|
|
|
|
 Family Career Art of Juggling Single Moms Dad's Voice News Health Bookshelf Recipes Sports Mom Archives Contact Us 
Discussion Lists Wisdom of Mothers Resources 
|
|
Gifts
Compiled from WMOMS discussions by Lorraine J.
Disclaimer: Some of this advice worked for some people some of the time. Neither they, WMOMS, nor Working Moms Refuge take responsibility for its applicability to your family. Please discuss any questions with your own network of professionals, friends and family first. Table Of Contents:
What Are Some Good Gifts For Daycare Providers Or Teachers?
Collect money from all parents at the preschool and get the teachers a gift certificate from a local shopping center. Teachers can get what they want on sale right after Christmas.
Go to a grocery or gourmet store and buy a bunch of stuff for a few dollars each--packages of interesting pasta, gourmet jams, hot chocolate, cheese, snack crackers, chocolate bars, mustards, fancy dish towels, etc. Put them in a gift basket fixed up with ribbons, a gift tag with a thank you note, and some cut up paper bags as stuffing. The teachers sorted through it and took what they wanted home. And they love to have stuff to munch on during the day.Give a gift certificate to a book store. That way, the teacher can decide if she wants something for herself or the classroom.
Collect money for one large gift, one school bought a color printer for the classroom. Two families have offered to pay half the cost, with the rest giving between $5-10 each, they can get the printer, required cables, etc.
Last year we did Christmas mugs filled with homemade biscotti for the teachers and after-school care providers. I'm sure they need a new mug like they need a hole in their head but this is a case of "it's the thought that counts."
We are giving the 4 women at our kids' school gift certificates for pedicures or manicures at a local spa (between $20-30 Cdn ea). I love this kind of thing and I thought that these lovely women are probably going to get *tonnes* of "kiddy" stuff and would probably appreciate a pampering, adult gift
I usually give a jar or two of my homemade jam. I make unusual varieties, so it's appreciated!
Our home based day-care provider also takes off Christmas week. She is paid for this week (and one other week of vacation). This was stated in our parent/provider contract (which also lists her holidays and other stuff). In addition to paying her for that week off, we give her a week's pay as a Christmas bonus.
For their REAL (elementary) teachers, I made gift baskets. Tho the contents are still in flux, they include the basket itself ($6.00), chocolates, a gold tin pencil holder, with 6 gold pencils. Also an ornament reflecting the teacher's hobby/pet (for example, one teacher is a cat lover, and her ornament is a kitty in a basket), as well as gift certificates (dinner for one of the teachers, movie tix for the other. The cost for the whole thing so far is $35. What will still go into the basket is a picture frame handmade out of used popsicle sticks and painted by the child.
In addition to gifts, I would also suggest writing personal notes to each of the teachers. Recognition and gratitude is what they want they really want & need from us parents.
I need to buy ten gifts for the teachers that interact with my children on a daily basis. At $20/gift, that's 200! I needed to find something for about 5.00 per teacher which is no easy task. I happened to be in the Mikasa outlet store and they had crystal holiday candy dishes for $3.99. I bought 10. For the head teachers in each of the classrooms, I also bought a book of 500 stickers some are seasonal and some are rainbows and smiley faces to put on the children's work.
What I have done the last few years for my daughters' caregivers at daycare is a gift certificate to either Tower Records (which carries everything known to mankind!) or to Crown Books (same reason as above, something for everyone there!). Also, I write a note to them on the Christmas card extolling their individual virtues and thanking them for their terrific care of my daughter. I also include a copy of the Christmas picture of them for that year. They all seem very appreciative of the gift.
The first year I gave the caregivers each an African violet in bloom that I had grown. The next year I gave each of them a bag with homemade candy, fudge and cookies. This year I am giving them each a bag of homemade goodies.
My SIL is a teacher - she tells me a large tote bag would be greatly appreciated!! As would gift certificates for the mall. But teachers are given a *lot* of Xmas ornaments and the like. You need to forget that she's a teacher and remember that she's a woman when shopping for gifts!! I talked to my SIL the other day & she told me that a colleague of hers said that she hates to hear (from a parent) "What colour is your kitchen?", because it means the well-meaning mom is planning to get her a kitchen gadget (in the colour) or some kind of craft thingy. People's taste in that sort of stuff is so personal; unless you get to know the teacher well by Xmas, you run the risk of getting something they won't be too crazy about.
What are good gifts for the school or center itself?We (my daughter & I) came over on a fall Saturday and planted flowers. (We got permission, first.) We took milk jugs of water, and planted daffodils bulbs & pansies where people would them on their way in. The pansies gave my daughter some visible results, with the bulbs a more permanent gift.
My daycare provider is an avid gardener and insect watcher. For Xmas I gave her a Butterfly Tent and it not only pleased her but it provided a great activity. The kids in the daycare could all watch the cocoons hatch into butterflies.(From the Nature Company).
What Are Appropriate Gifts For "Service People?" I tip almost everybody somehow. A six-pack of beer and a quart of orange juice for the garbage people (unless they have a "One Day at a Time" bumper sticker on the back of their truck :-)), a cheap-old Christmas coffee mug filled with M&Ms for the mailman and lawn guy, money for the paperguy
We give two theatre tickets to our water delivery man (he brings in the bottles and sets up one bottle for us each time), the newspaper delivery person, and the mailman.
For a cleaning lady, a card with money, a gift certificate to the local restaurant and the day off. .
For a cleaning lady, I would think a nice note in a card and perhaps a small gift would be fine: like food or a plant. Alternatively, you might want to give her more of what I'd call a "tip" than a "bonus;" maybe an extra $5 or $10 depending on how you like her service.
What is a good gift for soon-to-be older sibling? My daughter had a stuffed Big Bird - we got a Baby Big Bird for her, so Big Bird had a baby sister, too. She loved it!
How about paint/marker coloring books with some new (washable) markers?
My son took a few dollars of his own money (his idea) and bought his "new baby" a small stuffed animal, which he brought to the hospital on his first big brother visit.
A t-shirt which says, "I'm the Big Sister/Brother!" I ordered one from Stork Avenue(1-800-861-KIDS); you could also make one with Puffy Paint.
An anatomically correct doll with velcro diapers, little outfits, etc. so that s/he can copy what you are doing to take care of the new baby.
We didn't give her a gift from the baby, but we did give her something from us to recognize that she was a big sister and could do things a baby couldn't. We gave her a new bike.
We thought about this; I even bought our first and only Barney video for "the new baby" to give to his older sister. But she found the video before I had the baby. And I explained that for a little while after the new baby was born I would need a lot of rest and the new baby would need a lot of my attention. I said I thought the new baby would want her to have something she liked to do while Mommy was resting or taking care of the baby, so I got the video for her because I thought that's what the baby would want.
My DH took him shopping for a special gift for his sister. He picked out a Looney Toons pacifier and was so proud to give it to her. DH got a Sega game for him. Kinda along the same lines of Mom will need to rest and care for baby so here is something you like to play with, while we are busy eating, or changing diapers.
Let the older child either buy an outfit or decorate a little t-shirt for the baby. To decorate, take a plain white cotton infant undershirt and let the sibling decorate it using fabric paint, stencils and little sponges to make designs. We took the shirt home, washed it, and it was the first piece of clothing the baby wore. When the big sister came in to see the baby when he was about 1 hour old, he was wearing the shirt she'd made for him. This went over really big.
What Are Good Gifts For A New Baby And Mommy?
What Are Some Good Homemade Gift Ideas? Personalized fortune cookies: inexpensive, but a little work. We made up a list of about 12 silly fortunes that apply to their life (printed them out in a small font and then cut them up into slips). The fortunes are things like "Your upstairs bedroom renovation will be finished in the year 2012 " (joke, because they have been working on this piecemeal for a zillion years) ...and some other fortunes that reflect their lives and interests.
We painted terracotta pots and filled them with different things for different people: homemade cookies, nuts in the shell or for some of the kids' friends, homemade popcorn balls (individually wrapped). Wrap a big bow around the whole thing.
Barrettes, pins and earrings out of Sculpey clay. The Incredible Clay book/set comes with the clay and directions on how to make different things. I was amazed at how really cool some of this stuff turned out! We just bought the pin backs, etc at the craft store.
I made baby book for expectant SIL. I got text ideas from different baby books and did it up on the computer in really nice fonts and printed on heavy bond paper. The kids did drawings in chalk pastels (the good kind) and then we sprayed it with fixative. It was so sweet.
Homemade bath salts: sea salt, fragrance and coloring, shake it up, put it in a pretty bottle and voila. I'm doing some cross-stitch guest towels to go with it.
A compilation of family recipes: I'm an avid cook and recipe collector so I'm putting together our "greatest hits" so to speak, and the kids will be providing the illustrations.
Ornaments: I bought a set of plain silver ball ornaments (18 for $2.49 at Target!). We've painted them with puffy paints in seasonal colors - just squiggles and dots, etc.
A doctor set. I bought a black shaving case for about $5 then filled it with stuff. I got the medicine dispenser that looks like a syringe, empty medicine boxes, tweezers, a jar of cotton balls and cotton swabs, bandaids, gauze, an RN friend gave me a stethoscope. Then on the computer we made a "prescription pad", a chart, an eye chart. All kinds of stuff. It was about 1/4 the price of what she wanted, we had a blast putting it together and it is still played with today (3 years later).
Holiday tree skirts, Place mats, Table runners, Stockings for the family, Cross-stitched items, Rod and reel bags made of fleece, Sweets, Quilts (some are more talented than others), Sweatshirts with appliques, An afghan, Holiday centerpieces, Fleece mittens, Munchie basket (popcorn, home-made candy, spiced cider), Wall hangings of all types, Decorated grapevine wreaths.
Something I did last year that was really quick and easy was sweatshirts. I started with a white sweatshirt. I got T-shirt paint in red, green, blue and purple. I put some paint on a paper plate and then my kids put their hand prints all over the sweatshirt. I did this for both Grandmothers.
What Are Some Good Gifts For 2-3 Year Olds?
What Are Good Gifts For 4-5 Year Olds?
What Are Good Gift Ideas For Older Kids?
What are good gifts for Bar/Bat Mitzvah?
What To Give Teenagers Q: What can I get for a kid whose tastes I don't know?
If she has access to a computer and can go online, you could get her a gift certificate forAmazon.com. Also, if you want to buy her books, Amazon has a great gift search tool, where you can enter the age/interests of the kid and it will choose appropriate books. Some off the top of my head:
You might want to check out the "gift center" at amazon.com. You can click on "teenagers" and then they have things like "Growing Pains" and then they give book ideas.
Great Books for Girls by is a reference which goes from picture books to teen books, and lists books and descriptions. "For people who wants girls to grow up smart, brave and kind" I think is the stated target of the book. It has many recommendations in every category.
Something on adolescent development. IMO, to buy a book like this, you have to know the child well and make sure the book will be a help and not turn her off.
A gift certificate to a music store, or a book store; nail polish in funky colors. One thing my daughter loved was a shopping day with my mom. My mom put down ground rules -- one gift in xx dollar range -- but they had such a good time looking at things together and being together. My daughter got a present she liked. My mom got to know her granddaughter, learned her favorite stores, what type of clothes she likes, etc.My vote would be for gift certificates: bookstore, movies, clothes, music, etc. We gave Barnes and Noble, Limited Too and Sam Goody's for Christmas and they were all well received.
I have a 13-year-old niece, and I've been doing the gift certificate thing lately: Blockbuster Music, Old Navy, The Limited.
I think books are a great idea, but I'm not sure what's hot these days. When I was a teenager (20 years ago! how is that possible?) I absolutely adored anything by Madeleine L'Engle. "The Arm of the Starfish" and "The Young Unicorns" are two that I remember being particularly appealing to me at that age (some of her other stuff works a little better for younger girls, I think). L'Engle's work is pretty timeless, so maybe it wouldn't seem too hopelessly outdated to a 1990s teenager.
The CD called "All About Me" -- it covers a lot of the 'things' that are so important when you are in puberty, from buying tampons at the drug store from the cute, young, male clerk to a parent analysis. Also, an electronic diary.
Miscellaneous Holiday Gifts For those of you looking for useful gifts, I'd suggest this book. It is by Celia Brown and is called the "Doctor's Little Book of Answers : 600 Medical Answers Everyone Should Know."
It is, as described on Amazon (www.amazon.com) a: "medical consumer's guidebook cover the things that doctors never tell their patients. Listed in easy-to-read "bytes, " these tidbits are designed to help readers understand some of the basics of good health, offering common sense medical advice about deciding the best approaches to such minor concerns as sore throats, headaches, muscle strain, and skin problems." Highly recomended. Two thumbs up.
A family video and a cannister of popcorn.
There is a spectacular book (software/paperback/hardback/calendar) called "Material World : A Global Family Portrait" by Peter Menzel, Charles C. Mann,and Paul Kennedy that I would put very high on my gift list for this year.
It's hard to describe how affecting it is. It's a book of photographs where these guys went around the world and took pictures of families standing in front of their houses with all of their material goods spread out around them.
I generally give people gourmet foodstuffs and the like because I find it difficult to get things that I know for sure people will want to use.
This week's question:
Family | Career | Art of Juggling | Single Moms | Health
Copyright © 2000 Working Moms Refuge. |
