According to a 2022 National Education Association poll, 55% of educators plan to leave the profession sooner than they expected due to the pandemic. That’s about double the number of educators who said the same in 2020. Many are marking this period in their lives as “The Great Exodus.” Those who teach need our support and appreciation more than ever right now. Although gifts don’t cure educators’ every woe, acts of appreciation can be the bright light they need during a dark day and a reminder that they are cared for.
In this post, you’ll learn how to implement easy ways to thank educators year-round through relevant holidays, what gifts teachers do and don’t want, key elements when planning events for teachers, and even some creative marketing ideas.
Consider What Educators Want (Not Mugs!)
When it comes to gifting, not every teacher is the same. We recently reached out to over 50 educators, and many of them said that they love books, but not every teacher wants to receive Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi, for example. Likewise, some educators shared that they love scented candles, and others said that scented candles trigger migraines. But one thing that most teachers agreed upon: They don’t want any more mugs! They have so many that mugs have become the bud of jokes. Hannah Hudson from We Are Teachers jokingly came up with suggestions for teachers to use their extra mugs, and some of them are actually fantastic.
One of Hudson’s ideas has the same vibe as an ugly sweater contest but with mugs. Teachers bring their favorite - or most unique - mug and a Starbucks gift card. The mug owner that gets the most votes wins all of the gift cards. Parent-teacher organizations and principals can turn this into a fun educator appreciation event, and brands can reserve or rent a room at a restaurant and turn it into a dinner, drinks, and mug event.
Mugs aside, if you want a safe bet when it comes to choosing a gift for educators, gift cards are the way to go. Many educators cited Amazon, Starbucks, Michaels, and Dunkin Donuts as go-to gifts that they appreciate. Another safe bet is simply asking educators what they want, getting something from their Amazon wishlist, or donating to their classroom fundraiser, like DonorsChoose. If you choose to make a DonorsChoose contribution, partners of the website will match donations during Teacher Appreciation Week (TAW).
For more help on picking the right gift for your audience, check out our free 2022 Educator Gift Guide. We just finished updating it for this Teacher Appreciation Week. It’s filled with gift ideas for every budget and advice on how to plan ahead. In the guide, you’ll also learn that the most important part of giving something to a teacher isn’t even the gift itself. (Complete the form below and we’ll email you a copy of it.)
Appreciate Teachers Beyond Teacher Appreciation Week
TAW is important, but don’t make it the only day out of the year that you celebrate teachers. For more TAW don’ts, check out our resource 3 Things Brands Should NEVER Do for Teacher Appreciation Week.
Lucky for you, there are so many opportunities outside of TAW to integrate appreciation into your brand’s everyday interactions with educators.
Before delving into our list of key events that brands can use to appreciate teachers year-round, we pulled out a handful of events to show how you can incorporate teacher appreciation into these days. Regardless of which events you choose to celebrate educators, the same thing will remain true: Educators feel appreciated through thoughtful messages, kind words, and intentional gifts.
World Compliment Day: Create a branded compliment notebook for the educators in your life. Add an insert with a note of appreciation and let them know they can fill the rest of the pages with appreciative post-its, emails, and letters from students and parents.
Random Acts of Kindness Day: Do something kind for the educators in your life, and yes - make it random. If you have a close relationship with them, ramp up the random by sending them an anonymous potato - a potato sent anonymously with a message or picture on it. You can make it as serious or absurd as you want, and you can follow it up with a singing telegram, so they know it’s from you. You can also play it safe by surprising educators with flowers, lunch, or a gift card for coffee. If you want to go big, sponsor a classroom or school project. For example, funding a classroom’s worth of Kindness Rock kits would be a perfect treat for teachers and students on Random Acts of Kindness Day.
National Cake Day: Cake is one gift that makes almost every educator happy, and you can mail a surprise mini cake straight to their door (gluten-free is an option). The cake isn’t the only surprise. You can also customize what else comes inside the box, like a spinning music stand that the cake sits on, candy, or butterflies that spring out of the box when you open it.
Be Mindful That Not Every Holiday is Happy
Some U.S. national holidays aren’t always happy for everyone. Mothers’, Fathers’, and Parents’ Days are joyous for many, but they can also be traumatic for some. Many people have lost their parents, have a traumatic relationship with them, or are having a hard time trying to become a parent themselves. If you choose to celebrate educators on these days, be mindful that it’s the right fit for them.
National Superhero Day is another holiday to tread with caution. While highlighting superhero educators, be sensitive not to perpetuate the myth that all educators need to be superheroes to succeed. Keep this day lighthearted and playful.
Also, be careful about how you approach Thanksgiving. It’s a day where many people focus on gratitude, coming together, and eating turkey, but for more and more people, especially indigenous people, it’s a day of mourning.
Celebrate Teachers Year-round
National holidays provide many opportunities to celebrate educators all year long. Download our free 2022 EdTech Marketer's Planner to see our complete list of events.
Jan 1: New Year
Feb 14: Valentine’s Day
Feb 17: Random Acts of Kindness Day
Feb 21: International World Languages Day
March 1: World Compliment Day
March 8: International Women’s Day
March 20: International Day of Happiness
April 28: Superhero Day
April 29: International Dance Day
May 1: World Laughter Day (or try International Joke Day on July 1 or Tell a Joke Day on August 16)
May 8: Mother's Day
June 19: Fathers Day
July 24: Parents’ Day
July 30: International Day of Friendship
September 21: World Gratitude Day
October 7: World Smile Day (Share a Smile Day is March 1)
October 5: World Teachers’ Day
October 31: Halloween
November 13: World Kindness Day
November 24: Thanksgiving
Food-Related Celebrations
Food-related days are what we call the easy jump shot. Celebrate the educators in your life with the specific food the days celebrate. For example, surprise educators with pizza on Pizza Day, and on Donut Day, send them donuts. Bonus if you include their students!
Jan 15: Bagel Day
Jan 19: Popcorn Day
Jan 31: Hot Chocolate Day
Feb 9: Pizza Day
April 2: Peanut Butter and Jelly Day
March 14: “Pi” Day
May 15: Chocolate Chip Day
May 20: Pizza Party Day
May 21: International Tea Day
June 3: Donut Day
July 7: World Chocolate Day
July 17: Ice Cream Day
Aug 4: Chocolate Chip Cookie Day
Oct 1: International Coffee Day
Nov 4: Candy Day
Nov 26: Cake Day
Dec 4: Cookie Day
Dec 15: Cupcake Day
Dec 26: Candy Cane Day
Dec 30: Bacon Day
Subject Matter and Brand-Related Days
And don’t forget topic-specific days that are most directly related to your brand and the specific educators in your audience or community.
Math/Physics/Science/STEM Days
Feb 7: Periodic Table Day
Feb 11: Inventor’s Day
Feb 11: International Day of Women and Girls in Science
Feb 12: Darwin Day
Feb 16: Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day
Feb 19-25: Engineers Week
March 14: Pi Day and International Day of Mathematics
Oct 13: Ada Lovelace Day
Nov 8: STEM/STEAM Day
Dec 5-11: Computer Science Education Week
Dec 22: Mathematics Day
English Days
January 4: World Braille Day
January 23: Handwriting Day
March 4: Grammar Day
March 30: Pencil Day
Sept 8: International Literacy Day
Sept 24: Punctuation Day
Oct 16: Dictionary Day
Oct 20: Day on Writing
Grade-Level Specific Days
Jan 9: Fourth Graders Day
Feb 15: Seventh Graders Day
March 10: Preschooler’s Day
March 21: Teenager Day
April 21: Kindergarten Day
Types of Educators
Feb 5-9: School Counselor Week
April 4-8: Assistant Principal Week
April 16: Librarian Day
April 26: Administrative Professionals Day
May 1: School Principals Day
May 11: School Nurse Day
October 2: Custodian Day
October 6: Coaches Day
Note: All of these dates are for 2022. If you are looking at this post at a later year, the dates may shift slightly.
Host an Educator Appreciation Event
U.S. holidays aren’t only an opportunity to send a thank you note or gift to educators; they’re also an opportunity to host events. World Teachers' Day is in October, for example, and that can be a great time to host an event to honor them. Of course, this idea takes a lot more effort than sending a gift, but hosting an event for educators can be a wonderful way to appreciate them and increase your brand awareness, leading to brand trust. In order to create that trust, your event genuinely has to center educators and not your products or services. Educators smell being sold to from a mile away, and it comes off as insincere. Planning an event for educators can build your brand trust, but there are a few things you need to know to do it right.
Give educators what they want. You don't need a big attraction to draw in educators. Unless you can bring in a big name like Lin-Manuel Miranda, educators don't want to listen to a lecture; they want to talk to each other. And while activities like karaoke or a DJ could be fun, you also want to make sure that there are spaces for educators to talk because that's why they're coming.
Teachers crave adult conversations – especially elementary teachers who are with young kids all day. Educators will leave your event feeling supported by your brand if they go home knowing that they're not alone in their struggles and that however they feel about them are valid. They'll achieve that if they get to talk with other educators.
Provide educators with free food and great discounts. Educators love free food and great teacher discounts. So they'll have a great time if you provide:
A catered meal or appetizers,
An open bar or discounted drinks, and
A space for educators to talk.
Encourage educators to wear jeans. Seriously, on the invite, say, "Jeans encouraged." Teachers can't wear jeans to school. They can only wear them on special days or only if they pay in some schools. It's fun to dress up, but let's face it: Teachers are busy. Teachers are tired. Let them wear jeans, and they'll be happy.
Fit your event around educators’ schedules. Many brands think that May – where Teacher Appreciation Week falls – and summer are great times to schedule educator appreciation events, but they're not. State-wide assessments and end-of-the-school-year preparation in May and June can make attending an event too much for teachers. And the teachers who are most likely to attend your events already have their summers booked months in advance with summer school, professional development, or vacations.
We’re told that October and February are the calmest months for educators and the ideal time to have your events. In October, educators are in their groove after the start of the school year, there are no major holidays to disrupt their workflow, and kids are in a routine. In February, the holidays have settled, and kids haven’t caught spring fever yet. Also, some educators start to feel depressed in February. Spring break feels like it’s forever away, and the weather is cold and dreary. A February event would give educators something to look forward to.
Pick a day that works best for educators. Friday nights shortly after school gets out are ideal for local events. Educators are more likely to come to your event straight from work. If they go home first, they'll likely call it a night. If you're expecting educators to come from out of town, Saturdays work well.
Give teachers notice. Not that kind of notice; they just need plenty of time to calendar-in your event - even if it's in October or February and especially if it's during a school day. For teachers to take a day off, they need to create lesson plans for the days they'll miss, find and sometimes pay for a substitute, and get administrative approval, which isn't always easy.
Also, educators are generally planners. Most teachers have their calendars booked months in advance. If it's a local event, give educators about four to six weeks of lead time to add it to their calendar. If you're planning an overnight event or an event that educators have to travel to, they'll need at least two months' notice. If you're planning a summer event, let educators know four months in advance.
Focus on nourishing educators, not your product. You can demo products or services at your event, but don't make them the focus. Make your event a space where educators can gather, connect, and unwind. If you demo your product or service, have it in a side room or area that doesn't make it the focal point of your event and have it available to give for free. Nothing frustrates educators more than trying out a cool product that they can't afford to buy. Host a giveaway if you can't afford to give away your product or service to every person who attends. Have educators opt-in to win a classroom takeover where you take over a classroom for a day and work with a teacher to center their lesson plan and student learning around your product or service. If you have a physical product similar to a LittleBits code kit or a board game that teaches STEM concepts, make sure that you give enough for the classroom takeover so that all students have access.
Trust word of mouth. Educators trust other educators. If you have brand ambassadors, leverage them. Invite them to your event, get them excited about it, and give them a plus one or more. There is no better way to get educators to go to your event than other educators.
As a brand, whether you host events, give educators gifts, thank yous, or your time, it's essential to elevate, celebrate, and fight for teachers every day. Lily Jones, an education consultant, former teacher, and good friend, best summed up how to make teachers feel valued, "Standing up for teachers consistently is the greatest way to show your appreciation."
