Daycare teacher gifts

[MrsE]

Can MMM please school me on daycare teacher gifts for the holidays?

I’m planning to order Target gift cards online tonight with the 10% off sale. What is the going rate for daycare teacher gifts?

Thinking we give a gift card each to her current 3 teachers (she spends half the day in infant 3 and half the day in toddlers) and also one to her old main teacher in the other room?

Do people also give one to the director or assistant directors or school chef? Any tips or advice would be helpful. Thanks!

[Deleted]

I think it’s nice to get a gift for the director if you have contact with them. At our old center, most people just brought in goodies for the director, front office staff, custodial/kitchen staff, etc. I brought in bagels and cream cheese a few years.

For classroom teachers we did $10 usually, since there were so many, with a nice card and some nice chocolates (gharardelli, Lindt, etc), or nice lotion for one teacher who was vegan.

[icedcoffee]

We do Target gift cards. $25 for main teachers (usually 2) and $10 for floaters, director, and anyone who might interact with our kids (usually 5–I ask the teachers for a list of anyone my kid deals with regularly). Usually 7 total. That’s per kid so now that we have 2 it will double to 14.

[suzv]

I do $25 target or amazon gift card for the teacher and assistant in the room. Sometimes I’ll also buy them something small to go with it like a lotion or mug.

For the two directors and two women who work at the front desk but also float, I do $15 gift cards. This year it’s to Target but I’ve also done Starbucks for them.

[farmvillelover]

All cash at 3 different tiers:

2 main teachers get the most.  

Director and the cook get a lesser amount.

The 2 office/admin people are getting a bit less.

I wish daycare teachers and staff were paid more.

[isabel]

I am doing $25 Target gift cards (plus some candy) for our main teachers and the floaters.

I considered giving smaller gift cards to the floaters, but honestly, I feel like they probably get forgotten and they're likely paid less than the head teachers even though they work just as hard, so I give the same amount to all of them. In total, I'm giving gift cards to 7 teachers this year and while it's a lot, it feels like the right thing to do.

I am not gifting to our director and assistant director, though I may change my mind on the assistant director since he's been working directly in DS1's classroom a lot.

eta: Oh, and I'm throwing homemade chapstick in their bags because I feel close enough to all of them to do this. Except there's one who's vegan, so no chapstick for her I guess since it's made with beeswax.

[hbomdiggity]

DS has 2 full time teachers and one 50% (shared with the adjoining room). I’m pretty sure last year I did 40-40-20, but this year I bumped it up to 50-50-25 (for personal reasons).

[honeydew1894]

We did $15 each to Target for her 2 teachers. DD is in the 4 year old room. I want to add some candy also, but they are super syrict about outside food so I am not sure.

[magpie]

Our daycare has a collection run by parent volunteers. The money goes to all the teachers and staff equally (gift cards and some treats), so floaters and office staff are included. We usually give to that (this year I did $30) and then I got his two main teachers $20 gift cards from Target. My DD is in elementary school and we actually did the exact same thing (collection to cover related arts and support staff, a gift card for her classroom teacher).

[scm1011]

I give $25 to each of our 5 teachers (3 in DD’s room, 2 in DS’s) plus $50 to the group fund (the director buys stocking stuffers, a pizza party, etc).

Up until last year there was one pot of money that was equally distributed, but our new director refuses to do that. It’s annoying, I much preferred that. I gave $100 last year (one kid).

[ssmjlm]

I always did gift cards in varying amounts between main teacher/floater. And then usually a small thing of chocolate.

[shauni27]

In the past at our old center I would do bottles of wine, because I knew the teachers drank and was friendly with them. They did not expect anything and they all always said they loved getting booze.

But this year our son was at a licensed in home daycare. I know nothing about the woman's personal life--she has a horse, she runs sometimes, she is very quiet, she does not drink. Amazon gift card or cash, right? Is $40 ok or is that not enough? We are pretty broke with moving this week...

[lovelyshoes]

We have 5 teacher’s in the bay’s room. I’m thinking $25 gift cards and a nice card. I was toying with the idea of bringing in breakfast, but don’t know if I’ll be able to execute it easily. Nothing for the director. My older son I’m done with presents, middle school. I used to buy for the hr teacher and his favorite teacher.

[pandorica]

Dec 9, 2019 8:59:52 GMT -5 shauni27 said:

In the past at our old center I would do bottles of wine, because I knew the teachers drank and was friendly with them. They did not expect anything and they all always said they loved getting booze.

But this year our son was at a licensed in home daycare. I know nothing about the woman's personal life--she has a horse, she runs sometimes, she is very quiet, she does not drink. Amazon gift card or cash, right? Is $40 ok or is that not enough? We are pretty broke with moving this week...

DD just started at an in home daycare last week and I got the woman a $20 Target GC. I'm feeling cheap now! Maybe I'll throw in some lotion or something.

[brooke77]

Our center provided a list of “favorites” this year. We will be getting his teachers $25 gift cards to their favorite store or restaurant. I also plan on bringing in donuts since I noticed that all of them listed Dunkin’ Donuts donuts as their favorite treat.

[Mrs.flang]

I did target gift cards one year but then switched to cash. I only give to the 2 main teachers. I think I did $50 last year. This year is the first we have 2 in DC, which means 5 teachers total, so I may have to rethink and possibly re-allocate.

[shauni27]

Dec 9, 2019 11:33:52 GMT -5 pandorica said:

Dec 9, 2019 8:59:52 GMT -5 shauni27 said:

In the past at our old center I would do bottles of wine, because I knew the teachers drank and was friendly with them. They did not expect anything and they all always said they loved getting booze.

But this year our son was at a licensed in home daycare. I know nothing about the woman's personal life--she has a horse, she runs sometimes, she is very quiet, she does not drink. Amazon gift card or cash, right? Is $40 ok or is that not enough? We are pretty broke with moving this week...

DD just started at an in home daycare last week and I got the woman a $20 Target GC. I'm feeling cheap now! Maybe I'll throw in some lotion or something.

if she started last week I think you are totally fine!

[jordylee]

We do $50 for each of the 3 teachers, along with a little treat (HCOL).