Gift ideas for teachers?

[Orb]

Hey guys!

Not sure what thread this was meant to go in, so I've just put it here.

In a bit of a dilemma since I want to get gifts for my various teachers at school just to thank them for all that they've done to help me throughout the year, except I'm not quite sure what to get them! Would preferably want something that's fairly memorable..

Thanks a lot!

[pi]

We got presents for our teachers (we had the same class for each subject so could go for pricey things if we wanted):
- English (and form teacher): Kindle and a few reads
- Spesh: teacher was Russian so we got him a bottle of good quality vodka and a t-shirt with a maths joke
- Methods: teacher loved a cig so we got him a cool engraved lighter that produced a blue flame
- Chem: teacher was away for half the year so we went with standard chocolates and flowers
- Physics: we all hated the subject so we got a cheap t-shirt with a shitty physics joke (he was over-the-moon lel)

I think it's best to make it personal.

[appleandbee]

In my school, we typically organized presents as an entire class, which allowed us to buy something more extravagant (like gifts typically in the $200 range) and made the whole process less awkward for those who don’t normally buy gifts for teachers or don’t know what to buy.

It depends on the teacher. Make the gift personal, thoughtful and witty (unless they have absolutely no sense of humour) with a poignant card. Here are a couple of things we did:

An old English teacher of mine: his year 12 class bought him a watch (so he can keep track of time, because he ALWAYS gets carried away during the lesson and holds the class back during recess and lunch), an illuminati board game (he is obsessed with his conspiracy theories regarding illuminati and MH17) as well as a German national football team shirt (apparently he hates the Germans lol) and a book. They are also planning to give it to him next year to reflect the amount of time he takes to mark essays (he takes a term and a half to mark an assessment, and still hasn't given me back my year 10 and 11 essays…).

A couple of other teachers: t-shirts with witty line or quotes such as ‘but first let me take a selfie and send it to my friends in Italy…’, ‘The mask (his name has the same syllable) cell triggers a raw 50 in Bio response (in hindsight, seems appropriate given the number of people who got 50 in Bio last year  ) ’, ‘grammar, grandma, grandma’ (one of the English teacher’s pet peeves, he is obsessed with the power of grammar).

My English teacher this year: My class didn't really know what she would like as she doesn't really have much of a personality to be honest, so we brought her a bunch of face/hand creams and scented stuff from a really expensive French shop (she ended up liking it surprisingly).

My Maths teacher: didn't want anything material and wanted us to instead to contribute $5 each to UNICEF under his name.

Other stuff: macaroons, concert tickets, personalised mugs, recipe books, Macbook and holiday (like legit)

[Joseph41]

Not hugely relevant, but last year two of my students gave me flowers and a very nice card. It was really great.

I can't speak for your teachers but honestly, I don't think it needs to be big. Just genuine.

I also love the donating to charity idea.

[Bruzzix]

My class got our physics teacher a black mug that changed colour to white and had a physics joke revealed underneath once hot liquid was poured into it.

[Peanut Butter]

My class got our physics teacher a black mug that changed colour to white and had a physics joke revealed underneath once hot liquid was poured into it.

That's so cool!!

Where did you get it from?

[thaaanyan]

my legal teacher always drinks mineral water so as a class we got her one of those aqua filter thingos and a bottle which keeps the water fizzy so she could have her own mineral water!
i often give chocolates and a card, but i always try and make the card thoughtful - based on an inside joke, or a reference to a habit or something to show that i know their character really well.

[odeaa]

I'm a bit of a pen man myself so I got my English teacher a retro 51 tornado in her house colour (she's a head of house) and a few refills so she can use it for ages every time she writes something (which is a lot, she must have marked 1000 essays this year over year 11s and 12). THe tornado is a really solid pen and comes in heaps of colours, and also has a really nice box so it's perfect for gifting.

I also got my physics teacher the same pen (they're so good man I'm addicted), but his one is the Einstein limited edition which has all the formulas he used to derive the theory of relativity

The good thing about these pens is they last forever (built like a tank) and you can easily get refills because it's a standard size, so everytime they wrote something they will remember when they taught you

For my other teachers I just couldn't afford presents (literally have 30 cents in my bank account) so I just gave cards thanking the teacher. Mum is a teacher and she told me that nothing makes her day like a student showing gratitude for the work she puts in, presents are nice but kind words mean just as much

[Bruzzix]

That's so cool!!

Where did you get it from?

An online store called 'CafePress' and it was actually quite affordable
He loved it

[yearningforsimplicity]

If you're getting a pressie on your own (and can't really go for a HUGE gift), getting them something small but useful would be good. I know this is cliche but you can't go past a good mug! hahah they've got heaps of cool ones with teacher-related jokes and of course, if your teacher's into a particular TV show or band, you could get them one based on that Also, getting them a diary or compendium-type thing to use for the next year could be good as well, particularly if you're finding it difficult to determine what "type" of things they might like They've got a lot of nice diaries/organiser type stuff at Kikki K.

Obviously, if you're pooling in money as a class, it means you can get them something big - e.g. for our Masters health tutor this year, we got her a Crown spa/fine dining voucher which she was thrilled about as she could use it for her anniversary. Or you could even get them something like a watch and wallet (from somewhere like Fossil).

Whatever you get, make sure you include a big card! Often, it really is the thought that counts They've got these massive greeting cards that are about bigger than A3 size when opened, If you can manage to get a class photo with the teacher also stick it in the card and everyone can write their own personal message in there! Like others have mentioned, it's those 'thank you' sentiments and words of appreciation that really keep teachers going. My students at my placement school made me a Thank You booklet and I thought it was the sweetest thing ever haha teachers appreciate a simple thank you more than you think!

[DisaFear]

I like staying away from the 'chocolate & wine' gifts and tailoring the gift to the person. After I finished Honours, I bought some gifts for the group people:

• A copy of Ender's Game, Ancillary Justice and The Fellow of the Ring for a person who enjoys reading (international student, so hadn't heard of these books but still prefers reading English books
• A badminton set for a person who is really keen on fitness. Wanted them to try another way of keeping fit. Threw in a puzzle set too
• A mouse pad for a person who is in the process of building a new PC. Also a game voucher for Starcraft as they play video games/li]
  
  • A few souvenirs for an exchange student from Singapore, including a boomerang
  
  My budget wasn't too big and I didn't have the time to wait for things from places like ThinkGeek.
  
  (NOTE: https://www.thinkgeek.com/ is a great website for science-themed gifts)
  
  I ended up sticking to movie vouchers for my supervisor though...but then again, her partner helped with my sample analysis and so the vouchers would end up treating both