Teacher Gifts: What to Get Your Caretaker this Christmas

teachers gifts

Are you wondering what to get for your child’s teacher this Christmas?  Teacher’s don’t expect gifts, and some states (like the one I teach in) put limits on how much you can accept as a gift.  But if you are looking for ideas for teacher gifts, I’ll put a few out there for you.

Something Homemade

Two weeks ago, I was putting up my Christmas tree with my family, and I found an assortment of Christmas ornaments from different students over the years.  Angel wings from paper plates, colored balls made with old crayons, race cars from miniature candy bars.  Some of these ornaments are 15 years old, but they still make me smile when I think of those kids who took the time to make something for me.

If you are giving your caretaker a tasty treat, be sure to have the kids help.  Cooking is such a great life skill for girls and boys.  You can teach them about different states of matter making candy molds.  You can teach them about mixing the dry and wet ingredients in your favorite cookie recipe.  Families can teach kids decorating skills sprinkling miniature candy canes and snowflakes on a batch of brownies.  We are teachers.  Oddly enough, we will prefer the sweet treat that shows the learning process over the perfect, decadent treat you put together yourself or bought from your local baker.

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee

Every year, I see hundreds of memes about the long hours that teachers work and how much work they bring home.  Do you ever wonder how they do it?  Coffee!

Trust me, unless your child’s teacher is expecting, they will greatly appreciate a gift card to a coffee shop, or a cute mug.  Again, I still have all those old mugs from kids over the years, and I still remember exactly which kid they came from.

Here are a few cute examples:

The traditional coffee mug:


The travel mug for a teacher with a long commute:


Something trendy:

Supplies for the Classroom

Another thing you hear about all the time is how much money teacher’s spend on their classrooms.  Personally, I probably spend $40 a year just on tissues alone.  Do families spend lots of money on school supplies too?  Yes, they do.  But there is always a gap.  Kids test how short they can sharpen a pencil.  Kids forget to put the caps on glue sticks.  Kids make cartoon flip books out of the pack of post-its that are supposed to be used for morning meetings.  And let’s be honest – a lot of this happens in December when the kids have Santa on the brain.  Even more of it happens in January when the kids have indoor recess.

Here are a few ideas:

If your child is a sneezer:


If your child likes all the pretty colors:


And if your child likes to test the limits of a pencil’s usability:


Also, if your child likes to test the limits of a pencil’s usability:

If your child loses the marker caps at home, they probably do at school too.


Whatever present you decide to give your child’s teacher, more than anything, make it personal.  A sweet note or something that truly reflects your child will never be forgotten.

Photo by andeecollard

#17- The Return of the Sleepless Nights

sleepless nights

If you’ve been following this blog, you probably know that girlie is a climber.  We put her in a toddler bed just before she turned two because she was climbing out of her crib.

For the first few months, she did great.  We were pleasantly surprised.  But over the summer she started doing what we would have expected – coming to visit in the middle of the night.  Sometimes she just stares at us until we wake up.  Other nights she climbs over my husband’s face to come snuggle with me.

With the boy, I was a pro at going right back to sleep after taking care of his nightly needs.  But since I turned 40, I just can’t go back to sleep.

Last night she came in, and all she needed was one snuggle and one song to go right back to sleep.  I was up for three more hours.  Hot flashes, mind racing, Candy Crush frustration, Pinterest.  Everything was keeping me from going back to sleep.

Usually, after an hour or so, I start cleaning.  Tonight I did the bathrooms and organized the playroom.  My husband knows when he smells bleach in the morning to give me some space until the third cup of coffee has kicked in.  He offers some compliments about the playroom.  I just look up from my coffee and grunt.  He gets the kids dressed.  I look up again and mumble, “Thanks”.  He changes Girlie’s diaper and I make a snide remark about how many I change.

Just keep the coffee going, please.  Put on Amazon Prime so the kids keep quiet while the caffeine is slowly bringing my body back to its human form.  At this point, hugs and compliments are nice.  Coffee is better.

The day goes on.  The kids play outside while I watch from the deck, reading a book and counting the minutes until nap time.

 

Photo by Ben124.