It’s that time of year where the year three parents’ group chat starts popping off with “What’s everyone doing for Mrs. Smith this year?” and “Are we doing gifts before or after the end-of-year celebration?”
The reality is most teachers don’t want another mug.
And in fact, new research suggests a joint present from the whole class is what the teachers really want.
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Rather than debating for days about what to get Mrs. Smith, the answer is simple — a GroupTogether online card.
Parents can add their own messages and choose to chip-in for an AnyCard e-gift card and even upload photos of the kids to add a personal touch.
The best part is it removes a lot of that parental peer pressure by handling all the admin stuff.
The weird and wild world of end-of-year gifts
Teachers around Australia answered a survey from GroupTogether about Christmas gifting and some of the things that they’ve received are pretty wild.
While some responses to the survey weren’t surprising “lots of hand creams — still trying to get through them years later” or “candles, teacher mugs or chocolates that I have to regift”, some of the gifts teachers receive are borderline biohazard…
Think “A block of Kraft long life cheese — I kid you NOT!!!”
“A half used lipstick from one child! An ashtray in the shape of a foot from another child.”
“Bar of used soap.”
And there are some gifts where you can tell the parents weren’t consulted at all, with one teacher saying they received “a pencil that had been chewed on at the end and a mug that said Happy Father’s Day”.
The flip-side is the long list of things that teachers have said they were able to get themselves thanks to classes going for the GroupTogether teacher gift with an AnyCard gift card.
From Apple Watches to robot vacuums, holidays and jewellery, when teachers received gift cards from their classes they were able to get what they actually want!
“My dream KitchenAid mixer. I also put a couple together and paid for part of my honeymoon to the Maldives…” said one.
“A robot vacuum cleaner, so every time I see it move around, I think about the kids from that class,” another added.
“Honestly, it was a combined gift card that totalled a few hundred dollars. I was able to use that to buy a new watch. Something really practical, rather than smaller gift cards that I use here or there, or forget that I have an let expire. I don’t need or want alcohol, candles or mugs.”
Words worth a thousand choccies
Among all the dodgy finger painting and poorly glued peacock crafts, the true treasures for teachers are the words written by students and their parents showing just how much these modern day heroes mean to us.
“I have a special box that I keep the notes in and when I have a tough day, I read them…” said one.
“Thank you for being such an important part of my child’s life and for helping them become the person they are,” added another.
“Thank you for believing in my child when no one else did,” said a third.
If you’d like to get a gift for the teacher in your world that will make an impact this Christmas, head to the GroupTogether website here now.
