What is the male equivalent of flowers as a gift?

[UnderneathAMagicMoon]

So you’re expected to bring in a different gift each day if the week for two teachers? Ten gifts? And who decided on the themes? The teachers themselves?

Yeah, that’s the idea… I only have one child so I don’t know what’s standard in terms of gift giving. I think other daycares in the area do similar things for Teacher Appreciation Week and Christmas though.

 

[ronandannette]

So your expected to bring in a different gift each day if the week for two teachers? Ten gifts? And who decided on the themes? The teachers themselves?

Right?!? I'm thinking this must be one of the proverbial DIS "regional things".

 

[BrianL]

Yeah, this does seem excessive too. When I was a kid we would bring the teacher a Christmas present, but it was literally the cliched apple or small box of cocolates, maybe new box of chalk. Man, am I dating myself here?

 

[bluezy]

Teacher Appreciation Week is quite common in the schools where I live, especially in preschool & elementary.

Most of the time, the PTA or a group of parents (if there isn’t a PTA) organizes the week, & having a theme for each day is pretty popular.

As both a former teacher & a parent & Facebook friends w/ several teachers & participating parents, over the years, I’ve seen the following themes:

Flower Day
Favorite Snack Day
School Supply Day
Favorite Beverage Day
Note of Appreciation Day
Chick-Fil-A Day
Breakfast Day
Potluck Lunch Day

Most of the time, the week is arranged so that Monday through Thursday are relatively “easy” and/or inexpensive themes - flower day (every child brings one flower to make up a bouquet for the teacher), snack or beverage day, school supply day, note of appreciation day, etc. - & culminates w/ a bigger “finale” on Friday - Chick-Fil-A for lunch, a catered breakfast or lunch, potluck lunch, etc.

This is basically what our elementary school did. And they were doing this at least 15 years ago, if not longer (my youngest child is a senior this year but I know some of my older kids participated in this as well). Our week would be similar to yours -- most of the days were simple suggestions like draw a picture of your favorite activity with your teacher, write a thank you note to your teacher, etc. One day was to bring a single flower to contribute to a bouquet (and the PTFS had a "starter" bouquet in each classroom). The PTFS also sent home instructions for a simple origami flower so even if you didn't have a "real" flower to contribute, you could make a paper one. The final day was always a staff luncheon where parents signed up to donate an element of the meal. Everything was voluntary and it was easy for every student to participate if they chose to but also done in a way that no one felt "left out" if they didn't participate.

One thing I *loved* that our PTFS did at the very beginning of the school year was have each teacher in the building fill out a "get to know me" form. It was very simple -- just asking their hobbies, pets, favorite sports/sports teams, favorite color, favorite candy, etc. Then the PTFS distributed those completed forms to each student of the teacher. That made gift giving throughout the year *sooooo* easy and probably avoided teachers getting gifts they couldn't use.

 

[LuvOrlando]

If it is customary for each child to bring in a single flower for a class bouquet I would send a male teacher a donut and coffee from D&D or something like that for under $5, or a $5 gift card to a local Starbucks.

If your price range is a bouquet of flowers or a big plant for the yard I suppose I would go with a Yeti Rambler mug.

 

[unrequited23]

Our elementary school does the themed days of the week for teacher appreciation week...this year flower day was one of them and we opted out of that one. I sent in one gift that covered treat day, school supplies and thank you day.

If you really want to do something for flower day, how about a pack of seeds?

The middle school has a link to donate for appreciation activities--I'm a much bigger fan of this approach.

 

[GAN]

Yeah, this does seem excessive too. When I was a kid we would bring the teacher a Christmas present, but it was literally the cliched apple or small box of cocolates, maybe new box of chalk. Man, am I dating myself here?

I don’t know. Both my parents were teachers and I don’t remember ever bringing in a gift for my teachers. At least not until high school when we gifted a bottle of Irish Mist to an English teacher .

 

[Her Dotness]

Write a letter of appreciation to each, decorated with flowers. Or have your student draw something.

I most enjoyed learning of things I did to make a difference in a student’s experience in my class or in the student’s life.

Those, I could hang on my fridge or bulletin board at home. Not some object that generally got Goodwilled.

 

[disneychrista]

Just as not all women want/like flowers, not all men would not like them.

 

[Kwami]

Just as not all women want/like flowers, not all men would not like them.

Indeed! I quite like flowers. There's a lot of weird stereotyping in this thread. I'd take flowers over cologne, Yeti mugs, beef jerky, or pretty much anything else offered.

But, the original poster said that this young man probably wouldn't like flowers. Oh, well. If flowers is the theme, then flowers is what everyone gets.

 

[Kirby]

My mom didn't purchase teacher gifts when I was a child and I didn't do it either for my children. I don't remember any kind of organized gift giving to teachers when my children were in school.

But, now that my daughter is an elementary school teacher, she receives all sorts of gifts from her students/parents. Not all students/parents participate in this and she doesn't expect it. Her favorite things to get are gift cards. One mom a couple years ago gave her a rotisserie chicken at the end of the day to help with dinner that evening. That has been one of her most favorite gifts to receive. She brought home a stalk of Gladiola flowers which are lovely and another student had two cookie flowers for her today. She likes simple things like that.

For a man, I might do a gift card, maybe a food basket (spaghetti dinner), a Costco rotisserie chicken might be good.

I think that it's nice to show your appreciation to your child's teacher, just don't go over board. Having a gift a day for a week is a little much but that seems to be the thing to do now.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

The male equivalent of flowers is beer. Not the cheap stuff either.

 

[Tink3815]

I think a week of appreciation gifts is excessive. Let the PTA or owner of the daycare organize a lunch for the teachers. Many parents are stressed financially and time wise these days to participate in things like this.

 

[PollyannaMom]

The male equivalent of flowers is beer. Not the cheap stuff either.

That's what I was thinking too , but since it's preschool, how about a candy bouquet:

OK, this one is way too expensive and has to be ordered ahead, but it came up when I googled "simple candy bouquet", and I had to share the laugh:

 

[PollyannaMom]

I think a week of appreciation gifts is excessive. Let the PTA or owner of the daycare organize a lunch for the teachers. Many parents are stressed financially and time wise these days to participate in things like this.

I remember schools doing this, but the kids weren't expected to bring in 5 gifts each - just pick the day they wanted to and bring that thing in.

 

[Mysterian]

A bouquet of tacos.

Edit: A Tacquet?

 

[jdb in AZ]

I think a week of appreciation gifts is excessive. Let the PTA or owner of the daycare organize a lunch for the teachers. Many parents are stressed financially and time wise these days to participate in things like this.

A whole week of appreciation for pre-school? Definitely excessive, but "in my day" gifts weren't even allowed. (Maybe the admin thought parents were trying to bribe the teacher.)

 

[dreamer17555]

Can I ask if you’re 100% certain that he wouldn’t appreciate a flower from a child? My daughter actually brought home some sunflowers for my 16 yo son the other day and he loved them.

 

[luv2cheer92]

I'm surprised by the number of people that seem surprised by this. This was the norm for Teacher Appreciation week when I was in elementary school like 30ish years ago.

 

[UnderneathAMagicMoon]

Can I ask if you’re 100% certain that he wouldn’t appreciate a flower from a child? My daughter actually brought home some sunflowers for my 16 yo son the other day and he loved them.

I know he said something about flowers on one of the teacher “favorites” lists. I think he marked “N/A” or something… to be fair I probably shouldn’t assume it’s because he’s a guy, some people just have terrible allergies or even environmental concerns.