Daycare Gifts

[Loves Vintage]

I'm having a hard time thinking of thoughtful gifts for our daycare providers. The problem is that I don't know much about these ladies or their personal interests. Our conversations are always baby-related (my favorite topic, of course!) Are gift cards the only answer? I'm sure the fabulous ladies of PS have some great ideas. What are they?

 

[Logan Sapphire]

From talking to my friends who are teachers, they really seem to appreciate gift cards the best. They recommend places like Amazon or Target where the teacher can either get something for him/herself OR get supplies or other items for the class if they choose. We do Target cards for 8 teachers.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I don't have any personal experience, but I recently joined a "parents" group where I work and this was the topic of the last meeting (how much to spend and what to buy). It seems that a popular trend here is to partner with other parents and buy one bigger gift. It's still usually a gift card, but for a large sum. One parent was partnering with a couple of other parents to buy a day at the spa. The only downside I see to this approach is that you all have to spend the same amount. For most it was reasonable ($50), but one parent said that each set of parents in his "group" contributes $200, which seemed really expensive to me.

 

[dcgator]

I thought about gift cards, but I just bought some nice spa stuff from Bed Bath and Beyond for S's 2 daycare teachers. But, I'm sure that they wouldn't mind gift cards either, since you can always use them.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Looks like gift cards it is! I think I'll get gift cards and then try to make little mini gifts, like a starbucks mug, ground coffee and a starbucks card, so that it's a gift card plus a little extra. Now, to find out what they like.

NEL - $200 is INSANE!!! Generous, but insane!! Hopefully, he was talking about one contribution to cover multiple teachers? I have talked to some of the other moms in passing, but I don't have contact info for anyone. Maybe parents get more connected as their kids get older, but with the little one's, there's almost no parent interaction, which I am more than ok with ATM. Haha.

 

[blacksand]

Barnes and Noble gift cards were my personal favorite when I was a nursery school teacher. I usually got $20 or $25, but since there were 5 of us teachers in the nursery class (and most parents gave a present to each of us), I thought that was quite generous. I had one parent who gave me a $50 gift card. I assume she did the same for all four other teachers, and I thought that was pretty insane. Very generous indeed, but certainly not expected. I also got a LOT of apple ornaments, apple keychains, mugs, etc. Let's just say I prefer gift cards. Chocolates were always welcome, too!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Target has plastic popcorn tubs in their dollar section. I fill them with candy and a GC to a movie theater. Last year I gave them starbucks GCs.

 

[sugarpie honeybun]

This is our first year putting DS in daycare. He goes to a large corporate-type daycare and has one teacher who's always in the class, and an assistant that changes at times depending on her class schedule. We're giving his primary teacher a $50 AMEX card and the assistant a $25 AMEX card.