Love It, Loan It, or Leave It-- Teacher Gifts

We are gearing up for Back To School Days! Yep, summer flies by.  And with all of the school supplies in the stores and Back To School fliers hitting the mailbox, I thought this might be a good time to make people mad. :) Okay, that's not really my purpose...but... I see and hear about "teacher gifts" all the time and so many gifts are not what we want, so I thought I'd do my Love It, Loan It or Leave it on Teacher Gifts!

First off... We (the generic teacher) LOVE gift certificates. While some people think gift certificates are too impersonal, we love them. Be it a coffee shop, a restaurant, a salon or even the teacher store, we LOVE gift certificates! And truly, a $5 Starbucks card is a great way to say thanks or have a great year.

For my Loan It-- I'm going out on a limb here and saying general supplies.  You might not know this, but many, many teachers, (myself included) have to purchase all of our own desk supplies and such out of our pockets. Yep, that stapler your child just broke, it was one I bought out of my household budget. Yep, while you think those "extra" boxes of pencils that we ask that your child to bring is ridiculous, I find it ridiculous that I purchase a few HUNDRED pens every year as I can never find one on MY DESK because a student needed one.

So here is my advice, purchase extra items on the supply list if you want to help! Or go back up to my LOVE it and buy a gift card to Staples!!  Wouldn't it be fun to start the year by giving your child's teacher a bucket of supplies that she/he WANTED and needed!! The reason I put supplies on my Loan it list is that we teachers are a particular breed and while I would LOVE to have a new stapler, I use a certain brand and style for a reason and I don't want you to waste your money on one that will break the first day!



And finally, my Leave It... apple items and homemade food.

I know I shouldn't speak for the masses here, and maybe elementary teachers like apple items and homemade food, but this high school teacher doesn't!  Sorry. But really, I have plenty of apple items. And I'm scared of any homemade food item that is given to me.  I'll smile and say thanks and you will get a thank you note, but unless I know you, your family, and your kitchen, it's safe to say that it's not going to get eaten. 

So there you have it.  If you have kids getting ready for school and want to make an awesome impression on your child's teacher, pick up an extra box of pencils that are on the supply list, slap a sticky note on it and tell the teacher you appreciate him/her and that you look forward to the year.  Even better... send a gift certificate/gift card in any amount and say that you know that teachers give of themselves every day and here is a token of appreciation.

And on that note, I'm finishing up my Love It, Loan It or Leave It and will start my Back To School check off list soon!!