Your Kids' Teachers Really, Really Just Want Gift Cards as Teacher Gifts

We all know that teachers deserve the best, because they work hard all day helping to mold our kids into the people they will become. So, when it's time to show some end-of-the-year teacher appreciation, you want to make sure the teachers in your life feel treasured. The only question is: How?

We surveyed more than 40 teachers to find out what they actually want as a teacher gift. Our respondents were both current and former educators who live spread out across the country and teach at different grade levels. We promised we'd keep their anonymity so they could tell us how they really feel about those end-of-year trinkets. And you know what? They did, in no uncertain terms.

After combing through our pool of responses, these are the best teacher gifts to give in 2023, according to actual teachers. Though their schools, locations, subjects and experiences may be different, they agreed on one thing: Gift cards make the best teacher gifts. They really do want them, and the more versatile the cards are (Amazon, Target and Visa were the most requested), the better.

But we know parents don't always feel comfortable giving gift cards, or like to give small tokens of appreciation with a gift card, and our teacher panel came ready with suggestions. Something else almost all of them shared: They really do believe that it's the thought that counts, and notes, handwritten letters, handmade items or home-baked goodies were really valued.

Another response that came up over and over: It helps to get to know your teacher and their preferences personally. For every educator that said they loved candy, there was another who said if they didn't see another Godiva box, it would be too soon. (Food, coffee, mugs, candles and wine were the most divisive, showing up on both the "most wanted" and "least wanted" lists. so check their preferences first.) Teachers warned to steer clear of anything that really requires you to know their personal taste, like jewelry or fragrances, and they also agreed that they'd rather get something personalized with their names on it than something with an apple that just says "teacher."

With all that in mind, these are the gifts that our panel of teachers said are most likely to make educators very happy.