As my daughter has gotten older it feels like teacher appreciation has become less of a thing. I don’t know if that’s because the school makes less of a deal about it (they do snacks and drinks and things for the teachers, so it’s not like there’s nothing, it’s just not coming from individual parents) or because it’s too overwhelming to give gifts when your kid has six or seven teachers.
If your school does theme days and you need some ideas, check out my post on teacher appreciation themes for the school.
Maybe it’s a little bit about teachers not wanting all those gifts, and I have written before about what teachers really want for teacher appreciation (spoiler alert: it’s gift cards).
But I also feel like there can be a middle ground, if you truly want to give a teacher something to acknowledge their hard work (and goodness knows they need all the acknowledgement we can give them).
The solution might be consumables, especially if you know things the teacher likes and uses like lotion or their favorite kind of coffee. Everything Pretty has some ideas for practical gifts you can give for teacher appreciation, some of which are consumables, and all of which sound thoughtful and nice, and not an apple shaped doodad among them.
The Applicious Teacher has another list of things teachers will actually appreciate, and it starts with a personalized note. If you know the teacher enough to get specific about something they’ve done for your child, or your child has said something nice about them, that’s great to include. Even better: get the kid to write or draw something special for that teacher.
I also love the idea that’s in both of these posts to get teachers personalized school supplies, whether that be a notebook, pens, sticky notes, etc. This personalized notepad that looks like notebook paper from Sophias Things on Etsy is super cute and every teacher is sure to love it. I’m not even a teacher and I always want more places to take notes!
If you’re a teacher I’d love to hear what you really like to receive for teacher appreciation gifts!
[Photo: Sophias Things]
