilt. We then used fabric markers to decorate and write a nice message. This option was a lot less work but both turned out great! Good Luck!

C.

Don't know where you live but if you are near a paint you own pottery studio you can make something really unique and special for the teacher. If it would be from the entire class there are some really cute ideas using the kids fingerprints. Feel free to email me if you have any questions about how to find a studio.
P.

I think a teacher would love a gift card to a book store or supply store.

I don't know how much contact you have with the other parents in the class, but when I was student teaching I recieved a really cute book the students made for me. Each one had their own page and they drew a picture of what they remember most about me in the calssroom. Then they glued a cut out of their head from their school picture for their head in the picture. It was really sweet and I will always remember each and every one of them.

What about a quilt or blanket embroidered with the school year and all of her student's names? You can find inexpensive embroidery shops all over. I know of a great one in Macomb. You can PM me if you want her information.

I used to assistant teach and something nice that a teacher did for me once was have each student (with her help) write out why the liked me. She had them draw a picture above it and out their photo in the corner. She then bound them all together. It was a few years ago, but I still have it and read it every now and then when I'm down to remember how I've touched some lives.

If you have enough pictures, how about scrapbooking her first year as a Kindergarten teacher?

Personalizing things is always nice. Getting anything engraved or embroidered that she can keep and use in the classroom would be great.

Good luck and I'm sure she'll love whatever you decide to get for her!

Hi T.,

Bless you! I've been a teacher for 24 years and fondly remember those parents who were kind in their end of the year gifts. Gift cards were always welcome. Something made by the class like a quilt where each student makes a patch would dearly be cherished. I know it's too late in the year to start something like that unless you do a small version of this (a square of cloth colored with crayon & ironed in) for a throw or something similar.

You could possibly have the class take her to lunch at Burger King or something and honor her with a special picture, collage, or something maybe with their names, handprints, etc mounted in a nice frame.

Those are just a couple of ideas. Hope they help!

M.
http://ThisFamilyCounts.com

T.,
A carry bag with the children's picture on one side and thier small hand prints on the other(in Paint) is always nice. Something the kids can help with is great. You could even fill the bag with note paper and pens/pencils. Something to help the teacher out with next year.

A.

I love giving personalized stationary or note cards go to www.expressionary.com they have a great selection and everyone I give them to loves them.

Hi T.,
I have a great product that can be customized and personalized and placed on anything relatively flat, so long as it is clean and dry. You can view the online catalog and like I said create your own custom design using the My Design Tool by logging onto Customer Corner at www.uppercaseliving.com using my Demo Id: 604914 and Token: lally. Once you register you can view our entire catalog, create your own custom design using any one of our available fonts and color. It is so awesome. I have decorated things like bins, pails, wood boards, frames, etc. All of these things would be make great teacher gifts. You can go to www.quotegarden.com and search for "education or teacher" related quotes and use any of these to put on something and then fill it with something. For instance you could give her a pencil holder and put her name on it and one of our embellishments. You could even get her something for her door like "Ms. _____ teaches all who enters" Sky is the limit. I gave my kids' teachers a glass block (with a whole drilled into it) filled with vanila flavored coffee beans, put a coffee cup embellishment on the front with the words "Thanks a Latte" Cost me a whopping $15. She loved it and the smell she said keeps her awake later on in the day when she does not have time to get a cup of coffee. Let me know if you need any further ideas for how you can use this product to decorate your home, celebrate an event, make some extra money, etc.
M. Lally
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Hallmark stores. The Gold Key Hallmark stores. They always have a great assortment of lovely gifts. Teachers included.

Check one out! Maybe your kids would like to help. That'd make it really personal how the teacher impacted their lives.

Hi T.,
I'm not sure if you wanted a teacher gift from just your daughter or if you wanted something to remember her first K class. Either way, a great personalized gift for teachers is a canvas bag that has each childs hand print and maybe the year on it. Teachers always have papers to tote back and forth. If you are the room mom or help in the class, just ask to see each child for a minute (you can explain it's a surprise for her)use puffy paint for the hand prints.
Good Luck and Happy almost summer,
Patty R.

Every year I make a donation in the teacher's name to a charity- preferably one that helps children - like St. Jude or the like. Teachers get so many gifts and while they do love gift cards, a lot of teachers really appreciate the donation in their honor to help children - who obviously are their lives.
Just a thought. :-)

I think a gift bag filled and make sure that there is at least two or three items from the class EX) the class picture, a small note from the kids, somethig like that. I hope things work out well.

T.

what about a homemade card and gift card
book... signed by your daughter
t- shirt with kid's names

As a former teacher one of my favorite more personal gifts I ever received was a small photo album filled with pictures of the kids in my class. Each family had given a picture of their child for the book as well as written a special note to me on a colorful notecard. I still take that book out and look at the pictures and read the special notes from the children/families in the class.

When my kids were that age, I took a clay pot and let them decorate it with paint. I filled it with a flower, geranium or something else pretty. I attached a scanned picture of them and let them sign the back with a thank you. It is not expensive but very personal. The teachers loved it.

Maybe a picture of the class on a mug or a pic of the class where the mat has been "signed" (name or thumb print) by each of the students. Another idea would be to have each kid make a picture of why he loved Kindergarten/his teacher and have them bound together like a scrapbook.

Hi T.,
I'm a school teacher myself and what I've appreciated from my students is a scrapbook of the year inclucing pictures, some photocopied assignments the kids did, perhaps having parents write a really nice letter to the teacher and including it in the scrapbook. One thing teachers love is a gift certificate to a really nice restaurant, or for a pedicure something that they can treat themselves to after a really hard year.
Good Luck!

A hand print shirt or picture would be fun and very personal. I have also seen scrapbook pages done that are nice and maybe easier than getting all the hand prints. You could start a scrapbook for her with your page and the rest blank with supplies for doing future years herself?

go to www.personalization.com they have alot of great gift ideas.

Hi T.
Me and some other Moms had the secretary at the school print out the class picture. Then cut out the pictures which were perfect sized and put them on a small tin coffee can and then stenciled flowers and such on it, so it could be a pencil/pen holder for years to come. Also for Christmas this year I gave my daughters teacher an electric pencil sharpener. You could do the same with the pictures on the sharpener too. Then make sure you put a coating over it. Mod podge or something?! Good luck.