End of Year Summer Teacher Gift Guide: DIY Card, Easy Gift Ideas | Can you give a teacher alcohol?

Natalie shares easy and thoughtful teacher gift ideas for the end of the school year. Appreciate your favorite teacher with an easy DIY Card, a Summer Road Trip Kit great for the class gift from all parents, unique gift ideas, and budget gifts. Natalie answers the questions: Can I give a teacher alcohol as a gift? How much money should I give a teacher on their gift card? What are bad gifts to give a teacher?

Transcript:

Hey, it's Natalie, and welcome back to Primary Focus. Guys, we made it. It's the end of the school year. Summer is coming, so why not celebrate your favorite teacher or the teacher that made a difference for you this year by giving them a little gift.

I've picked out a cute DIY card you can make for your teacher and gifts that hit every price range to spoil that special teacher in your life.

Let's hop right into it.

All right, so everybody loves a good card I've kept so many cards that students got me over the years, I know some people really love to take time to make a card or write a really nice message So let's talk through a simple way to do this Now I am not a crafty person if you've watched my other videos, you know this But I found a simple card that you could make at home

all you need is a piece of paper and some crayons This is from a normal piece of printer paper, I folded it in half, I cut off the top, and I turned it into a cute little pencil. this is a really cute easy card If you're working with a young child You could maybe cut it out outline it and let your kiddo color it in. This is something you could make in a couple of minutes No problem, and then on the inside you're going to fill it in with a wonderful note I've got a template up here with some ideas of what you could say to your teacher

Make sure you screenshot that. And if you need more easy emails to send to the teacher, I've got free downloads on my website for you.

All you have to do is fill in the blanks and you can solve any problem going on with your child in school.

Now that we've got the card in check, let's talk about a great gift that you can put together with your child if you're teaching them how to buy gifts, or if you're in charge of putting together a group gift for the class. This is a take on my summer survival kit that I made in my other end of year video a few years back.

I'm going to tag that up here. This is a summer road trip kit. So what you're going to do is you're going to think of things that you would want if you were taking a little road trip this summer. Find something nice to put it in. I found this nice metal container, but you could do a beach bag, a backpack, anything like that.

Then you're going to fill up that canister with all sorts of cute things to help them out on their road trips this summer.

What I love about this is you can do this at any budget that you want. So maybe you're trying to teach your child to do gifts you walk into Walmart together, you make a little plan of what kind of things people would want on a road trip, and you could get this whole thing put together for under 20, maybe even 10 if you're strategic about it.

You could also, though, if you're doing a group gift where multiple families from the classroom are contributing, make this a little bit bigger, make the gifts a little bit fancier, and then fill it with several things that are maybe at the ten, twenty, thirty dollar mark for the teacher.

Let's talk about what you could put inside. First, of course, maybe some of teacher's favorite snacks. I am a Cheez It girl, so I put Cheez Its in my box here. Something cute like maybe some sunglasses.

Little bit of sunscreen here. You could go for a small travel size or the full size thing Then you could get creative with some gift cards in this case I have like a mcdonald's and a subway gift card, In this case, I tried to think of roadside places that you could get a quick meal.

But if you have different families contributing, this is a great time to kind of put any kind of gift card that applies to the teacher in there. And then, of course, maybe some of their favorite drinks. You might do like a refreshing coconut water. You might do a little Diet Coke.

You might do Wait. This is not supposed to be in there. How did that happen? Okay, on a note though, what I want to say is if your child is going to public school in the United States, alcohol is a big time no no. I would not send this in with the teacher because it is a federal crime to have alcohol on campus.

So if you want to make the teacher feel a little bit uncomfortable and like they're worried about people coming in their room, please Yeah, go ahead and include this. otherwise, maybe a gift card to a place where they can buy their own beer Now, I know in other countries and even in private schools in the United States, this is just fine, but if it was me, I would not be messing with the federal government.

Okay, I'm a little bit thirsty, though, after taking those out. I'm gonna go ahead and just open up this Coke.

Oh, yeah. 

Now, if you've watched my other gift guide videos, you know that I love a gift card. It is the easiest type of gift to give and it is often very appreciated by teachers. But if you feel like you want to do something a little funky, mix it up, you're tired of giving out a Target or an Amazon gift card, maybe instead you can get them a gift card to a special attraction here.

You could go in the direction of relaxation, Massage, a pedicure, something like that, or you could do something that's a little more active, especially if you know they have an active lifestyle or they have children. So maybe there's a water park in your town, you get them passes to that, Topgolf, something like that, where you know that they can lay back, have a little bit of fun, and not spend a lot of money over the summer.

teachers tend to be very budget oriented over the summer. In some states, teachers do not get paychecks over the summer, so they're really having to budget ahead of time and stretch their money out, while others just know this is an expensive time of year, especially if you have children who suddenly need to be entertained all the time.

Giving tickets to a fun activity around town can really be a lifesaver when they have a house full of kids that are looking for something to do. I'm sure you can relate. Hey, since you're still watching, I'd love it if you left a quick comment on this video. Maybe let us know what kind of gift you want to get your teacher.

This is one of the easiest ways to help support my channel. Thanks. Those are the fun gift cards, but let's talk about cash and gift cards to big box stores. I do think a gift card to a place like Amazon, Walmart, Target, even the grocery store can just be super helpful. Any of those kind of everyday places that people would go to.

In the United States where I live, giving cash can feel a little bit strange sometimes to teachers, but if you want to cut a check or send in some cash, this is going to be the time of year to do it.

when it comes to anything where you're sending in a gift card and especially cash, You need to really have a responsibility talk with your child, especially if they are younger or they're riding the bus. Make sure they know not to be showing that to other children. Make sure they know that this is not something that they can give away to somebody else.

Even though we hopefully can trust the other kids on the bus and stuff, I have definitely seen kids give away money because they're trying to share it. they just don't always understand what's going on. What I would do is email or message or class dojo the teacher and say, Hey, when such and such gets to class, they should have an envelope in their hand ready to give you. It has a gift. Can you please that you got it? That is totally fine to do. I usually try to send a message immediately when I did receive gift card or cash, as a gift.

But, you know, a lot's going on, especially at the end of the year. So take initiative because if you got lost on the bus, you want to maybe figure this out at 10 a. m. instead of figuring it out at 5 p. m. when they get home.

Now, when I was live streaming on the peanut app a few weeks ago, I had somebody ask me how much money is appropriate to give a teacher. This is a really good question. I do want to speak cautiously here because I don't want to set expectations or make you feel like you have to rise to the occasion and reach certain amounts.

So please take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. I am saying this based off of my own experience, and it might not reflect your experience, and it might not reflect your budget.

But generally speaking, gift cards of a 5, 10, 15, or 20 dollar are the most kind of standard amount. These were the amounts that I saw most often given to me.

Anything over 20, we're talking into the 40, 50, I would say is particularly generous. So if you have a closer relationship or you feel like you really just want to put a bow on the experience at the end of this year, that's going to be like an upper level amount. When you start to get into the 100 to 200 level, this is a big gift and it is a huge compliment.

It is not a gift that I received very often. It was always, always, always so appreciated and so kind. Anything over the 200 mark, I would say for more of a special occasion. Maybe you really, really are thankful for something that happened this year.

Maybe, you know, the teacher went through a troubling year, or maybe they got married this year. Something extra is going on. Really, the only times I receive a 200 received gifts that were over 200 was when it was a group gift, maybe parents had gotten in together and given me a gift. So it came from multiple families.

The year that I got married, I got a group gift from my class. And the year that I taught COVID, I actually had a parent write me a check at the end of the year, which, um, was very sweet, very appreciated, and also in a very one of a kind school year.

I'm curious what you think about these dollar amounts that I've said. Leave a comment below. If you're in the business of giving gift cards or cash gifts, what is that kind of standard go to number that you like to hit? And then what would be a special dollar amount if you were giving it out?

OK, and someone has to say it. Let's talk through bad gifts. At the end of the school year, big, bulky, hard to deal with, not a good time. Teachers have to take down their classrooms at the end of the year, pack everything away.

You just don't want to put them in a situation where what you've given them has ended up making more work for them as they try to clean up and wrap up for the summer.

A lot of buildings are doing school maintenance in the summer, so we have to pack things like truly away because you don't want all your stuff to be covered in sawdust or get paint dripped on it. The next thing I'll say that's a bad gift this time of year, anything perishable or plants.

And again, this is because people are leaving the school, a lot of teachers have a vacation booked right away, and they might not have time to add a plant into their routine or figure out what to do with this. Other times a year, I do think perishable items and plants can be a good idea, but don't come in on the last day of school with a big old plant for them.

Another thing I would tread lightly with are extra treats, and this is because at the end of the school year, there are a lot of exciting activities like the popsicle party, and the pizza lunch, so there's already a lot of extra food flowing through the classroom, this is not a firm No, But maybe kind of talk to them ahead of time and feel out what's going on with the class