Guidance on Gifts for Daycare Teachers

Hi S. T. My name is K.. I am a Mary Kay Beauty
Consultant. With my Business, I have a Gift Service.
I have lovely gifts at all price points. Please contact me
at ###-###-#### ASAP and I will be glad to share with you
all of my gift suggestions. Looking forward to hearing from you. K. Henderson

Homemade cookies or a coffee cake is nice. Maybe some gift cards for lunch at McDonald's or Arby's??

Depending on your budget...either get them all a gift card for lunch some place(you could do fast food like Arby's or KFC or go with a nicer place in you area) or make a tray of treats for everyone that works at the daycare to share.
Another option is give them a greeting card and call it enough. You could even have your son make the cards. Sometimes I think the gift giving is just out of control! Do we really need to give a gift to every person we have delt with over the past year? Ok, enough of my rant!!
:-) good luck with what ever you decide to do!

I think it's okay to give the main person who deals with your son a little something more. The other works shouldn't expect anything big if they have only been there for 2 months. I personally used to work in a day care and got little gifts from kids I didn't really work with and bigger gifts for kids I spent a lot of time with. Pretty much anything is appropriate. The workers should expect anything and just be grateful for anything.

I had two childern in daycare at once. Each in their own room. Each had 6 teachers. So I had 12 people to buy for plus the administration staff. What I started doing is baking for them. I bake a cheesecake recipe, one batch makes 3 cheesecakes because i purchase the pie crust. In the end it is about 4 dollars a cake and the teachers love it. They all got one cake to take home for their families. It has become a tradition and the teachers love the fact that the kids help make them.

I'm thinking of Movie Night buckets for my daughters' teachers this year. In the dollar section at Target are small popcorn buckets. Add a bag of micro popcorn and a box of candy with a Blockbuster gift card ($5 for 1 movie rental). For those that spend more time with your child, you could give a higher $ amt on the card and no one would know. Or bring in a bagel bucket or lunch for the whole staff. I'd skip treats as they'll end up with loads of cookies and candy during the season. Or how about a new toy or game for the classroom? My daughter's 1st grade teacher had a bunch of these really neat puppets - folk something or other is the name - they vary in prices starting at $25 - the kids loved them and the teachers could use as well. FamilyFun.com usually has good ideas for teacher gifts as well.

S., I am a teacher and always appreciate any gift a student gives to me, one of my favorites to get is hand soap from Bath and Body Works. It is pretty inexpensive, but always a nice and useful gift.

Gift cards are always great...even as little as $5 somewhere. Also, if even that seems like it will stretch your budget since it's so many teachers, I know when I was a teacher one morning we came in and a mom had provided a bagel breakfast for us with fresh fruit and juice or a pizza lunch was delivered one day...that might save you money and it's a great treat to know you're appreciated. Hope this helps!

Being a daycare provider myself I can tell you that the things I appreciated the most was lunch and a personalized letter to each of the teachers expressing your appreciate including what you like most about them. One of my families does this every year and it brings a tear to each of the teachers eyes. I will always treasure the letters. For lunch let the teachers know that on a specific day you are going to have pizza delivered or dropped off. (Little Ceasers is only $5 a pizza) You could bring in a special lunch homemade by yourself too.

Another idea is buying a new toy for the daycare or a gift card to the teacher store.

I am going to give you this advice based on my experience working in a day care for 5 years! The gift itself shows that you care about the people caring for your child. Having said that, brownies, cookies..that sort of thing is always going to go over well! We got some individual gifts, mugs, ornaments, gift cards, but that can get pricey...and really, we just want to know that you appreciate what we do on a daily basis! A token can touch the heart! Good luck...happy holidays!

Hi S., I was in your shoes about 4 years ago. My three kids are in a church childcare where the setup sounds like yours. I put together a Christmas letter (I can forward to you if you'd like) explaining my situation, that I have 3 kids, and I wanted to recognize everyone for Christmas but my budget wouldn't allow. The letter then goes on to explain that I will collect $ in any amount to be applied towards gift certificates for every teacher. I work very closely with the childcare administrative staff who provides me names of all caregivers. In the end I normally collect over $1000 which then is divvied up between all caregivers. Normally I get them a $10 Celebration Cinema gift certificate and Chili's or something else. Everyone who contributes has their names added to the cards in which I put the gift certificates. Its a lot of work and also includes a follow-up letter, but it works out wonderfully and then EVERYONE is recognized in some way. Let me know if you want more details. K.

I had the same issue last year. I had like 8 teachers I felt should be honored. I went on the Lush website (www.lush.com) and ordered each teacher a $10 gift, which contained a festively packaged bath gel and a bath bomb. They were a huge hit! Also, if you spend a certain amount on that site you get free shipping and a gift for yourself!

Gift Card to any where restuarant or Store. For the ones who aren't to invovled or haven't been there for a while do a craft with your sone like ornament making or something to give to them make it nice but small.

I have always givin to the staff at my childrens school. New teachers and old that I still see and talk to.

You can purchase multi scented lotion gift sets at Marshall's and TJ Maxx and break them up to wrap them in tule or decrorative tissue paper with ribbon and a gift card for each person made on your computer using business card stock, and for the male teachers I get nice sock packs (nautica, ect...) for 5.99-7.99 to 3-4 pack. Sometimes I have even baked cookies, cupcakes, made chocolate candy bags or supplied lunch for the office staff since I know them all (3 years).

Lunch was spaghetti/gralic bread, chilli cheese dip with totilla chips, or sandwich rolls. Cost usually around $15-$20. Each year I try to give something. I think this year I will get a cake from Sams Club or make a fruit tray, enough for most/all of the office/teacher staff as they come and go or while on lunch break. Send it in with a decorated touch.

I've given nice christmas ornaments too.

All will be grateful.

I am a daycare provider and am thankful for anything! I really like the giftcards! I got a gift cert. once for a massage and that was nice.

My mom is a day care teacher and ironically we were talking about this the other day. In the past she has gotten anything from treats in a gift bag, treats in a coffee cup, homemade gifts (ornaments I believe) to gift cards. She would prefer a gift card, because it's a gift that can't go wrong. The problem with that, is that if you do a different amount for each teacher, that would go noticed. What you could do is talk to the day care director and find out what the interests are for those people. I know that my mom's day care also does a Secret Santa with the teachers and the teachers all fill out a little list of things that they like. Your director may have access to that list, or at minimum know the interests of the teachers (or be able to easily get it for you).

If you feel you must give a gift, then I feel you should give the same to all of them. Why not a tray of goodies that all can enjoy? Have the children write them thank you notes, or Christmas cards. Get a craft kit from Michaels for 9 bucks and make ornaments or if you knit or sew, make them each a pair of mittens or something.

since there are five, you could bring in a nice lunch, or maybe some desserts

S. - I had a similiar dilemna last year. My son had just moved to a new classroom right before the Holidays. I decided to buy a muffin basket for the center, so all the teachers that float in and out of his room could enjoy it. Of course, when I looked in to them, they were really expensive. So I bought a nice basket at Michael's, went to My Favorite Muffin and made it myself. I brought it in the week before Christmas, since my son was going to be out the week of the holiday. It cost about $25 total for 25 employees - much better than the whopping $59.95 that the speciality stores charge for the premade ones. Hope this helps!

My kids attend Kindercare-- here is what I am doing.

There are 18 staff member, including the director and asst. director. All 18 are getting a handmade soap in a nice bag with a poem about a special teacher. I printed the poem, cut it out and glued it on red paper and then cut that and put in on green paper and punched a hole in the corner and tied it to the bag with a ribbon.

My 4.5 year olds pre-school teacher is also getting a 25$ gift certificate to Barnes and Nobles.

My daughter is in the infant room. Her 3 primary caregivers are also getting a $15 gift certificate to starbucks.

I am also brining in a large box of chocolates or cookies for everyone to share.

Good luck!

Something relaxing!!! I am a Massage Therapist and my teacher and daycare clients are always so thrilled to receive massage gift certificates. If you are going to buy lotions and such, make sure that they are not full of chemicals and toxic ingredients. So many people are starting to really pay attention to the labels and what they are putting on their skin. If you are looking for a massage gift certificate-I can help you! If you would like some ideas for great products, I also have some store recommendations in the Downriver area. Good luck!

A gift basket of treats is always great for the room, and for those special teachers great gift ideas are gift cards to Bath and Body Works ($10 is great) or I also got a gift certificate to a local salon for a pedicure. I did the daycare, preschool, and latchkey thing for many years. Do NOT do the coffee mug with treats, they get way too many coffee mugs.