Mini Teacher Emergency Kit: This is just a bundle of amazingness that any teacher will get excited about.
Teaching Books: This is best if you have teacher friends and know what teacher books are hot right now.
Bottle of Wine: This is the best gift I’ve ever received, and unless your teacher is under age or doesn’t drink, they will undoubtedly think so too
Library Card Tote Bag: Try finding a teacher who doesn’t read and won’t find a good use for a book tote.

The school year is wrapping up (another month and a half to go for me) and you might be trying to think of what to get for your child’s teacher. It can be hard wading through the cliche teacher gifts and figuring out that perfect thing to thank the teacher for all the hard work they’ve put supporting your child. And no, it doesn’t have to be a gift. If you’re strapped for cash a lovely handmade card for your child with a note from them goes a long way. But if you’d like to add a little something to it, there are some awesome items, and some that should be avoided. The ones above are in the awesome category, including the ones below. After that – it’s don’ts list. Make sure you read through that one.

Do’s

Supplies
Classroom budgets are tiny (ours are $200 for the entire year) so teachers will often buy a lot of items out of pocket. These items include stickers, stamps, small toys for the prize box, birthday pencils, name tags for desks, and even granola bars for children who come to school without breakfast or snack. Any of these items would be greatly appreciated to help the teacher get set up for the next year.

Books
Books are always an awesome gift, but remember chances are your teacher has a library with hundreds of books already, so always include a gift receipt. But if you are from a certain culture that has a children’s book celebrating the culture or a tradition (Henry’s First Moon Birthday, My First Kwanzaa) this is a great opportunity to invite the teacher into your world and their future classes. Bonus: write a personal anecdote discussing the holiday/cultural significance.

Plants/Cut Flowers
You can never go wrong with botanicals.

Gift Certificates
These really are the best. Whether it’s to a coffee shop, spa, restaurant, or home hardware store, there’s not a single person who won’t appreciate it.

Don’ts

Chocolates/Candy/Baked Goods
Imagine if every kid gave their teacher a chocolate box. Do the math – 30×1=30 boxes of chocolate. While it may sound awesome, no one deserves that many pounds added on over the summer.
Mugs: The staffroom cupboards can only hold so many.
Teacher themed knick-knacks: An apple shaped paper weight may seem like a cute and clever idea but chances are your child’s teacher already got one from little Jimmy 10 years ago.
Chalk or regular pencils: Unless government cut backs has also affected supplies (which let’s face it, is a possibility) there will be plenty of pencils supplied by the school. Now, custom pencils like these are fair game.

Happy shopping!