Hi, guys. Welcome back to my channel. In today's video, I'm going to be sharing with you what
teachers really want to receive as gifts and, also, what they really do not want to receive
as gifts.
Basically, the other day, it came up in conversation what we should buy our kids' teachers, so
I turned to Instagram and I put it on my Instagram stories and said, "If there's any teachers
out there that follow me, you know, what do you really want to receive as gifts, uh, for
Christmas or at the end of term? What is it that you want?" and, oh, my gosh, I could
not believe the hundreds and hundreds of messages that I received.
I have about 70,000 followers on Instagram, but there were so many teachers, so I started
to keep a log of what everyone said, and then I noticed that pretty much all of the teachers
were saying similar things, so I thought this would make a really good video, so I have
five things they do like and five things they really don't like, and I am guilty of buying
all the things that they don't like, so, anyway, I will just get into the video.
I wanted to start off by saying that almost every single message that I received started
out with, "We don't expect to get presents, but, if you're going to get us a present,
maybe these things." All the teachers don't expect to get gifts, so you don't have to
buy them a present, but if you do want to get them a present, the number one thing that
they really like to receive, which actually really surprised me, and it's also free, is
a message of gratitude or thanks, so just a card from either a pupil or a parent just
saying how thankful you are to them, how much your child's come on, any memories they have
from throughout the year, it might be a memory from a pupil in class, goes a really long
way.
They said that sometimes it can be quite a thankless job and there's lots of pressures
on them as teachers, so just to be told that you're doing a great job means the world to
them, so I was like, wow, that's something that everyone can do, and that's the number
one thing that was coming across from teachers. They hold on to them. They will save those
messages, and they said, especially at secondary school level, if a pupil was to write a card
to a teacher saying about their favorite memory from throughout the year or something like
that, then that really does mean a lot.
The second thing that teachers really do want to receive is a class collection of vouchers,
so this is when all the parents of pupils in the class put in some money and then that
lump of money goes to vouchers, so some of the popular places was Amazon or shopping
centers or restaurants or, in the UK, they like John Lewis vouchers, but, yeah, they
said... or Starbucks in the US as well. They really like getting coffee vouchers.
See, a lot of teachers said even if it's just one pound per child, that is 30 pounds that
they can have. It's not the highest-paid job, so they really do appreciate vouchers and
getting some money and then they can go and buy something themselves, choose something
that they like.
Those top two of kind words and vouchers were pretty much what every single teachers said
in the messages. These next three ones were a bit more split, but number three was alcohol,
so wine or Prosecco. It was about an 80-20 split. 80% of people really like receiving
this because, even if they didn't want to drink all the wine, they could use them to
re-gift around the holidays.
I feel like, in the UK, teachers were more excited about the wine than in the US. In
the US, they were more excited about coffee, so that was really interesting, but, yeah,
pretty much just know who you're buying for. If you have a teacher that is teetotal, like
nondrinker, obviously don't get them wine.
At number four, it was chocolate, and this was a bit more split again. Some teachers
love receiving chocolate at the end of the year or especially around the holidays, but
then some teachers felt that they got too much chocolate, so, again, know who you're
buying for.
The fifth most popular gift in all the messages that I received was school supplies or stationary.
Now, I had no idea, but in the US, Canada and Australia, the responsibility of school
supplies actually falls on the teacher themselves, so they have to buy all these stuff. That
just seems crazy to me because I'm pretty sure, in the UK, the school gives them the
supplies, but, yeah, a lot of teachers really do appreciate getting stationary or picture
books or books for class or glue, like literally all of the supplies. They really like getting
those.
Now on to the top five gifts that teachers really don't want to receive, and as I mentioned,
I'm guilty of buying pretty much all of these things for my kids' teachers, so the number
one thing that teachers do not want is mugs. Apparently, they get so many coffee mugs.
There were a few teachers that said they don't mind travel mugs, but they don't want mugs
and they don't want key chains or pretty much anything that says, "Best teacher," on it,
so, yes, steer clear from all of that stuff. They said it just clutters up their house,
they end up donating mugs, so just don't buy the coffee mugs.
The second thing that they don't want is plants or flowers. Lots of teachers said, "Imagine
receiving flowers times 30," and they're going to die or you've got to look after them, so
it was a no-no to the plants.
The third thing that teachers don't want is homemade food. There was only one person that
said that they appreciate receiving homemade food. Lots of others said, "We don't know
what conditions this food has been made in. We don't know where it's been. We don't want
to eat it," so save yourself the effort and don't make the homemade food.
The fourth thing teachers don't really want to receive is bath supplies, perfume or, for
male teachers, aftershave and things like that. A lot of them felt that it was too personal.
Candles were much more well-received, or spa vouchers, and the fifth thing they don't really
want is jewelry, makeup or clothes. They just felt that, again, this was too personal. They
would much prefer a voucher and to go and choose something themselves.
Those are the top five things that teachers do and don't want from the hundreds of messages
that I received. Once I was actually reading them, I was like this is such common sense.
A lot of them said, "Just know who you're buying for." Don't get someone wine if they
don't drink or, if someone just had a baby or a wedding, maybe consider buying them something
for that, and a lot of them said, "If you don't want it in your house, then we don't
want it in ours." A lot of them just don't want clutter, but, yeah, you're pretty safe
if you get them a heartfelt message in a card with a voucher inside it.
Yeah, I hope you enjoyed this video. I had so much fun reading all the messages. I could
not believe as well some of the gifts that the teachers in the United Arab Emirates receive.
There were teachers that have received phones or cars. It's another level over there, but,
yeah, let me know what you think in the comments below and, if you're a teacher, of course,
feel free to add what you want to get as a gift in the comments as well, and, yeah, thank
you so much for watching and I'll see you in my next one.
Bye, guys.