‘Tis the season for gift giving. If you’re an education brand or a parent looking for ways to appreciate teachers, it’s not too late. We’ve brainstormed many categories of gifts with some links for easy access to purchase. Important note: We are not being paid to recommend any of these items. We just think they’re cool and they come from our decades of experience working with and recognizing educators.
How to Make the Most of Your Gifts
Before we even get into specific gift recommendations, we’ve listed some things to consider, and we’ve developed some helpful best practices that will ensure that whatever you give, it goes off with a bang.
Virtual or Physical Gift
Consider whether you’d like to give a physical or virtual gift. It can be time consuming to gather personal mailing addresses, and virtual gifts can be a quick way to show appreciation for the educators in your life. On the other hand, having something arrive by mail can really show your thoughtfulness and may be a better way to customize the gift.
We’ve sprinkled in some virtual and online gifts in our list of ideas so you’re covered either way.
Provide Context
Don’t miss the opportunity to tell educators why you chose this specific gift for them. Ideally, every item you choose for them should have meaning. This could be something unique to them, the group they are a part of, or specific to just them. You can do this with a personal note on a card, or you can personalize gift kits.
If you’re giving out multiple items, there’s an opportunity to provide something that they can share with other teachers. Examples of this could be stickers, post-its, and pens.
Since teachers never go a second without thinking of their students, you could take the opportunity to send them something for their students. Some ideas include pencils, cute erasers, pencil sharpeners, stickers, temporary tattoos, and craft supplies.
Determine Logistics
Don’t underestimate how long it takes to mail gifts. It always takes more time to do this than you think. If you have a large number of gifts to send, we suggest that you use a vendor that can do fulfillment for you. Some of our clients have used Swag.com for fulfillment. They have a wide variety of items to choose from and we love how you can easily create personalized kits.
When ordering gifts, try to take advantage of quantity discounts. If you have fewer than 100 gifts to give, we suggest purchasing more to reach a quantity discount. It never hurts to have gifts on hand. You can use them to surprise and delight your most active community members, followers on social media, or new customers.
Quality > Quantity
It can be tempting to select cheaper items. Remember, that these gifts represent your brand and you want to make certain that the items you choose do not break, will last a long time, and are something that your recipient would value.
Although educators are used to all types of quality of items, this is your chance to spoil them. Just say no to cardboard quality t-shirts! If you’re giving out a sweatshirt, make sure it’s the most comfortable one they’ve ever owned.
If you’re still not convinced about this, know that generally the higher the quality, the longer the item will last and potentially the longer the brand exposure (if your item is branded).
Gift Ideas for Every Budget
Now for the fun part! Our team has spent decades listening to educators, and we’d like to share some of our wisdom with you. We’re broken gifts down into key categories and created a (free!) downloadable gift guide with links to lots of gifts in a variety of price ranges.
Safety: Safety is educators’ first priority, especially in a pandemic. While hand sanitizer and masks are obvious right now, flashlights are one of our favorites because it reminds teachers how they bring light into the world.
Health: Help educators prioritize their health by. encouraging them to stay hydrated, motivating them to integrate movement in their day, and making sure the air they breathe is clean! Something to note: Teachers are constantly washing their hands. A good quality hand cream can help repair their hands.
Wellness: Teachers always put their wellness on the back burner. Spoil them with some gifts that they would never give themselves!
Challenges: If you know educators, you know that they love to be intellectually challenged! Bonus: Have your staff or community design the puzzles.
Belonging/Community: Even if you don’t have a formal community, it’s important to give out items to show that they belong to a group of inspiring educators.
Prepared/Professional: You can never go wrong with these items! Teachers unfortunately spend a lot of their personal income on supplies and any of these items would be welcomed with open arms.
Charged: Help your tech-savvy educators be charged, organized, and looking good! Ring lights are great for adjusting the light for their endless zoom sessions.
Coffee: Caffeine is an educator’s best friend. Enough said.
Do Good: Educators are the most selfless, giving people we know. There are thousands of classroom projects in need of funding on Donors Choose. You can also directly fund their own projects! Consider: Donating to a cause directly associated with your brand in the educator’s name.
→ Want more ideas? Make sure to download the full guide below!
