I love my kids’ teachers. I truly don’t know how they do what they do day in and day out, so when it gets to Christmastime, I am more than happy to show my appreciation for them with a gift.
But that begs the question:
WHAT IS THE BEST TEACHER CHRISTMAS GIFT!!?!
When I am at a loss, I often turn to my guru, the Lazy Genius. Looking through the lazy genius principles, teacher gifting is definitely a prime candidate for Decide Once. I pick one gift that I will give every one of my kids’ teachers every year. This means it needs to be a crowd pleaser, economical, and require relatively little additional effort per gift.
For me, this means a Christmas tin filled with an assortment of Christmas cookies and a gift card.
Crowd pleaser – I mean, come on, who doesn’t like cookies?
Economical – Cookies and a small gift card are not going to break the bank for many people.
Effort – Putting together one gift or six gifts requires basically the same amount of effort.
If you want to adopt the best Decide Once for teacher Christmas gifts, simply follow the steps below. The teachers will be happy, your kids will be happy, and you will not be a stressed-out mess. At least not because of teacher Christmas gifts.
Step 1 - Tins
There is something about a simple Christmas tin that just makes you feel all warm and cozy inside. As a kid, I always remember Christmas tins being around at Christmas and being filled with all sorts of yummy treats that were never around except at Christmastime. The tins could contain cookies, fudge, puppy chow, or some other decadent goody. Whatever was in there, though, was sure to prompt a smile. Such joy from such a simple vessel!
I get my Christmas tins at the Dollar Tree. Even though they now cost $1.25 each, that’s still a pretty good deal. I’m sure you could also find them at other retailers, so feel free to shop around or just pick them up wherever you see them.
If you don’t have the same nostalgic connection with Christmas tins that I do, any vessel will do. They even make Christmas themed food storage containers that would do the job.
Step 2 - Cookies
One of my favorite Christmas activities is baking Christmas cookies. Before I had kids, I would set aside a whole weekend day and just crank out dozens and dozens of cookies in multiple varieties. That isn’t realistic anymore, so I start early and do a batch here and a batch there. I always choose several varieties that can be popped in the freezer so they can make it to Christmas and still be delicious.
Because I love baking Christmas cookies and I have developed a system to make it work with my current season of life, I like to fill the Christmas tins with homemade cookies. But if all you can muster is a trip to the grocery store or the local bakery, do not feel shame stocking the tins with store-bought cookies.
Either way you go, I would suggest an assortment of cookies. The teachers certainly won’t sneer at a tin filled with only one kind of cookie, but it’s just quintessentially Christmas to have a random mix of several different kinds of cookies at once.
When choosing your cookie varieties, be mindful about avoiding nuts if your school is nut-free like ours is. Unfortunately that means no peanut butter blossoms, but there are still so many delicious options you can choose. I’ve linked some of my personal favorites below:
You may notice that all the links above are to recipes from Sally’s Baking Addiction. Decide Once in action yet again! Don’t complicate things!
Step 3 - Gift Cards
Who doesn’t love a gift card? It’s still a very thoughtful gesture, but it removes the guilt on the recipient to like a specific item and the pressure on the giver to pick out the perfect item.
You can personalize the gift card to each teacher’s preference or you can choose one gift card that will have mass appeal. I take the latter approach (Decide Once coming in clutch again!) and everyone gets Target cards. I pick Target because you can buy lots of different types of things at Target. If one teacher needs groceries, a Target card will help. If one teacher wants to treat herself, she can do that at Target too.
The amount you choose for each gift card is, of course, entirely up to you and your budget. No amount is too small. Your kids’ teachers will appreciate whatever you gift them.
Step 4 - Assemble
This is the easiest part. Grab your tins, your cookies, your gift cards, some wax paper, and stick-on gift tags.
- Place a piece of wax paper in the bottom of the tin. Make it significantly larger than the bottom of the tin so you can fold it over to offer a bit of protection to the cookies in the filled tin.
- Fill her up! I stuff as many cookies as I can fit in the tin. Like I suggested above, an assortment is really festive.
- Fold the wax paper over the cookies and place the gift card on top. Close the tin.
- Grab a festive label to identify who the tin is for and who it is from. My kids get to school before many of the teachers arrive, so it’s best to label them clearly to avoid confusion.
Step 5 - Deliver
You can deliver the tins whenever you have them ready or whenever your school has identified as an appropriate gifting day. I try to get them finished by the middle of December. Selfishly, this just gets one thing crossed off my Christmas to-do list early so I no longer have it hanging over my head. But if you’re more a thrives-under-pressure type, there is nothing wrong with bringing your gifts on December 23rd.
Are you going to try out the Christmas cookie tins for your kids’ teacher gifts this year? If not, what is your go-to teacher gift at Christmastime?