Tip for in-home daycare provider?

December 20, 2016 2:58 AM

I can't seem to find straight information on the internet! Our son is in a 12-kid in-home daycare five days a week--it's run by the owner, her mom, and two other women. We're in the D.C. suburbs. Should we be giving them a tip for the holidays and, if so, how much? Many thanks!
posted by anonymous to Society & Culture (13 answers total)

My mother did in- home day care for a decade (ending in early 2000s) so this might be out of date info. She didn't get tips but did receive various gifts from kids/parents around the holidays. This is in the Boston suburbs.
posted by danapiper at 3:15 AM on December 20, 2016

Also Boston -- my husband would make chocolates or we'd give them gift cards to useful places. We used two in home daycares. When my youngest was at a center for two years, we would give a gift card for the teachers to bring in coffee for everyone one morning.
posted by zizzle at 3:46 AM on December 20, 2016

I give a sizable cash gift to our in-home daycare provider, mostly because she works so hard and still lives so close to the edge (a BIG FU to our state government for actively contributing to that situation). I figure the person who's raising my kids should be able to buy presents and Christmas dinner for hers.
posted by telepanda at 4:30 AM on December 20, 2016 [4 favorites]

At a non-in-home daycare, we gave 30-70$ to our kid's primary caregiver and 20-25 to the other folks in his classroom, usually in gift card form (The variability came from our finances, how long he'd been in that classroom, how many kids were in the class, and in one case, the fact that the teacher was absolutely spectacular). If the childcare is more evenly split, and with 12 kids, and as a long-term-one-teacher situation, I'd probably do 30-40 per person.
posted by tchemgrrl at 5:00 AM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

When our child was in daycare (also Boston area, NOT a home day care, early 2000s), it was understood that you gave your child's immediate caregiver a substantial gift (over $50) and smaller gifts (~$20) to all the other caregivers.
posted by briank at 5:08 AM on December 20, 2016

I had a child in a similar setup (5+ years ago, in Syracuse), and tried to give the equivalent of about the equivalent of the cost of a week of care, usually in the form of cash inside of a nice card. She mostly had low-income clients, and care for older children was about $150/wk. It was my understanding (from other parents) that most of us tried to do something along those lines.
posted by mishafletch at 5:13 AM on December 20, 2016

In Arlington, I usually gave our provider an extra week's fee as a Christmas gift but didn't think of it as a tip and left it off the taxes. If you're in a place that big, do you ever get a chance to talk to the other parents out of earshot of the workers? They might have established some expectations already
posted by mattamatic at 5:22 AM on December 20, 2016

In the close DC suburbs in MD, but in a regular preschool. We have always given a ~$50 giftcard to every primary teacher.
posted by OmieWise at 6:02 AM on December 20, 2016

We gave our provider an extra week's pay at the holidays. She was awesome and took wonderful care of our kids.
posted by goggie at 6:58 AM on December 20, 2016

Ms Fanclub is an education professional, and I have heard from her that there is a strong expectation of gifts, but no expectation of tips. Common gifts seem to include caffeine, alcohol, or gift cards for same.
posted by BrunoLatourFanclub at 10:51 AM on December 20, 2016

Totally give each person $25-$30 cash and a short note thanking them. You'll feel good about it, it's efficient, and it will be appreciated.
posted by eelgrassman at 11:42 AM on December 20, 2016

I've heard that a week of how much you're paying for the care is appropriate.

Personally, that would be difficult to afford for us to give to the three main women who wrassle my kid, so I'm planning on giving each $50.
posted by sciencegeek at 12:34 PM on December 20, 2016

In the MD suburbs of DC. We gave our in-home daycare provider one weeks' pay as a Christmas bonus.
posted by devinemissk at 6:20 PM on December 20, 2016