Teaching Profession

The Holiday Gifts Teachers Actually Want (Hint: Skip the Mugs)

By Brooke Schultz & Laura Baker — December 20, 2024 1 min read
Image of a homemade card, school supplies, and a plant.
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He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice—he blanked on getting your child’s teacher a gift. What now?

Worry not: We asked educators what they actually want for the holidays through an informal LinkedIn poll (hint: they probably have enough “World’s Best Teacher” mugs).

Most of the roughly 700 respondents—79 percent—said they’d prefer a gift card. Mugs were only desirable to about 7 percent. Notebooks or agendas similarly ranked low.

Many of the respondents liked the idea of something handmade, or a donation to charity.

“I always liked getting something the student made (I have ornaments from 1980s students that still hang on my Christmas tree every year),” one commenter said on Facebook, “or gift cards. But not Starbucks: I don’t drink coffee. Total Wine also has gift cards.”

Take a scroll through our gift catalog to see what educators may like—and actually use.

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