So your little one has started preschool or nursery, it’s coming up to their first Christmas there and aarrrrghghh, suddenly you are hit with the Christmas Gift Giving dilemmas.
Do you give the staff Christmas gifts, if so which staff? How much? What? What if there are loads of staff in their preschool room? Surely you don’t have to buy all 11 gifts?
Knowing when and who can seem like a mysterious fine art with a lot of complex rules that everyone else seems to know, but you don’t. But don’t worry we are here to help you work it all out.
So the first question, to whom should you give Christmas gifts to?
This may seem like an obvious answer but actually, it can be a bit more complicated. If your child is in a classroom with lots of nursery staff what do you do?
We asked our parents in our Facebook group what they did and the general consensus was they gave the assistant who helped most with their child, or better still they bought or made a group present for the whole room.
If you are not sure which assistant many deals with your child, or even if multiple do you can choose to get individual presents for the whole staff if the budget allows. But a much better option might be a group box of chocolates or a tin of biscuits. It’s a well-known fact that education staff love these in the staff room and they will always go down very well!
Whilst this might be the case, if you have one teacher that really helped your child settle in, or really helped build up their confidence, it can be a nice gesture to give them something a little extra.
It doesn’t have to be expensive or indeed cost anything, a handmade card can go down very well or some home-baked goodies.
The next question, how much do you spend on preschool teachers Christmas gift?
Don’t go overboard and only spend what you can afford. Teachers never expect gifts, although they love them when they receive them. If a teacher has gone above and beyond to help your child, you many want to splash something extra on them and that’s fine, it’s always nice to be appreciated but never feel obliged to.
We polled our group and for Christmas time, most gave chocolate boxes or hot chocolate whilst in summer they tended to give different presents. Perhaps it’s just a seasonal thing, but everyone seems to love some chocolate at Christmas!
One teacher told us, “I don’t expect anything, my main focus is on the children, ensuring they are doing their best, are happy and settled in”
So remember no matter who you decide to buy for, or how much you decide to spend, the teachers don’t expect it and just want to create happy memories for your child.
