Looking for teacher appreciation gifts for the favorite teachers in your life? Whether you’re looking for a holiday gift, something for teacher appreciation week, or an end-of-the-school-year celebration gift, our readers came through with some thoughtful gifts and great ideas.
Want to Buy Your Child’s Teacher an Awesome Gift and Skip the Reading? Choose from these gift ideas!
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The Do’s and Don’ts of Teacher Appreciation Gift Giving
How do you show your gratitude to the person who spends half their day with your child? It can be tricky trying to find school teacher and preschool teacher gifts that they will love that are within your budget – especially when you are buying for multiple teachers! The person who is helping mold your child into a future doctor, engineer, leader of the free world, or the next generation of teachers. Sometimes it’s hard to know just what to get for someone who does so much for your children.
What do teachers really want for gifts? We asked local teachers to tell us about some of the gifts they’ve received from students that were their favorites. They also gave us some suggestions for things that would bring them joy for the holidays, such as an end-of-the-year teacher thank-you gift or any other time you feel like doing something to make them smile. We have gift ideas for teachers you’ll want to bookmark!
Gift Cards for Teachers
Amazon Gift Cards are a Definite DO!
Give your child’s teacher an Amazon gift card, and they can pretty much buy anything their heart desires. It’s one gift card you know they will absolutely use, probably before the end of the day. You can also gift a gift card to one of their favorite stores, including Target, Hobby Lobby, and basically any big box store you can think of!
Perhaps a gift card for a meal out at a nice restaurant downtown? (Tip: Email them and ask what their favorite restaurants are… get them a gift card to one of their favorites!). Or if they are history buffs, the Greenville History Tour Chef’s Table experience would cost very little if split among the class, but I assure you it would be an experience they’d not soon forget.
Local Gifts are a DO! Greenville Local Restaurants and Businesses with E-Gift Cards
If your child is a virtual student or maybe you remembered to buy a teacher gift at the last possible moment, check out our List of Local Gift Cards That You Can E-mail Your Child’s Teacher. Bonus: you’ll get to support a local business!
You can also gift your teacher an experience! These Local Experience Gifts for Greenville, SC will give them the opportunity to venture out and explore the city.
Coffee Gifts For Teachers
Caffeine is a Definite DO!
Just like most parents need that morning jolt of coffee in the morning, teachers do too! Imagine rolling out of bed, heading to work, and having to be a mom/nurse/counselor/mentor/tutor to twenty or more kids? Just thinking about it makes me need a shot of espresso!
A brand-new bottle of coffee concentrate is perfect to keep at the desk for emergencies. If your teacher has a pod-style coffee maker in her class, the refills for those are a great gift to consider!
Even better would be a set of reusable pod cartridges and some fresh ground coffee from a local roaster to fill them with. Bridge City Coffee offers a weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly coffee club that you could team up with other parents to provide if your teacher is a real coffeeholic! You can even give eGift cards to your favorite coffee houses, like Maple Bakery or one of the area’s other amazing coffee/tea shops, where your teacher can enjoy a delicious coffee flight! Maybe even throw in a travel tumbler to stuff the gift card down in for extra brownie points.
Coffee gift cards were always my favorite.
Kidding Around Contributor and Teacher, MariaGift Cards, Bags of Coffee. Maybe even a gift card to a local place that you have checked out in your discoveries.
Kate
Add these coffee gifts to your cart now, and make your teacher gift-giving easier this year!
Help your child’s teacher fix the perfect cup of coffee with this Coffee Syrups Gift Set.
Take your teacher on a trip around the world with this coffee sampler in a cute book package.
Not sure what flavor of coffee your child’s teacher loves the most? This Gourmet Ground Coffee Variety Pack is the perfect gift with 8 different flavors.
Do NOT Gift Coffee Mugs
While we’re on the subject of coffee and drinks, let’s talk about a few Don’ts when it comes to teachers and gift-giving. Unless you are certain that your child’s teacher is the exception to this rule – DO NOT gift a teacher a coffee mug, Tervis-style tumbler, or water bottle. They all have all the drinking vessels their kitchen cabinets can hold and thank you in advance for your restraint.
I understand you’re not sure your child’s teacher will know how you feel unless you buy that “#1 Teacher” mug. They will, I promise. Just buy something to go inside the mug they already have and they will love you for it.
Homemade Gifts Ideas and Kits for Teachers
DO Gift Teachers Something Handmade by Your Child
It might surprise you that teachers love getting homemade gifts from their kids just like parents do. That special little ornament or card that a student made just for them, is something they will cherish for a long time.
If you aren’t crafty, the folks at Greenville’s Color Clay Cafe or Spartanburg’s Hearts of Clay can help your child find the perfect ornament or another memento to decorate and personalize. They are affordable, which is a great way to get something for all the teachers in your child’s life without breaking the bank.
The best gifts are those that students make or pick out themselves. It makes them proud to show their teacher something they have done for them. My advice to parents : let the kids pick.
MichaelaA handmade card or personal note from the parent about how I have helped their child in some way
WhitneyI once received a little hand print ornament from a student. Twenty years later, I still hang that in my classroom by my desk.
DanielleHelp your kids make terrific homemade cards for their teachers with this Alex DIY Homemade Card Kit.
Maybe even have your child decorate an adorable tote bag for your teacher! You can even have your kid sew one together with this easy tote bag tutorial, what teacher wouldn’t love that?
Make beautiful ornaments for your teacher with this homemade ornament kit.
Perfect Teacher Christmas Gifts: Ornaments!
Holiday Ornaments Are a DO!
Ornaments are a perfect gift to give. They are compact and not expensive. The value of these gifts is in the memories they will hold of your child’s time with that teacher. I’ve talked to veteran teachers who put up additional trees in their homes to display the ornaments they’ve received over the years.
Jamie M. gave me a tiny homemade elf my first year of teaching, and I still use it to decorate with every year. Christmas ornaments are great mementos too. They allow me to revisit a special person or time, every year at Christmas.
MaryI love an ornament that’s personalized to remember the student. I still have one from one of my students who is now 21! I also love a handwritten note! Of course gift cards are fun and all teachers love bags of all kinds!
Amy D.Some of my most memorable gifts were Christmas ornaments. Each year I get them out and think of that child.
KellyThis pack of 5 Teacher Ornaments is a very economical way to give all your child’s teachers a little holiday cheer.
The Personalized Teacher Ornament is perfect for any teacher of any subject or any grade. Personalized gifts of any kind are always a good idea.
Chocolate and Sweet Gifts for Teachers
DO Bring Chocolate & Other Yummy Treats
Things to snack on during the day are almost always welcomed by teachers! If you love baking, why not make a batch of cookies or brownies with your child to give to their teacher? If you aren’t handy in the kitchen, or just don’t have the time, it’s ok. There are plenty of options to help you shower them with goodies or a sweet treat.
Some delicious hot cocoa bombs are affordable and chocolate! Two of my favorite things.
Even more, fun, if your family has a special food tradition, you might consider sharing that with your child’s teacher, along with the recipe as a keepsake.
You may want to forego the homemade goodies and grab something pre-packaged from a local bakery or chocolatier such as LaRue Fine Chocolates, Kilwins, or Swamp Rabbit Cafe.
I had twin girls from Louisiana. They gave me hot sauce and Cajun foods, chips, cookies, ornaments and hot peppers. Even the card they gave me was Cajun!
Amy W.A few years ago, a student brought me a jar of chocolate covered coffee beans. The child had beautifully decorated the jar and they filled it with my favorite chocolate snack! That was probably the most memorable gift I ever received. It was something the child had helped to make, something they knew I loved PLUS and extra kick of caffeine on mornings I needed it.
DanHere are a couple of delicious treats your child’s teacher will love!
These Chocolate Covered Cookies Gift Box would be a delicious treat for your child’s teacher.
Have a teacher who doesn’t like chocolate? Give the gift of something sweet with these Sea Salt Caramels.
Pampering Gifts for Teachers
A Definite DO To Consider: Pamper Your Teacher!
You know that classroom mom group text that you use to freak out over projects that your child forgot to tell you about and now it’s 8 pm and it’s due tomorrow? Yeah, we’ve all been there. Well, what if you used it for organizing an awesome group gift for your child’s teacher?
A $70 gift would be way too extravagant for the majority of our holiday gift-giving budgets. However, you can collaborate with several other families and split the cost of it.
Just imagine how happy and relaxed your child’s teacher would be after spending an hour at a place like Drift Float Spa! A spa treatment here will even get your child’s teacher ready to face another standardized testing week, it’s that awesome.
For a beloved or favorite teacher, this is the way to go and will be one of their favorite gifts! Plus, a gift of pampering will be great for preschool teachers through high school teachers, because we all know how draining being around tens to hundreds of kids all day can become.
Trust me; teachers don’t expect extravagant gifts like this. But that would make it all that much better to surprise them with a nice relaxing spa treatment. If you want to give the pampering thought, but on a budget, some amazing hand cream is also a great idea!
DO Proceed With Caution: Alcohol-Based Gifts
I’m not encouraging you to run out and buy your child’s teacher alcohol. However, when multiple teachers jokingly included it when we asked I figured I’d include it in the suggestions. This all depends on how well you know the teacher and if you think it would be appropriate or not.
As a teacher, one of my most memorable gifts was from a parent who gave me a bottle of sparkling wine and a box of chocolates with a funny note.
Most memorable, not purchased gift is hard, but definitley got a tequila shot set and about died
AshleyOnce a parent got me a bottle of wine and a recipe book, I thought it was really thoughtful and I still use that recipe book ten years later!
SophieSupport the Classroom (but not with school supplies!)
A Gift You Know Teachers Will Love
If you’ve had time to get to know the teacher, you might have learned something about them to aid in gift-giving. Are they huge Clemson fans? Then grab a personalized gift with the team colors. Most teachers mentioned personalized items.
Smack a monogram on something, and you’ve got teacher gift-giving gold! Maybe a garden-size flag personalized with their name for their classroom? We gave my son’s teacher one year a full-size Clemson flag with her last name on it to hang in her classroom, and it was a huge hit.
Gift cards are always nice. But a soft fuzzy blanket was one of my favorite things. Christmas ornaments that remind you of the student in some way. Something personalized.
DanaAnything personal that has to do with the student – pictures of us together, or maybe something specific for my desk.
ChristianSupport the Classroom
Remember, the best gift you can give a teacher is your support. Even if you don’t have time to volunteer in the class, there are ways to support your child’s teacher in other ways. I once organized my child’s class holiday party and came in to see it through to the clean-up. I didn’t have money that year to buy the teacher a gift and apologize.
She told me that just waking up the last week of school knowing she wouldn’t have to worry about the class party, was the best gift I could have given her. If you are looking for a way to show your appreciation by helping out, we’ve also written about more ways to support your child’s teacher in the classroom.
I hope this helps you decide what to do to show your appreciation to this special person in your child’s life. It truly is a labor of love and something your child has made with love is never a bad idea.
What teacher gift-giving ideas have you had that were a huge hit? Let us know!
DON’T Buy School Supplies or Office Supplies
Teachers are selfless creatures. A knee-jerk reaction for most teachers is to think, “What do I need for the classroom?” Please don’t use gifts as an opportunity to stock the classroom with stuff from the Amazon class wish list and a bunch of sticky notes.
All those cute apple-themed stationery sets? Leave them at the store, along with the paperweights.
Thank a teacher with something, just for them. I’m not saying don’t try to help keep your kid’s classroom stocked with crayons, scissors, pencils, and everything else. Just try to help out with that outside of a gift-giving opportunity.
Do you have more suggestions for things that make great (or not-so-great) teachers’ gifts? Let us know in the comments!
During the week of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, my son’s teacher casually mentioned that “Oh the places you’ll go” was one of her favorite books. I went on Etsy and purchased a print of a quote from the book. I’ve mod podged it onto canvas and added a matching bow to hang it from! It was her gift for Teacher of the Year!
What a great idea, Kelly!
Never underestimate the power of a heartfelt thank you. Write a thank you card to your child’s teacher and write a letter of commendation/appreciation about said teacher to the principal. You have no idea how much this means to a teacher!
Yes!!! I have a binder specifically for these! The spine says “Reasons To Keep Teaching”…. you know, for those days we all have where we wonder why we keep on. lol
I feel like this would be especially well received this year.
Please no homemade food. I taught jr. high and high school, so I didn’t usually get gifts. My dad taught jr. high for 35 years. Occasionally, he’d get some homemade food. He was always grateful, but he only ate it if he knew the parent and knew they had made it. Believe it or not, there are some teenagers who think it’s funny to bring a teacher ex lax cookies. Personally, I loved any gift I got even if it wasn’t “individualized”. I actually still have a pencil holder made from a tin can and construction paper that one of… Read more »
I totally think that one WAS personalized, Amber! It was personalized because it was made especially for YOU by what that kid had to offer you. Anything a kid made is always awesome regardless of the materials!
Unless it’s a stuffed animal that smells like a catbox…. then it’s not necessarily awesome. lol 😉
I’d add, don’t forget the “other” teachers your children might have. Like a previous poster mentioned, most of the time it’s the home room teachers and sometimes related arts teachers but also remember the resource teachers, speech therapists, challenge teachers of your child received instruction from one of these kinds of teachers!
For sure!!! They spend HOURS in the fall and spring staying til 6 doing IEP meetings and making sure our kids get the accommodations they need!!!
I am not a teacher but have been a room parent for over 25 yrs and I can say a teachers job is far more appreciated than most parents think. These people take care of our children keep order amongst them enough to teach them each and every day. Being in the classroom a lot I realize just how much they truly do for our students. Many of them have little to no support from parents, children always short on supplies, and work extra time before and after school to ensure our students get the maximum of resources they can… Read more »
I bought a popcorn box w/red and white stripes and filled it with Theatre size candy (her favorites) put a microwave popcorn bag and got her a gift certificate for the movies.