Gift ideas for beloved daycare workers?

August 9, 2016 12:35 PM

My daughter is leaving the daycare where she has spent the last 4.5 years. These people have done so much in raising my daughter, from potty training to developing character and teaching moral values. I want them to know how much I appreciate them and I want to give them the most wonderful gift(s) possible, but without spending beyond my means. There are about 20 workers in total although some have spent more time with her than others.

Please help me come up with some ideas. It's really hard with so many workers there, but almost every worker interacts with her at some point during the week so I want to give them all something. But some I would feel ok with giving many of them a very small gift. Others I feel deserve something more special.

I'm willing to spend $100 - $200 on this. I am very open to making gifts, but that is not always cost-effective and I'm not sure what I could make. I only have 3 weeks. At Christmas I give homemade food gifts (this year, antipasto and tiger butter). Please help!

posted by kitcat to Grab Bag (24 answers total)

We just left the in-home daycare my son started at 6 months, and my daughter started at 3 months because of a move (so we'd been with them a little more than 7 years altogether). It was one of the saddest parts of leaving for me, because that family had truly welcomed us in and made us part of their family. I wrote a heart felt card and had my son draw a picture of some favorite memories. These would probably not work perfectly with the larger staff, but I made a photo mug with pictures of the kids, so our provider could still have coffee with them in the morning. I also picked a special necklace with a charm for the kids and we passed along some gift certificates for the local baseball team that we'd been given but couldn't use. She was equally touched by all of it, but the mug was particularly special to her. So maybe a photo book or similar and a card your little one dictates and decorates?
posted by goggie at 12:50 PM on August 9, 2016

When I worked admin at a daycare, parents with "graduating" kids would generally give a gift of a cookie tray or a cake or something that could be shared among all of the staff back in the break room and then they'd give individual teachers (the ones who actually had their kid in their rooms more than half time) more meaningful gifts (like gift cards for inexpensive spa treatments - massages or mani/pedis, etc.,).

One family had been there since their child was an infant and so he basically had nearly every teacher at some point. The family made a really sweet photo book for the entire facility with pictures from the kid's years. It was really nice and everyone loved it. They also did the food for the entire staff thing.
posted by cooker girl at 12:53 PM on August 9, 2016 [5 favorites]

My kids are leaving a preschool under similar circumstances. I brought in lunch (a taco bar from a local taqueria) and wrote a heartfelt note of thanks with specific examples.

I tend to be cynical about small trinkets and objects and the relative importance to the receiver vs. to the giver. Feedback from the director was that the lunch was a very special treat and the teachers were all very appreciative.
posted by handful of rain at 12:54 PM on August 9, 2016 [11 favorites]

Could you have lunch brought in from a good sandwich shop? It seems like that should be do-able in the $100-200 range, although I guess it depends on your location. And then write a nice card for each teacher who’s been really special over the years?
posted by Kriesa at 12:54 PM on August 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

Since you want to do something for the whole daycare, I would suggest something like bagels, doughnuts or cupcakes for everyone to share. Then a special thing for the people who have worked with her most closely.

Definitely give them a heartfelt card, and something very personal like a photo mug would be very sweet, but acknowledging that day care workers are usually not paid very well, we've always put most of our individual gift budget toward either a cash gift or a GC to someplace I know they like.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 12:56 PM on August 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

You could possibly call the daycare and see if they have a fund for new books/toys you could donate to as well. Stuff for the classroom can make the day-to-day more pleasant. I'd do that plus see if muffins or lunch or such would be welcome.

Trinkets do add up over the years and heartfelt notes are just as welcomed.
posted by typecloud at 12:57 PM on August 9, 2016 [5 favorites]

Nth'ing "food", and heartfelt notes for just a few of the people who worked most closely with your child.
posted by Etrigan at 1:14 PM on August 9, 2016

I did a giant Edible Arrangement (my kid finished up right before a big all-staff training so the timing was perfect), a long heartfelt letter, and a frame that included a picture of Kid at the age she started there and a picture of Kid at the age she finished). I also send them holiday cards every year with a note about how we miss them and what Kid is up to.
posted by Burn.Don't.Freeze at 1:14 PM on August 9, 2016

I agree about the actual physical gifts, but I will say that we wrote a letter to upper management with specific details highlighting excellent things my child's teachers did. These came up at promotion/salary discussion time--I know, because some of them told me, and a bump in salary for 4-5 exceptional staff members was more than a gift I could afford.
posted by tchemgrrl at 1:19 PM on August 9, 2016 [20 favorites]

My wife is a daycare director. Bringing in lunch for the staff will work great.
posted by COD at 1:19 PM on August 9, 2016 [3 favorites]

Maybe lunch or pastries for everyone - for the ones who worked with her very closely maybe luxurious hand lotion. The ladies at our daycare were just telling me that they simply always have dry hands from all the washing and they use a lot of hand cream at night. Seems like an affordable luxury consumable.
posted by vunder at 1:39 PM on August 9, 2016

Gift cards in $10 increments and multiply as needed. These are awesome people who don't make a ton of money and they have a hoagie, twenty bucks could be a big deal.
posted by fixedgear at 2:01 PM on August 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

I have done these wrist bands in many many different fabrics, enough for everyone to choose one, to good effect. When I did them, I made those for everyone, and then gave the specific teachers that had done so so much for our daughter a larger gift card (for coffee).
posted by freezer cake at 2:04 PM on August 9, 2016

If you decide on lunch and many kids are graduating on the same day, make sure you coordinate days with the other parents so that there aren't five lunches delivered at once!
posted by clone boulevard at 2:04 PM on August 9, 2016 [3 favorites]

I've served on the board for our awesome daycare, and want to second the recommendations for heartfelt cards, lunch/coffee for the staff, and/or gift cards. Childcare generally is a poorly compensated industry, and I'm a big believer in Target (or similar) gift cards, since they can get something fun, or something that they need, at their discretion.
posted by chocotaco at 2:18 PM on August 9, 2016

Giftcards are great. Food can be good too. Please don't give trinkets; we get so many over the years. A detailed email to their bosses, possibly with them cc'ed, is the best budget gift you can give. Or non-budget gift.
posted by bookworm4125 at 2:55 PM on August 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Look at Zingerman's gift boxes? The most suitable one is probably the Jaw-Dropper, a bit over budget at $250, but there is also the Ultimate Gift Basket at $200. Lots of varieties of snacking foods and they will all be high-quality, not prettily-wrapped junk as you so often get in these kinds of baskets.
posted by praemunire at 2:57 PM on August 9, 2016

Food/lunch was always the best. Bagels, pizza, sandwiches-any surprise food was always amazing. And also seconding chocotaco-I was pretty poor when I was a day care worker in Oregon and Target gift cards sometimes brought tears to my eyes.
posted by Bacon Bit at 7:08 PM on August 9, 2016

Give everyone a $10 gift card! For Target or Amazon or Whole Foods -- whatever big store is convenient to the day care. Every recipient will be delighted. And it's possible that some of them need the money.
posted by valannc at 7:29 PM on August 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

For teacher appreciation day last year, I hired a massage therapist (who was just starting out and needed to get hands on people) to do chair massage at the school. I paid a very reduced hourly rate and encouraged her to hand out business cards. The teachers were thrilled! I think with a little searching, you could find a newbie LMT and make it happen for $200/5 hours/15mins per staff member.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 8:18 PM on August 9, 2016 [3 favorites]

I'm a teacher and I love the suggestion of bringing in a massage therapist. That's one of the best gifts I've ever had!

If you're going to go the food route, PLEASE check to see if there are people who can't eat certain foods. It's lovely to bring in a plate of cookies or something, but at my last school, there were 6-7 of us who were celiac/gluten intolerant, and most of the time we were left out. Obviously you can't cater to everyone, but it's a super bummer to be left out of something like this due to major food allergy.

Thank you for appreciating the teachers. Anything you do will be appreciated.
posted by guster4lovers at 1:33 AM on August 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

My sister teaches preschool, and she really appreciates gift cards (even small ones - $5 at starbucks on a bad morning is a real lift) - gift cards work small niceties into her budget, since she makes crap. She also appreciates candy (we got my mom's sweet tooth). Thank you cards are fab too. And hugs, only if the kids are already huggers.

She's got a ton of food allergies, so the intent behind lunch is appreciated but...
posted by joycehealy at 4:38 AM on August 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

My partner works in a preschool. Food, things that the kids made for them, and money/gift cards are what I hear about after they come back from work. I think, as much as anything, the acknowledgement that the job pays shit, and the teachers are there because they really care about the kids is important.
posted by switchbladenaif at 12:17 AM on August 11, 2016

I went to dinner at my daughter's preschool teacher's house once. It was a beautiful, dignified, and nicely decorated house.... with no photo mugs or handprint artwork in sight. I think your average preschool worker gets enough fingerpaint at school and doesn't want to bring more home.

I always give gift cards (to either Starbucks or a local place if I know they live in the neighborhood) or Girl Scout cookies (because I hoard them and have an out-of-season stash).
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:59 PM on August 12, 2016