Anonymous Cash Envelopes for Teachers at Christmas...how Much to Put In?

My oldest 3 kids went to catholic school from k-8. each year the Monday after thanksgiving a big box was set up in the principals office. it was for people to put money in for the teachers gifts. all money put into it was divided between however many staff members there were. all teachers / janitors, secretaries, and art / pe music teachers etc. usually each staff member got about $300. they all signed a big sheet of paper with little thank you notes and those were copied and passed out to the students families. We usually put between $20 and $30 in the box. $10 per child. I know the teachers loved it. My youngest son goes to public school. We send bags of homemade candy to his teachers. When he was younger grades we did the gift card for his main teacher and candy for the others. but he is in highschool now and takes candy to those.

Things have changed a LOT since our girls were in school....but I would say that your own family finances should dictate what you do. Are these anonymous cash envelopes something that all of the parents do? If so I would think it would be the gift for the teacher and not expect you to go out and purchase something else. Why not have your child ( children) help you bake cookies or make christmas candy to give to their other teachers...maybe even include the school secretary...the school nurse?
If you are struggling with the amount of money to put in this envelope...I would say to put whatever you would have been spending on a gift for the teacher.
I would also think that it would be really appreciated if you wrote a special note to the teacher (teachers) thanking them for the time and effort and the LOVE that they put into teaching the boys and girls. Things like that really make it seem like all of their work is worthwhile. My husband taught for a few years after he retired from the military and it was always so nice for him to know that he had touched someone in a positive way.

If the teacher salary is anything like over here and you like the teacher, she/he could probably use an additional $20,000 tacked on to her salary and would be elated to have it gifted to her. However, do what ever is in your heart and more importantly within your budget.

Cash? Really?

I usually do $10-20 gift cards to Subway/Pizza Hut/etc for the teacher. For the specials, if I really know them, I do a gift card, if not, I just have my son write a Christmas card.

Teachers often spend their own money on school supplies for their classrooms. I provide Walmart or Target or Michael's or ACMoore gift cards in whatever amount my budget can accomodate. But, I do it personally, not anonymously, so it counts as a present and they know that I was thinking about them and appreciating what they do for the children. As always, YMMV.

The whole point of the anonymous cash envelopes is to replace the individual gifts. This is better for the parents (each can put in what is affordable and no one knows), and it's better for the teacher. In my years of teaching, I received scores of little trinkets, and while they were well thought out, I had to choose between displaying them in class (making the non-gift-affording kids feel embarrassed) or finding a spot for them at home (collecting dust or making their way into the yard sale stock).

The room parents should circulate an envelope with every family's name on the outside. Once a family has seen the envelope, they cross of their name. What they put in it was up to them. $1, $5, $10, $20 - whatever they can afford. It's anonymous and should remain so. Buying a separate gift defeats the purpose, and puts the teacher back in the situation I was in - too much to display, and the kids who didn't give an extra gift feel terrible. Don't do it - please resist the urge. Try to imagine a teacher with 20 kids per class with over 10 years of teaching: 200 gifts at Christmas, 200 more for end-of-year gifts??? Really? And I could only eat so much chocolate or homemade cookies. I appreciated the gesture but after a while it was clear that the parents felt obligated or stretched their budgets, and that took all my pleasure out of it.

I think each class should decide to peel off a little money for the music, art and phys ed teachers (why should they be left out?). Or, the room parents for the whole school can coordinate to put aside something into one large school-wide gift for each of those specialists.

This is an envelope that all the parents put money in, right?

Then that's the gift. And you put in what you can and what you wish. That's the good thing about such envelopes. Christmas-wish-wise, the dollar bill from one family has as much value as the twenty-dollar bill that's put in by another. You know your budget.

My daughter is a teacher - and while she values all the little gifts from her students and their families, she doesn't always know what to do with them later. One thing she always likes, though, is appreciation. A note card or Christmas card with some handwritten words of thanks is always welcome.

I don't fully understand, but taking a guess at what's happening - NOTHING.
Purchase your own gift.