Teacher Appreciation Gift

As a former teacher, let me tell you a little secret… there is no such thing as a bad teacher appreciation gift. I PROMISE YOU. You can’t mess this up because you are taking time (and money) to stop and say, “thank you.” As we all know, teachers are often undervalued and overwhelmed. Underpaid and overly scrutinized. Under appreciated and over looked. Taking time to even send a thank you note will make any teacher’s day. Trust me.

Having said that, I get asked all the time what I liked to receive as a teacher and what I give my kids’ teachers. I tend to stick with two basic gifts that are consistently a hit. I always give them a personalized name plate for Christmas. My mom gave me one years ago for Christmas and I’ve ordered from the same Etsy store for at least five years since and have never been disappointed. And at $15, they are a steal! I usually order these at the beginning of the school year when teachers and school are on my mind and then shove them in a closet until the holidays. These aren’t good last minute gifts because of shipping, obviously.

For Teacher Appreciation Week, I try to find cute cups with teacher themes. You’d be hard pressed to find a teacher who doesn’t have a water cup within arms reach all day long. When I was teaching, I had several that I kept in my classroom on rotation, so these are cute but also really practical. I’ve done fancy Tervis cups and I’ve done Dollar Tree cups in a pinch. It’s the thought that counts, mommas! These cups are from Michael’s. They were on sale for $5, plus Michael’s has a 20% off your entire purchase running this week (May 6-10). You can’t tell in the picture because I’m a crappy blogger, but the cups say “I’m silently correcting your grammar.”

I filled the mugs with Hershey kisses and a $15 Starbucks gift card. Honestly, I usually just do a $5 or $10 gift card, but Michael’s had these on a display and it saved me a stop on the way home (let’s not talk about how I paid $10 to save myself three minutes…). As the final touch, I threw a curly bow on top and called it a day!

The last thing that I do is have my kids write their teachers a thank you note and Chris and I write them a thank you note. Those go into a little gift bag with the cups. The best part of being a teacher is hearing about what an impact you are making from students and parents. So, while everything else is nice, these cards are the real gift.

And that’s it, my friends. Simple, practical, thoughtful, and special. Just like our teachers. <3