Gifts teachers ACTUALLY want

Teachers have a huge impact on your children’s lives. Beyond education, they can provide the motivation to study, offer life lessons and even protect your child if they’re getting bullied or struggling at school. But how do you recognise and thank teachers on special occasions? From birthdays to Christmas and the end of term, we explore gifts that teachers would actually want.

The first step is to identify the teaching set-up at school. Does your child just have one teacher? Or do they have a teacher and a younger teaching assistant? Teaching assistants have usually just finished studying and it can make their day to also receive recognition for their work.

Out of office time

Gifts for when teachers have finished with their day at work can be much appreciated. These are things that’ll be enjoyed once teaching is finished. For this, you could get them the special alcohol they like, perfume or nail polish. But ultimately, an out of office gift can be anything you know they’ll enjoy out of hours.

Personalised gifts

Personalised gifts show you’ve put the effort in and are usually well received. You could go for a photo or even a personalised card to add a touch of familiarity to your gift. Speak to your child about what the teacher’s like and draw upon your meetings with them for inspiration. For instance, you might have learnt a bit about the teacher at parents’ evening or at any extra-curricular event.

Classroom supplies

Classroom supplies can be a really thoughtful gift. Many primary school teachers love decorating their classrooms and will do this in their own time. Usually, these decorations correspond to the season. You might have an autumn display, an Easter theme or maybe even some Christmas decorations when December swings around. One gift option is to thoughtfully help out with supplies for these themes. For Easter, you could buy everyone treats, or you could get a class advent calendar. With classroom supplies, you can be as creative as you want!

Gifts to avoid

There are some gifts you’ll want to avoid though. These are the standard ones that teachers always receive. Usually, these will be chocolates, mugs and other teacher-related ornaments.

Showing your appreciation for teachers can feel good. Sometimes choosing the right gift can be difficult but usually, you won’t go wrong with out-of-office gifts, supplies or something personalised.