Ha! Ha! I lured you here by making you think I had ideas for teacher gifts. I have few. I thought we could brainstorm, internet pals? Anyone lurking out there with an awesome idea?
It's funny that being homeschoolers, you'd think I wouldn't have to deal with teacher gifts around the holidays, but we probably do a few more extracurricular activities than the average child, so we may have to purchase more teacher gifts.
Both my sisters have taught or are teaching, so hopefully they'll chime in here. My one sister said Starbucks gift cards are always good. We are making three beeswax candles per teacher, packaged in a cellophane bag with pretty ribbon. I have yummy soaps for all the teachers and... well... I think that's all. Oh, yes. I was going to wrap up a rosemary plant because I love rosemary and everyone else must too. It's holiday-ish and wonderful all around, don't you think? I think I'll hit Michael's for some of the fabulous Martha Stewart packaging items and put all those ideas together for a cute gift. I may panic at the last minute and throw gift cards in as well. This could become very expensive very quickly.
So, out with it - what are your ideas?
Hmm. We always used to give our teachers flowers from the garden and/or fruit from our apricot and plum trees along with something similar to what you have already described.
Of course, being upside down as we are here, we are not in the middle of winter at Christmas time like you are, so I can see that flowers and home grown fruit might be a stretch for you Northern Hemisphere dwellers.
You guys can get your own back on me by imagining how hideous it is to cook a big Christmas meal when the temperatures are soaring.
Posted by: theotherbear | December 09, 2007 at 04:47 PM
I think your candles and soaps are perfect. Even one of those is really enough. When I taught, I really received so much and it was really just the thought that was appreciated. I am sure I would have loved a starbucks card too. We are giving jars of spiced pecans to our teachers and a very small fancy lotion. I found that my cash did not go so far at the mall this year. I also really like the gift packages at King Arthur flour, but they have changed their shipping rates so are not as reasonable as they used to be.
Posted by: Chrissie | December 09, 2007 at 05:41 PM
With Sweetpea now in school, I'm thinking that teacher gifts are a needed thing...I'm thinking I'll bake a couple batches of chocolate almond biscotti...put about 8-10 biscotti cookies per gift bag...tie it up pretty,including a little individual serving size packet of a CC's flavored coffee grounds in the ribbon.
Posted by: Cheryl M. | December 09, 2007 at 05:49 PM
As a teacher it really varied from year to year what I got. Of course there were always plenty of apple things to stick about the room! Ahem.
What you have described sounds perfect. You could thrown in a homemade goodie OR put it in some sort of basket, bucket, or bowl that could be used for something else during the year. No need for a gift card on top of the other things. Even with teachers, it really is the thought that counts.
Posted by: Crisanne | December 09, 2007 at 06:28 PM
The ones that stood out to me are the ones that had a personal note from the student. I do like the Starbuck's gift card idea, and the soap/lotion or candle.
I am not a big fan of Santa coffee mugs or other holiday themed things. Most of it would be in a pile until after Christmas and by then it was too late to enjoy it.
Posted by: Kathy | December 09, 2007 at 08:07 PM
Chrissie, at first I thought your comment said gift packages _of_ King Arthur flour rather than _at_ King Arthur flour. I was ready to tell you what a BAD idea that was.
It would be like "Hey, we don't like you enough to bake for you, but here's some flour."
Of course, it's amazing what some people can do with cellophane wrapping paper and a fancy bow. It's _all_ about the presentation.
Posted by: Kathy | December 09, 2007 at 08:13 PM
See, now I'm inspired. Tie a Williams-Sonoma wooden spoon on with the fancy bow and you've got a really _useful_ $5 gift.
$15 with the Starbuck's card...Then they can take their bag of flour to a nice corner store and eat it with the spoon and a nice latte.
Posted by: Kathy | December 09, 2007 at 08:19 PM
A basket with half a dozen scones from the bakery and a pretty jar of jam.
I love giving consumable gifts so the recipient doesn't amass too much clutter.
A Christmas ornament is always a good idea too.
Posted by: Alice Gunther | December 10, 2007 at 04:50 AM
We're supposed to be giving the teachers gifts, as well?
Ah heck.
These are good ideas. I think we'll give our piano teacher the gift of neatly trimmed fingernails (so that she doesn't always have to remind us) and perhaps a basket of scones & jam.
Thanks for the reminder. :)
Posted by: Margaret in Minnesota | December 10, 2007 at 06:24 AM
I'm doing a gift card to her teacher's favorite Mexican restraunt as well as some homemade goodies and i'm going to try to sneak in a bottle of good wine without the kids seeing her open it. Pier One has the cutest wine bottle covers with sequin-y things on it. How horrible would that be, though, if the principle walked in and saw a bottle of wine sitting on her desk.
Posted by: Kellie | December 10, 2007 at 07:49 AM
I really love the bag of fingernails for the piano teacher. I would have to give our violin teacher a bag of LEFT HANDS only fingernails as the right hands of my kids never get trimmed --in the frantic race out the door to lessons. Yuck, huh?
Sorry to throw everyone off with the bag of flour idea. I was referring to the baking site: www.kingarthurflour.com--lots of gifts for the bakers or lovers of baked goods in your life--hint to all my family reading...
Posted by: Chrissie | December 10, 2007 at 08:18 AM
I've published a whole page of ideas at:
http://rochester.kidsoutandabout.com/main-articles/craftsforteachers.html
My favorite one, the one that always makes the biggest splash and is the most memorable, is the place mat. This does require the use of our small hand-crank laminating machine which I bought at Staples about five years ago for $40, but it was the best investment I made that year and, as a homeschooling mom, I can't see it going out of use any time soon.
Basically, we take a piece of construction paper and cover it (one or both sides, depending on your energy and supplies) with holiday decorations of all sorts--stuff clipped from magazines, graphics printed from the Internet, wrapping paper cut out in creative shapes and borders, doilies, stickers, photos, etc. We usually print out the words to Christmas carols and glue them on as well, especially for the piano and choir teachers. We always make sure to include a small photo of the kids, the year, and some words of thanks. Then when the child is satisfied with the creation, crank it through the laminator, and you have a beautiful place mat that the teacher will be happy to put out under holiday goodies year after year.
Posted by: Deb | December 10, 2007 at 08:21 PM
This week we gave the Art teacher a nice orchid in a ceramic pot that I ran over to costco and bought for $14.
She was thrilled.
It has pretty flowers that should last about a month and the plant may or may not live... at least in my own experience w/ orchids.
Posted by: Laurie | December 13, 2007 at 02:45 PM