Do I have to get my kid's teacher a gift

[verypunny]

I am not fond of my son's teacher, however I am room mom.
Should I be organizing a group gift and collecting money and doing a big thing, or can I send him in with a small potted plant on the last day of school and call it a day? FWIW I adored his Pre K teacher and two other moms and myself did a big thing for her.

[vanillacourage]

GC to Target. Useful but requires almost no effort on your part.

[dragonfly08]

You don't have to organize a collection (DD #2 had a fantastic teacher, but the room moms made it clear early on they would not be doing a group gift collection for the end of the year), but room mom or not I'd do *something*. It just doesn't seem right to make at least a token effort unless the teacher was absolutely horrific.

[littlemermaid]

Personally I hate group gifts for teachers. The coordinator seems to always assume everyone can afford the amount they are requesting or even wanted to spend that much. I would just get something small, a potted plant is perfect and then each family can decide on their own if they want to give a gift and how much they want to spend.

[GailGoldie]

group gifts do suck. I like the plant idea. (and i used to be a teacher)

[GailGoldie]

forgot to add - send something in b/c your child might feel bad if all the other kids are showing up with presents and he doesn't have one. I know when i was a teacher in a poor area, some kids would bring in gifts, but many didn't- and then they'd go and draw me pictures and give to me, etc - b/c they wanted to give me something. it was really sweet, and really sad, too, b/c i knew they felt badly.

[pacificrules]

I'm a 2nd grade teacher and don't get gifts from everyone. I don't expect it at all. Though, a Target GC or plant would be great.