Holiday Gifts for Teachers (repost)

[Guest guest]

Because it's that most wonderful time of the year!

Subject: Re: THE LATE TALKER BOOK/teacher gifts for the holidays

Well because my mom always told me not to toot my own horn -I can't

recommend giving all the teachers The Late Talker book for

Christmas. So I'll just post my message on top of Kathy's! )

If like me you already gave your child's teachers a copy of The Late

Talker book and are still wondering what to get them from your kids

for the Holidays -may want to read the general consensus out there.

Good thing instinctively this year I didn't do the typical teacher

gift and bought most of them at one of my favorite stores -Home

Goods (kind of a discount Bed Bath and Beyond in a way for those of

you not familiar with this store -and if you don't know Bed Bath and

Beyond http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/ )

Tanner and Dakota's teachers both got huge beautiful gift baskets

filled

with food and family games (and most important -

already " wrapped " ) ...and then all the other 11 teachers (they are

in a college prep type school -switch teachers and classes -Dakota

more than Tanner) -they each have a bunch -and therapists -2 - got

presents from there too. None were tacky -can tell you that! All

is said and done -it was not a cheap discount store trip for me!

And to think -some of you guys just have to buy one or two teacher

gifts!!!

(and PS -if your child has a teacher that locks your child in a

bathroom/closet or ties him to a chair and or desk etc. -you can buy

them a trip to Oz to ask the wizard for a brain...a gift certificate

for Vinny's Bail Bond....)

You can't imagine how teachers appreciate holiday gifts

By Betty Cuniberti

12/14/2003

It is so hard to choose among all the adorable holiday gifts for

teachers. If you want to stand out in the crowd, you have to make

your own.

I know, I know. I make the rest of you lazy, thoughtless moms look

bad. This is my goal.

My rookie year, my daughter was in a preschool program for the

hearing impaired. I really outdid myself. I bought a cookie cutter

in the shape of the American Sign Language " I love you " sign. I

baked dozens of salt-dough " I love you " sign cookies. The fingers

broke and fell off of many of them, which will make you sad if you

think about it too long. About eight intact survivors were painted

with a glittery, medium brown flesh tone that allegedly approximated

my Paraguayan daughter's. I attached a loop and hook, and a little

picture of my darling daughter in the middle. All her teachers got

one.

I never quite equaled that.

Another year, in an itty bitty craftsy town in Indiana whose name I

forget, I bought a bunch of cute socks with the word " Teacher " on

the cuffs. And then there was the huge, shiny apple ornament I came

across at Pier One. This thing was so shiny I could see my mustache

in it. I bought every apple they had left.

The key is to give a gift no one else has thought of.

Well, recently, while hanging out aimlessly at the home of a teacher

friend, my crazy neighbor, Sara Rice, she came upon a whole box of

teacher gifts she was throwing away!

" One year, " she said, " the gifts were so bad we all traded them and

regifted them as white elephants at parties. If it's not an apple,

it's from the Hallmark store. "

" That's bad? " I gulped.

" CASH, Betty, CASH! " she scolded.

She chuckled her way through stories of how teachers get together

and compare tacky teacher gifts and have little contests. I haven't

been this shocked since I found out Des Peres was blighted. I told

her about the socks, relieved that at least one of my gifts would

not have been a tackiest competitor.

" Socks? You gave teachers socks? " she asked. " Why not a toothbrush? "

There are teacher toothbrushes? WHERE?

As the truth slowly sank in, I was utterly humiliated to learn that

all my gifts had stood out, but not in quite the way I imagined. I

am too old to learn I have no taste. Desperately I wondered (not for

the first time) if maybe Sara is just crazy. She is, after all, my

friend, in addition to spending all day with small children at

Ellisville Elementary. But lots of other teachers confirmed her

story.

A wooden basket with apples as sides. An apple desk plaque that

says, " The Teacher is Busy, Take a Number, " and the numbers are on

little apples hanging from a peg. A little apple with some sort of

cherubic kid on top, and " #1 Teacher, " on it. You open it and inside

are two more children. Apple-scented candles, bath water, soap and

potpourri. A necklace made of huge wooden apples. A little statue of

a snowman giving an apple to a bigger snowman. Many, many lapel pins

of chalkboards, crayons, school buses and more designations

of " Greatest Teacher " than there are prime numbers. And, oh dear,

apple ornaments galore. One is a bell, another is gold and engraved

with " A+ Teacher. "

It's a nightmare!

A middle school teacher was once given a three-roll, hanging toilet-

paper cover with an apple tatted on the front by some well-meaning,

tatting mom. She had to look up " tatt. " So did I. As near as I can

tell, it's kind of like knitting, taken to the next level.

I've always been a little jealous that teachers have a fruit to call

their own. I don't have a fruit. When reporters write something

important but dull, we call it spinach. I began to imagine spinach

necklaces, lapel pins, cologne, potpourri.

I want them ALL.

But for teachers, I guess the best gifts, along with gift

certificates (to Applebee's?), are thank-you notes. A day of

volunteering in the classroom. Backing them up at home.

Although, I did see these darling ruler earrings.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/Columnists.nsf/Betty+Cunib

erti/D02779984022CDAB86256DF9003E11BD?

OpenDocument & Headline=You+can't+imagine+how+teachers+appreciate+holid

ay+gifts

Simple gifts can say thank you at holidays

By FRANCESCA DONLAN, fdonlan@...

Published by news-press.com on December 11, 2003

Marie Carson's Christmas tree looks like it belongs in an apple

orchard.

That's because the kindergarten teacher's students have given her

more than 100 apple ornaments over the past 12 Christmases.

Gift ideas

Lots of people in our lives could use a holiday thank you. Think

about teachers, school bus drivers, hairstylists, day care

providers, landscapers, baby sitters, newspaper and mail carriers,

fire fighters � plus all the others who make life a little bit

easier. Here are some tips for gifting from some of these folks:

� Gift certificates to stores, restaurants or movie theaters. Any

dollar amount is appreciated.

� Holiday tins of cookies � store bought or homemade

� Candles � especially those that smell good such as Yankee Candles

� A box of candy

� Flowers

� A bottle of wine

� Popcorn tin

" I have so many apple ornaments there is no possible way to put them

all on a tree, " said Carson, who teaches at ABC Learning Center of

Fort Myers.

Carson and teachers everywhere are among the many people others want

to thank this holiday season. People like the lawn care guy who

keeps the grass green and the citrus trees fertilized, the stylist

who never recoils when you're having a bad hair day and the baby

sitter who always also arrives on time and leaves the kitchen tidy.

The holidays are the perfect occasion to thank those who make our

lives a little bit easier or more pleasant. The trouble is, most of

us don't know exactly who we should give presents to, or what to get

them.

Although Carson said she appreciates and always makes a big fuss out

of whatever she gets from students, she added, " Most teachers really

appreciate gift certificates. "

This year candles seem to be a popular gift, said Bonnie Tillman of

Rumours Hair Design in Fort Myers. She and her scissors-wielding

colleagues have also received candy and stationery. And for many of

their clients it's the season to tip generously.

A simple gift of appreciation makes everyone smile, said Jackie

Avery, supervisor of customer service at the United States Post

Office in Lehigh Acres.

A surprise gift in a mail box brightens the rounds of postal

carriers during the holidays, she said.

" I know a lot of them get handmade crafts, " Avery said. " They get

little mailmen or some cookies. Some get fruit to bring back to the

Post Office for everyone. "

It's always nice to be appreciated, she said.

No one knows that as deeply as Carson. She makes sure every child

knows she treasures each present.

" Some of the kids pick out the presents themselves and they're so

excited, " she said. " I'm not really a candy person, but if I get

candy I tell them it's my favorite kind. "

http://www.news-press.com/news/lifestyle/031211familyties.html

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