roonee Before I started blogging seriously, I was a teacher. I started off as a primary school teacher before then moving up to teaching history to secondary school students – teaching was a job that I absolutely loved, and if it wasn’t for the long hours not working around my family life, I would still be in the industry now.
Despite not being in education anymore, I have some wonderful mementos from my time in the classroom, many of which were gifts from my students. Gift giving is something that I often see parents debating and chatting about online – what kinds of gifts are the best things to give to teachers at the end of the school year, what will teachers appreciate the most, and what is a really budget friendly teacher gifts? As an ex-teacher, I am here to tell you!
The first thing that I should say, is that as a teacher, I never expected gifts from the children I taught, ever. Obviously, being given a meaningful gift by a child is an incredibly touching gesture, but it’s not something any teacher should actually expect! If you really do want to show your appreciation for the hard work your child’s teacher has put in over the year, then here are some of the things that me and my colleagues were the most touched by;
Personalised Gifts
Personalised teacher gifts are a fantastic choice for a number of reasons! Firstly, as a teacher, mugs, tote bags, and pens are often misplaced and mixed up while at school, but by having a personalised set of kit, any teacher can be sure that nobody will accidentally walk off with their things. For this reason, any teacher will appreciate a personalised gift, but mugs, pens, and bags are probably the most useful! Most schools have a hot drinks policy in place for teachers, meaning that they can’t use a mug for their tea and coffee in the classroom and usually need to use a travel cup with a lid instead – a personalised travel cup will always go down well for this reason!
Handmade Gifts
Gifts don’t have to be expensive. Some of my most precious gifts from pupils have been the ones that have been handmade and that I can see loads of effort has gone into. I’ve got a stash of handmade cards, drawings, and even a few poems that mean an awful lot, and didn’t cost a penny. I love to take them out every now and again and look through them while reminiscing about my time in the classroom – the cards with beautiful handwritten messages inside are probably my favourites!
Gift Vouchers
Finally, if you are really unsure what your child’s teacher would like, but you want to give them something nice, get them a gift voucher. Just enough to buy a coffee or two at the local coffee shop will always be an appreciated gesture, but any teacher would be thrilled to receive a gift card for just about anywhere!
Will you be getting anything for the teachers this year? I would love to know!
