I started teaching in 2009, and left the classroom in 2020. I’ve definitely been given my fair share of “teacher gifts”. I don’t really remember “teacher appreciation week” being a thing where I taught, but around the holidays and at end of school in June — the gifts started flowing. I know there are a lot of people who say there is such a thing as a “bad gift for a teacher” — mugs and candles get a bad rap, for example. But honestly, it is pretty nice just to be thought of — no matter what someone gives!
As a parent, it can be hard to shower the teachers with gifts, especially if you have more than one teacher/class to celebrate! In our family, we have three classrooms (all with at least two teachers), plus the girls each have speech therapists they see multiple times a week. That’s a whole lot of teachers! So I had to stick to a budget.
I did my best to stretch each dollar as far as I could! The kids really wanted to bring something each day during teacher appreciation week, so we broke down the gifts into smaller tokens that could be easily brought (on the bus) each day. I also ignored pinterest and instagrm and steered clear of printables I had to find/make, print and cut. (Maybe next year!) And I tried to mix it up between things for the classroom and personal items. So here’s look at what we did:
Monday: School Supplies
On Monday, they each took a small gift bag filled with school supplies! I shopped Walmart and The Dollar Store and picked up some expo markers, post it notes, crayons, felt tip pens, and more! The kids were most excited to give this bag (which they decorated!)
Tuesday + Thursday: Classroom Supplies
On Tuesday, the kids brought in wipes and hand sanitizer for the class. I feel like these are necessities! Then on Thursday, they brought gallon ziploc bags and tissues. These are popular items for classrooms, so they are super practical and I always just assume they’re in need of them!
Wednesday: Special Treat
On Wednesday, the kids insisted on bringing in something fun! We went out to dinner the night before and the restaurant was nearby a Crumbl. It seemed meant to be! We gifted each classroom teacher a chocolate chip cookie!
Friday: Gift Card
And finally, on the last day of the week, the kids brought each of their teachers (and speech therapists) a gift card to… Target, of course. 🙂
I spent about $50 on each classroom, and it was a fun, no pressure, week of celebrating the adults my kids spend all day, every day with!
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