Best gifts that teachers want and you can afford

By Ali Linz, Co-Founder of GroupTogether and Mum to 4 kids

Another mum and I helped 40,000 parents organise group gifts for teachers last year with our web app grouptogether.com so it’s no wonder that people always ask me about teacher gifts.

Here’s the 3 most often asked questions and the definitive answers. And … the bottom line – when you group together for one gift, you can give better and spend less (and still have a super cute and personal card).

1. Do teachers even deserve a gift?

We surveyed 1,000 adults last week to see what Aussies thought about it by asking a pretty simple question:

Do teachers deserve an appreciation gift & why?

• 76% said YES (54% believe all teachers deserve a gift / 22% believe good teachers deserve a gift)
• 15% said No
• 9% were unsure

People who felt that teachers deserve a gift said things like “teachers go above and beyond”, “our future is in their hands” and “they deserve a medal for looking after kids so we don’t have to!”. People who believed it was unnecessary said “they get paid to do their job” and “who else gets 10 weeks holiday?”.

2. What do (and don’t) teacher’s want?

You’ll see on every Facebook mums groups at the moment “Hit me with your gift ideas for the teacher?” with lots of suggestions of candles and personalised stamps, chocolates and mugs.

Interestingly though, when we asked 250 teachers, they were clear that they didn’t expect anything! The best is a card with some thoughtful words of appreciation. However, if parents do want to give a gift, 74% said they’d prefer a group gift – ideally a voucher.

This sentiment ties in exactly with what I found since co-founding GroupTogether. We realised that people don’t want “more stuff” and the associated waste (time, effort, wrapping paper, plastic packaging, unwanted gifts). We set up GroupTogether to make collecting for a group gift easy. Set up a collection in a few minutes, share the link and parents can click to pay and sign the card. No more awkward reminding, or as one parent told us, “I don’t have to stalk other parents in the playground”.

Teachers’ favourite group gifts:

1. Heartfelt Card from the student
2. Let the Teacher choose, gift cards
3. Gold Class Movie Tickets (such a treat!)
4. Experiential Gift (e.g., bridge climb)
5. Classroom gift (ask Teacher first)

Teacher’s would rather not receive:

1. Scented candles (they gather dust in the closet)
2. Mugs (ditto)
3. Chocolates or Food items (dietary restrictions, expiry dates, etc)
4. Toiletries (hand cream, soaps, perfume, etc.)
5. Pot Plant (no green thumb)

3. How much do people spend on teacher gifts?

• Last year GroupTogether helped organise 2000 ‘end of year’ teachers group gift collections or group gift vouchers.
• The average amount spent on end of year teacher’s gifts per child was $25.
• 19 out of 25 kids contributed
• The average teacher’s end of year collections last year added up to $485 per teacher.
• We saved 40 000 trips to the shops and 40km of wrapping paper rubbish just on teachers’ gifts.

The bottom line – how to save $ and give better!

Instead of leaving the gift to the last minute, rushing around in the Christmas chaos and forking out more than you’d intended, spend 2 minutes setting up a group gift on Grouptogether.com and sharing the link. We’ll do the reminding, collecting, tracking and send you a voucher and card with cute pics of the kids and personal messages of thanks. The teacher can use the voucher to choose the e-gift card they really want.

Everyone can spend a little less and give a lot better.

GroupTogether is FEE FREE collecting when an e-gift card is purchased. Bonus! Now, the teacher gets to choose the e-gift card that they would love to receive from their class.