Calling all teachers, all levels, all schools…
Have you received gifts from your students? The old-fashioned apple, or some new and exciting thing? Any cute stuff? Any weird items that give you pause?
In college and university, I have received all of the following over the past 14 years:
Belt; makeup kit; button covers (remember those?); Moon cakes; a box of tea; a box of frozen lychees (they smell like perfume!); candy; jewelry set; a granola bar.
And you?
IANATeacher, but this reminded me of something.
In Grade 11, I signed up for a trip to Holland with my history class–and then freaked out at the last minute about getting on the plane, so didn’t go. 
My history teacher–one of the best teachers, hands down, no argument, in the world–was not only sweet and understanding about the whole thing…
…but brought me back a tulip bulb, from Holland, in a little box.
I miss that teacher.
I’m pretty lucky in that I teach in an affluent district. I get a lot of great gifts throughout the year. I read in the local paper that most teachers don’t get a lot of gifts.
Over the past few years I’m more likely to get gift cards. They’re easy, convenient, and one size fits all.
I do enjoy the gifts. It’s a really nice thing. I love when a student picks something out they know I’ll specifically like.
Even so, you know what I absolutely go crazy for? A handwritten thank you note–even better if it comes during the summer or maybe a year or so later. One former student had the day off at his high school, and spent the entire day with <i>me</i>. Wow. My head was swollen for a week 
I guess that doesn’t count as a gift, but it does count for what a gift symbolizes: appreciation.
There was a time when I asked for no gifts. I really do prefer no gifts. But the kids really, really, really love giving gifts. I learned early on to wear the t-shirt, drink from the mug, and write with the pens within a few days of receiving the gifts
Gifts that go right in the trash? Home made food. Always. I know how often my students wash their hands. I know this may sound mean but I just can’t eat it. I don’t drink the coffee or eat the store-bought candy, either. I usually give those away. And even if I wanted, I couldn’t eat all the food. I’d be a blimp. But I always act like the food is the best gift I ever got.
Other gifts that I give away (for the record: I NEVER re-gift. My give-a-ways come with full disclosure): ties (I’ve never, ever worn one at school, why would they give me one?), t-shirts in any size less than large and/or with something offensive on them, anything of dubious taste and decor, odd music cds, knickknacks/bric-a-brac/tchatchkes.
I’m hesitant to post some of the over-the-top gifts I’ve gotten, so let’s say that every once in a while I get a totally awesome WOW gift
When my niece’s elementary school principal retired, the parents gave him a brand new bass boat. Of course, these are the parent who got together to buy a laptop for the student who was going to be out of school having chemotherapy. And well-to-do, involved group of parents. My niece is 13 now and still talks about Mr. Frank and what a great guy he was.
StG
I teach in a low-income area, so the vast majority of my gifts come from the local 99 cent store.
LOTS of plastic-like weirdo figurines…angels, ballet dancers, hideously malformed horses, etc. The perfume/bath oils in a frosted glass rose are also very popular. Last year I got a funky Virgin Mary thingy etched inside a glass prism with a laser light under it. Very hip.
Key chains and coffee mugs are very popular, and I can always count on lots of chocolate at Valentine’s Day.
Every gift is received with a warm thank you and hug…I mean, in these cases, it really is all about the thought that counts. A lot of the items I sadly recycle at the yearly garage sale…I feel bad, but I don’t have the space to display all that stuff anyway at school, and it has no space at home.
Oh…probably my favorite gift is just a simple $2 plant. I’m not even sure what it is. A student’s grandmother brought it to me after I busted my ass helping her 3rd grade grandson out in what can be described as a hellacious situation. Sadly, the boy moved soon after I had him placed in a class where he could succeed (he could only write his name)…so that plant has a lot of meaning for me. I make sure it gets well cared for.
I teach high school junoirs and I don’t get many gifts. The swetest gift I ever got was a plastic spray bottle–I didn’t have one for my overhead and someone notice and brought me a spray bottle. It was sweet because it showed the girl was really paying attention.
I get flowers on homecoming, though not this year–I felt kind of let down. If I revealed my birthday, I’d get dollar bills then ( do kids at other schools do the dollar bill birthday corsages?) A student whose parents own a deli/bakery near here and who works the counter won’t charge me for dinner.
I have gotton some fabulous thank-you notes. Those are definitly my favorite.
I’m a single male teacher who ALWAYS gets useless ceramic knick-knacks he has no use for and no room to display, i.e., the aforementioned angel statues, ceramic apples, candles, bath salts, etc.
Still, I appreciate the thought behind the gifts. I do occassionally re-gift to family members who are even more appreciative than I am – like my aunt who collects angels, or my Mom who loves candles.
One year, an uncle of one my male students got me a VIP pass to a local strip club he works at and promised me I could get at least two free lap dances if I showed up (I never did, but I saved the pass and envelope it came in.)
My favorite things to get from parents, hands down, are thoughtful notes thanking me for helping their children, and pictures of their children either out of school uniform or taken of me teaching.
I love to get student-made cards and pictures and save them whenever I can.
I’m not a teacher, but I appreciate this thread because I have always given wonderful gifts to my children’s teachers on every occasion of the year. Personalized ones from lillianvernon.com, or just the simple candle/nice lotion/candy combination in a beautiful bag. Teachers deserve every perk we can give them, IMHO, and I’m always surprised that I’m in the minority when it comes to giving them gifts.
Let’s see. In three years teaching, I’ve gotten a set of wind chimes, from the parents of a student I made sure passed my English class so he could graduate, and I got a cool Christmas tree ornament. Other than that, the only thing I’ve ever gotten were cards.
I love the cards way more than any object a kid could buy.
IANAT, but military flight instructor is pretty close. Tradition has it that our students give a bottle of the instructor’s choice after they fly their initial solo in the jet. However, it probably wouldn’t fly (so to speak) for elementary school kids to bring their teachers bottles of scotch as a gift.
I had a great General Biology professor in college (following his class, I regained my interest in biology after my high school teacher made me hate it). The professor once related the story of how as a child, his interest in science began when he got a pair of little magnetic Scottie dogs in a box of Cracker Jacks. If you placed the dogs one way, they would race toward each other; if you placed them the other way, they’d run away from each other. He loved those little doggies so much that he took them to school and was secretly playing with them behind his text book. His teacher saw what he was doing and humilated him in front of the class and took the little dogs away.
Several years later I saw a pair of magnetic Scotties in a vending machine and I bought them and sent them to the professor with a letter about how much his story had touched me. He wrote me back a really nice letter.
I’m an EFL teacher, and teach both adults and children. Some of my junior high girls bring me Print Club photos (the little digital photo booth pics that are all the rage with Japanese girls), and one brought me a koala bracelet back from her vacation in Australia. Adults have often given me cards and small gifts like cellphone ornaments and decorative magnets. I less frequently receive bigger items, like ceramic picture frames, herbal soap, books, and once a silk coin purse.
In Japan, etiquette demands that whenever you make a trip somewhere you bring something back for your coworkers – usually a gift-wrapped set of regional specialty snacks. Some people include their teachers in this. In these cases the gift is for the whole school staff though, not just the student’s actual teacher. So in our office we’ve always got a bunch of tins of cookies from Tokyo Disneyland and stuff like that, which is good when you’ve got five minutes between classes and need to get your blood sugar up.
IANAT, but my mom is. She’s gotten lots of teacher-related junk (apple-shaped pencil holders, button covers, handbells, etc.), but my favorite was the money bouquet. It was a bud vase filled with babies’ breath and roses made of intricately folded dollar bills.
As a student, the best gift I ever gave was a little statuette of Romulus and Remus nursing Mama Wolf. That went to my high school Latin teacher, who proudly displayed it on her desk for years. I also gave her a book of dirty limericks in Latin, and she’d occasionally put one of the milder ones up on the board during tests as an extra credit translation. She was my favorite teacher of all time!
Maisy
IANAT, but when I buy (or help my kids select) teacher’s gifts, I try to pick things they’ll actually use, and don’t already have 700 of (another coffee mug with an apple on it, anyone?). Last year for Christmas, I gave my preschooler’s teachers each a decorative Christmas tin with a Blockbuster rental card, microwave popcorn and envelopes of hot cocoa mix inside. I also made it clear that if they weren’t “into” tins, I wouldn’t be offended in the least if they got rid of them.
IANAT, but I used to work in a bookstore and in June we’d get loads of teachers coming in buying their summer reading with gift certificates from their students. I think that’s a nice present.
My husband (who teaches middle school) got this exact same thing from one of his students last year!
A word about food though - while we appreciate it and we do eat the food he is given, unfortunately a lot of times (as brian_ax attested to) food gets thrown out for various reasons and it would be a real shame for someone to go to all the effort of making something or the expense of buying something just to have it thrown in the trash.
My husband works for an affluent school district, so he gets quite a few things, but I do think he most appreciates getting thank you notes from the kids.
Well, I got the idea off of Flylady.net in her list of clutter-free Christmas gifts. Maybe the student’s mom is a FlyBaby, too. 
I have gotten knicknacks galore related to being a #1 teacher and all
I often get a lot of wine, chocolates, cookies, homemade crafts and such, ornaments at christmas time…
The weirdest thing ever, though, was a beautiful silk scarf from the son of some ambassador’s attache (Iran). Since I taught in the embassy area, I got lots of “culturally-related” gifts, which I loved! The drawback was that I’d get students for 2-3 years and off they’d go, posted somewhere else in the world…
Just last week, one of my students brought me some homemade chocolates. She was SO PROUD of herself… that was all I needed to go “Awwww!” and melt on the spot.
The year that I taught (middle school, with a 6th grade homeroom) I got a lot of little knickknacks and many things with my name and/or apples on them, that all seemed to come from the children. At Christmas, the room parents had planned – without my knowledge – an ornament collection for me, and I got a Christmas tree ornament from every child/family in my homeroom. I still use those to this day, fortunately they weren’t all teacher related.
At the end of the year, I got a very nice going away present from my class, also coordinated by the room parents, a beautiful monogrammed leather briefcase to replace the very ratty canvas one I’d been carrying. I still use it today, too.
I get knicky knacky things mainly, lotions and such as well. My favorites are photos of the students with a message on the back. It doesn’t need to be dusted, is always in good taste and I’ll definitely remember who gave it to me, which is my favorite part.