Gift for Classroom Teacher

"Merry Christmas everyone!

We're taking donations to buy a gift card for Mrs. XXX. If you can contribute any amount please call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX.

I'll put the money on a prepaid MasterCard so she can spend the money any place she chooses".

Unless you're the class mom and all the classes do this, I don't think I would head this up. Maybe you are the class mom and I misunderstand. If not though, I wouldn't really want a mother to do this because we get our own gift for the teacher. At our school, we all are asked for a certain $ amount at the beginning of the year to cover this type of thing. Then we all get a holiday gift as we see fit. You kind of taking that away would just be weird. I'd think "the teacher will have no idea who contributed and it's not a "class sanctioned thing", I'll just do my own gift card as usual.

May I suggest that you ask people for a monetary donation and then purchase a gift or larger gift certificate with that? The point of a group gift is to avoid all these little things. Remember that, from the teacher's perspective, she will be going around to 15 or 20 different stores or coffee shops, having to add in her own money on top of the gift certificate. $20 at X restaurant is very generous - but she and a guest can't eat there for 20 so she has the obligation of shelling out money from her pocket. Even if she regularly shops in those locations, you are giving her work to do managing all those cards, and if she doesn't shop there, she's got to find people to re-gift those cards to. There is even controversy about many stores now, from the politics of their owners to the wages they pay their workers - you really can't know this about an individual teacher 90% of the time, and if you give her something that makes her uncomfortable, it defeats the purpose. If you've talked to any teachers, you will find out how difficult this is for them.

Unless your child is in a private Christian school, please be sensitive and do not do a tree decorated with anything or ask them to make a Christmas card. Asking non-Christian children and families to put goodies on a tree is just not right. This should be a general thank you gift and a "halfway through the year" gift with, if you like, a generic "happy holidays" message if you are in a public or other secular school. No religious symbols, no Christmas tree - winter scene with chickadees and cardinals, or snowmen and sleds, fine. You cannot imagine the pressure on children of other religions and the feeling of being "left out" because they are in the minority. Christmas is a hard enough season and I've witnessed firsthand the problems for Jewish , Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim kids when well-meaning parents or even clueless teachers worked Christmas into the public schools.

I think suggesting a donation amount but leaving it absolutely wide open to whatever amount they want to give is a good thing. Some people have 1 child and small families, and some people are doing this for 4 different kids! It's a big financial burden and a shopping imposition for many. So you can put into your letter an awareness of this, and leave it open that they may be doing something on their own (which covers those who just can't afford this). Figure out a simple way to collect the money - maybe say you will be at the parent pick-up location on 3 different days for cash & gift cards, or they can mail a check to you. Don't have them mail cash or gift cards obviously. You really don't want the money to come in via the child's backpack - either the teacher herself will have to get those envelopes to you, or the child will completely forget about it and the parents will find it in February in the bottom of the backpack under the missing permission slips and notices!

I'm not sure how you are going to get all the kids to make a card. Do you volunteer in the school or is the teacher going to be out one day? I also never, ever left a child's name off the card because he or she didn't contribute. That's not the point. I know you don't want anyone to feel pressured or obligated - but they will. So I would send out 2 emails only - one introducing yourself and the collection, and a second follow-up thanking those who have responded and giving a "last call" for anyone else. For a card, I didn't worry about getting every name on there by the kids - just a "From the class and their grateful parents" type of signature. When I was teaching (and in 2 private religious schools), no one tried to get all the kids to make and sign a card. It took too much time from class work in the view of all the teachers - the parents just did something separately.

I like some of the wording below, but I'd also add that you are open to parent suggestions about a gift. If you want to compromise, you can say that people can contribute a gift card if they want, or make a monetary donation in any amount to go toward a larger gift or gift certificate. I think it's nice for the teacher to have "something to open", but if there were a few gift cards in there too, that would be fine.

I won't help you with the wording but I always feel like a gc is like cash anyway, except it limits ones spending to a particular store.

Here's my suggestion for the gift.
1)Exchange the money collected to a larger denomination.

2)Get one of those light bulb jars. I don't know if you have a Hobby Lobby by you but they have it there for $2 and right now it's half off.

3)Roll to money tightly and tie it with a string (throughout the tunnel and around the roll). Insert the money in the lightbulb jar with the string hanging out of the lip. Screw the cap on.

4) Attached a little card to the string with a note that says, "A little something towards your version of a good idea."

When I did this, I filled my light bulb with lucky stars (youtube has instruction on how to) and I wrote little notes on the strips of papers I used to make them.

I think you have some great templates...I'm having trouble though because this really isn't a group gift...If u are asking from gift cards from everyone then why should they give it to I first instead of just giving it to her...it's not like u are doing anything to make their shopping easier or make the gift for the teacher any bigger like if u collected cash for 1 store so she could make a big purchase.....it's don't know. I think like someone else said I would either give it myself or but something more personal....but it's nice to appreciate her I guess.

Updated

I think you have some great templates...I'm having trouble though because this really isn't a group gift...If u are asking from gift cards from everyone then why should they give it to I first instead of just giving it to her...it's not like u are doing anything to make their shopping easier or make the gift for the teacher any bigger like if u collected cash for 1 store so she could make a big purchase.....it's don't know. I think like someone else said I would either give it myself or but something more personal....but it's nice to appreciate her I guess.

Updated

I think you have some great templates...I'm having trouble though because this really isn't a group gift...If u are asking from gift cards from everyone then why should they give it to I first instead of just giving it to her...it's not like u are doing anything to make their shopping easier or make the gift for the teacher any bigger like if u collected cash for 1 store so she could make a big purchase.....it's don't know. I think like someone else said I would either give it myself or but something more personal....but it's nice to appreciate her I guess.

I am gathering contributions for a class holiday gift for Teacher and wanted to see if you'd like to participate. I'm hoping to gather gift cards in any amount that I will put on a mini Christmas tree. If you're unable to contribute a gift card, please feel free to send in a greeting card from your child instead. Please turn in your items to me by DATE HERE, via _____. Thanks in advance for your participation! I hope to make this a very special tree for Teacher.

I have been asked to head something like this up for my son's teacher every year....Here's the note I email to parents. I always reintroduce myself so parents know who is hitting them up. And I left this part out, but I end with how they can get the cards to me so it can be a surprise.

My name is SB. I am the room rep for Mrs. L. I hope everyone had a wonderful fall break. Christmas is right around the corner and usually, as room rep, I help prepare some sort of class gift. I am collecting gift cards to make a gift card tree for her. The cards can be in any denomination you choose. All donations will be anonymous to me. If you'd like her to know you gave the gift, please mark your gift cards in some way with your child or family name.
>
> On her All About Me Form from last year she mentions that her favorite stores are Funky Monkey, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target and the Plaid Peacock. Her favorite restaurants are Pei Wei, Mamma's Pizza, Don Taco, and Panera. Her favorite color is pink.
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> This is absolutely not a class requirement. This is optional. I know many of you may already have a more personalized gift in mind. I also know there may be some people who do not participate in gift giving. I will NOT be keeping a list of who donated and who didn't. I won't be tracking things in any way, I'll simply be the person to head up the collections. You may give ANY denomination you would like. I will periodically send out reminder emails, but these are in no way meant to make anyone feel pressured to participate.

*****I have NEVER gotten cards from all the same place. Usually it is quite the mix of places and visa gift cards that can be used anywhere. It has always been appreciated.

ETA...Just food for thought. I understand what people are saying about contributing money and making one large gift card purchase. My experience (and I have heard this from other room moms too) is that people don't like being asked for straight up cash this time of year, even though this is the same thing. And families want "credit" for their gift. If Family A gives $50, they want the teacher to know they gave $50, which you can do when you collect gift cards. It's ridiculous, I know. But I know more than one mom who was yelled at for not making sure a family got "credit". The other thing to consider is that Visa cards often charge a fee each month. It's nominal, but adds up. If a teacher is unaware and "saves" it for later, she may be disappointed to know some of the money on the card was spent on fees.

Ignore the naysayers, I think this is a great idea and I LOVE when another parent organizes a group gift for the teacher. One less thing for me to think about, I just send in what I can afford and boom, done! If people can't participate, or want to do their own thing, that's fine but for those of us who want things to be a bit simpler, the group gift is great. So from the kind of parent who never organizes these things, thank you for being one of the ones who does!

I like OnePerfectOne's message and would just add that cards of any amoutn are welcome. I wouldn't do the "if you can't contribute send in a homemade card" route that others suggested because then it sort of indicates who did/didn't contribute and that's not at all the point.

I like the suggestion of NewName2013 to ask those who cannot contribute to send in a card from their child. What a great idea so that all can be included regardless of financial situations. And a homemade card from a kindergartener is priceless to a teacher! Maybe ask them to make the card smaller than average sized greeting cards....so they can be hung on the tree without taking up too much space

I agree with Dawi - unless you know the person really likes a particular store, you're limiting the utility of the gift. I like the presentation idea she suggested. And by the way, the more general MasterCard cards charge a huge fee! Totally not worth it.

My suggestion?
Let each child, including your own, do their own thing for their teacher.
I've seen a fair few well intentioned room moms lose hair over this type of endeavor!

If you INSIST, I'd say :

Hello Room 212 Parents!
For the holidays, I am organizing an gift card tree for Mr/s. Smith.
Participation is complete optional.
If you'd like to contribute a gift card, please get it to me (via the school office- or whatever) by Dec. 15th when I will pick them up and assemble the tree.
I plan to have ALL students sign a card on Dec 16 at lunchtime, regardless of contribution.
Happy Holidays!
Thank you,
Name
Email
Phone number

Have not, but would have liked the idea. :)

"Planning a gift card bouquet for Mr/Mrs X to enjoy during the holiday. If you would like to participate, please meet me (x date/time/location--the school parking lot? or at pickup?) so that I can gather them into an arrangement to be presented to Mr/Mrs X on ___(date/time). If you would like more information, please feel free to call/email me at ___. "

My initial reaction is what a cool thing a gift card tree would be, but I also would worry that everyone would end up with Starbucks cards rather than a variety. You can't really require "sign up for a specific card from one of these stores." Well, you could, but it might not go down well. And many families might want to do their own thing....I would gather money from anyone who wants to donate and would get a single, larger gift card to one place you know she will use. If she's not a coffee drinker or even a tea drinker, a bunch of coffee shop cards will just end up being regifted. Don't be afraid to just ask her what her favorite restaurant is, or if she's a big coffee drinker or whatever. If you know she's a mad knitter, get a certificate from a knitting shop, etc. But don't guess.

This is why it's helpful to gather a set amount from all familes (who are able to give) at the start of the year and let everyone know that the money covers holiday party, teacher gift, spring party and year-end gift or whatever you do through the year. Then the parents don't have to have it on their radar to buy anything else or remember to pick up a gift card.

Also, our elementary school PTA had teachers fill out simple forms at the start of the year with favorite items/places (favorite restaurant, favorite coffee shop or pastry shop, favorite weekend activity, favorite...etc.) so that room parents had guidance on what to get for teachers. It saved getting gift cards to places they didn't like.

In elementary school I participated in this sort of thing for teacher appreciation week - sometime towards the end of the year..
For holidays - I did something myself or I didn't bother.
My Mom taught 6th grade for 30 years and got lot's of things she'd end up throwing away.
Trust me - a Starbucks gift card, a candle, an LED flashlight (pick one) and the teacher is happy.
If she doesn't use them herself they are easy to re-gift.
Something (PTA, school, group, some charity) is ALWAYS fund raising for something I get tired of people with their hand out looking for money all the time.