The best thing about the “foodgift-in-a-jar” thing is that you can line 'em up and fill 'em up assembly style, and it doesn’t have to be sweets. We’ve done different chilis and soups, even dips, Boston baked beans, etc. Go to allrecipes.com and search – they’ve got some great ones.
And as a junior-high teacher —NO ‘teacher’ themed crap! I’ve taught 20 years…can you imagine how many ornaments/mugs/cutesy plaques I have??
No offense intended to past, present or future students, but I’m not eating anything concocted in your kitchen unless I know you and your parents are not nose pickers or butt scratchers. And speaking as a notorious nose-picker/butt scratcher myself, that means I’m not eating anything you cook for me. I’ll stick with my own cooties, thanks.
Gift cards? Yeah! Homemade ornaments or decorations? Yeah! Books or classroom supplies or note pads or stinky candles? Yeah! I love them all!!! It’s from your (or your Mom’s) heart and I will show off my gifts to my family with pride. But I ain’t eating your fudge or cookies or buckeyes or special holiday goodies. I’ll ooh and aah over them when you give them to me but, truth be told, they are headed for the trash.
I always figure my kids’ teachers have enough apple-type-stuff/teacher-themed stuff. After all, we all have limited space in our homes! So I try to give something “consumable”. A favorite is: a gift card to a local Blockbuster, a bag of microwave popcorn, and two envelopes of instant hot chocolate. A-la movie-night-in-a-tin. I also enclose a note that says something to the effect that if they choose to “re-gift” the tin, that’s fine!
Maybe the teachers just feel obligated to be polite, but it always seems to be appreciated!
Before gift cards, most of the presents I got were just…awful.
I’m certainly not ungrateful. I just think people don’t honestly know what to get a teacher. I read in other posts that teachers like to get gifts that show someone knows them as a person. Trust me, with few exceptions, students and parents don’t really know their teachers. (Yikes, that has a double meaning…lol.) You know a lot about my hobbies and interests, but, believe me, I have all the supplies and books and DVDS and poems related to my interests and hobbies.
You know what makes me just as happy as a gift? A hand written note from a student. And for some stupid reason known only to the gods, I love the ones I can tell were dictated to the kid instead of made up. Weird, but that’s the way it is. I also love heartfelt notes from parents, especially when cc’d to my principal/super/school board.
Please, please, please no food. No chocolate. No nuts. No cookies. Not even home made stuff…omg, your children NEVER wash their hands, and you expect me to eat something they made? It all goes in the trash. I don’t even bother regifting. (And please…don’t regift to teachers. We know every sing time. You won’t get away with it.)
Ok, now to the greed. Amazon.com gift cards. And red wine. Lots and lots of red wine.
My favorite gift was the construction paper christmas tree I received from an elementary school class that I only taught for one day. I’m sure they only made it because their teacher told them to make it, but I still really appreciate it and always include it among my Christmas decorations. Handmade stuff is by far the best in my book, but gift cards and red wine will not be turned down either.
When I was in high school, I had an English teacher who went to college in Michigan’s UP. He would often regale us with stories about his cross-dressing, tap-dancing Finnish-American roommate and pasties. I admittedly slacked off in that class (pretty much describes my entire high school career), so, toward the end of the semester it became apparent that I was going to be stuck with a B for Honor’s English, and only by half a percentage point, too.
I showed up the next day with two giant pasties (filled with sirloin, onion, potato, and rutabaga), one for the class, one for him. My mother and I were up late finding a good recipe, getting the ingredients (thanking Jeebus that Kroger sells rutabagas as grandma and grandpa did not), and making the pies, but it convinced my teacher to fudge my grade in my favor for the term. 
If I had had more balls in high school, I would’ve shown up in a nun’s habit and tap shoes (the stage dress of choice for his roommate, apparently).
I’ve now got a nice bottle of port waiting to be drunk, too
When I was a kid I got a fruit basket made up and my teacher loved it. It looked so pretty and you can put something nice in with it like chocolates or a little teddy or something. Im sure wine would also go down a treat!