What gift should you get your child's teacher as school finishes?
The end of the school year is fast approaching, signalling the end of packed lunches, permission slips and projects forgotten about until the night before. But there's one last job for parents to potentially navigate: the teacher's gift.
Showing your appreciation for a year of hard work will be important to many families, especially the students, but finding the right line for a gift can be challenging. Norms have also changed, and vary by region, not to mention the teacher's own tastes.
So what is an appropriate gift that shows gratitude without going overboard? Drivetime spoke to two experts, Siobhan Buckley, Principal of Presentation National School in Cork and Sinead Fox, bumblesofrice.com, to hear their suggestions.
With three kids gone through primary school already, Fox says she's learned plenty about gifting teachers over the years. "I was a bit naive maybe at the start, I thought the teachers loved getting 'World's Best Teacher' mugs!" she says.
"We like to go with coffee shop vouchers so you're supporting local business. It means they can get their takeaway lunch if they want to one of the days, or there might be a day they really need a coffee and a sticky bun after school. You can get them from a fiver upwards, so I'm not talking about massive vouchers."
As lovely as a gift is to receive, Buckley stresses that "teachers do not expect gifts".
"I've never come across a teacher in any school, and I've taught in quite a few, that actively await the end of the school year to see what they get."
"From a teacher's point of view, and I've taught many years, the most beautiful thing to get is something that a child possibly made themselves", she adds. "They're the things you remember as opposed to anything with a monetary value on it."
One other approach could be a pool among the parents, with each family adding something to the pot and one present bought between them, but Buckley gently disagrees.
"With respect, Colm, I know here in school in any class we have quite a number of parents who would be hard pressed to make that minimum contribution. So I would have an issue with that, asking every parent for a contribution because, genuinely, I can see this year, we have parents struggling to pay for the school tour and we actually have children not going."
For Fox, she says the smallest gift can be the most effective for the teacher:
"Teachers I spoke to said they love to get the homemade stuff or even a bar of chocolate. Kids in class learn stuff about their teachers. One of my kids knew that [one of ]his teacher's favourite sweets was a Boost bar so wer bought four Boost bars and the teacher was delighted because they'd actually listened to them and they're learned something in the year!"
To listen back to the full interview, click above.
