Gift Ideas For Teacher Appreciation Week: Here's To The Ones Who Paved The Way!

Teachers are underappreciated and deserve some special things for the classroom and themselves, so let’s get to it!

In the first week of May, Teacher Appreciation Week is held as a national holiday and celebrated all over the country. It’s a way to make sure that every educator we have knows how much we value them, from the ones who take care of our little ones, to those who are guiding young adults to be their best selves, and all in between. This holiday serves as a way to give the teacher extra credit, so they know we respect their efforts that a lot of the time get overlooked.

So now that you know what the holiday is, let’s dive into some gift ideas for Teacher Appreciation Week! We have a variety of products that will definitely be a major help both in the classroom and out.

Speaking of gifts, one of the best ways to purchase and send gift cards, especially to a very busy teacher, is through GiftYa! GiftYa is a digital “warehouse” that’s full of gift cards to many locations all over the country like well known retailers, restaurants, online shops, local favorites, and more. It’s all online too, so you can go onto the website, search the place you’d like a gift card from, purchase it, and send it via email or text to your favorite teacher. It can be done in minutes, it’s that easy!

Check out what locations GiftYa has and get your very first GiftYa gift card here!

1. Dunkin

Your daily dose of coffee could use a sweet treat alongside it don’t you think?

Buy A Dunkin’ Gift Card

One of those universal things that’s not really acknowledged is the perfect combo of a cup of tea and/or coffee with a teacher. A lot of teachers will have a warm cup before they get started with their day- or even during their day as a way to keep the energy up as they go on teaching. So what better than to go somewhere on your way to work that has a variety of drinks and sweet treats to give you a boost before the day begins. That’s right. It’s Dunkin Donuts aka Dunkin’! Dunkin’ is one of the most popular fast casual spots that’s known for their morning meals.

On the menu you can expect items including but not limited to their Cold Brew, Iced Americano, Espresso, Tea, Hot Chocolate, Chai Latte, Sourdough Breakfast Sandwich, bagels, muffins, and donuts of course! With a Dunkin’ gift card you can treat yourself and the whole staff with someone special, they deserve it!

You can Purchase a GiftYa Gift Card to Dunkin’ here!

2. School Supplies

A go-to gift that every teacher could use, school supplies are essential to the students!

school supplies as a teacher appreciation week gift
Colored pencils, scissors, markers, and more are all a welcome gift in the classroom!

Teachers supply a lot, if not all, of their school supplies for their classrooms every year and that is a lot on them financially. In fact, it’s been heavily documented about how much teachers will spend yearly on school supplies for their students. So getting supplies as a gift for Teacher Appreciation Week? That’s gonna be a huge help! Especially when some school supplies might break or get worn down over the school year. So here’s a few supplies you can get the teacher in your life:

Lot’s of school supplies, all super helpful as the school year goes on!

3. A Messsage Board

Something for both the kids and the teachers to enjoy!

teacher at the front of her classroom
‘Words of affirmation’ is a love language for a reason and it’s a nice thing to see everyday!

If you want to get a little crafty, then this gift idea might just be the pick for you! You can get a Cork Board Bulletin Board for the classroom and make it a “Words of Affirmation” or “Self Care” board where the teacher can leave a new message every morning for the students to read and a place where students can leave messages for their teacher at the end of the day for them to read.

You can cut out letters and title the board and decorate the sides before you give them the board so it makes the gift a little more special! A low effort gift that can last many more years of teaching.

4. Reusable Water Bottle And Thermos

A useful product for everyone to have, but for teachers it’s gonna change the game!

holding a water bottle
Always good to have water on hand as you run around the school everyday!

One of the more important things to do while you’re taking on the day, using your voice a lot as you give lessons is staying hydrated! And the best way to make sure you stay hydrated throughout the day is to have a water bottle with you at all times. You can get one that’s a cool color, has your favorite piece of fictional media on it, and/or markers on the side to make sure you drink your “water goal” for today.

Some of the fun ones we found are:

Another product that’s good to have, especially if you’re a chef at home and wanna bring something to keep warm like soup for lunch, is a good quality thermos! Having a good quality thermos can keep meals and your coffee warm all throughout the day so you don’t have to worry about anything going cold.

  • This THERMOS is all about keeping your food hot for lunch. It’s a 16oz thermos that comes in simple colors and has its own retractable spoon!
  • And this THERMOS is the one you’re gonna want for coffee or tea.

Candy, Chocolate, & Snacks

There’s a lot of hard work ahead, so why not have treats both for the teacher and the student?

saltry, sugary, and sweet snacks
Sweet, salty, or sweet and salty, no matter- it’s all good anyway! Image courtesy of the cherlys website.

This gift idea works for both the teacher and the kids! And it’s just simply…snacks! Every teacher has their own desk where they have a mix of school belongings and personal belongings, so having a drawer where they can grab a snack if they are hungry before and/or after lunch would make the day better, because let’s be honest, snacks can make any day better.

You can also get snacks that are more geared towards the kids and then some for the adults, or a mix of both! There are subscription services that specialize in different kinds of snacks like SnackBOX and SnackMagic, or you can go to your local grocery/general store and pick out what you think they might like!

A Hand Written Note (And Maybe One To Their Boss)

Sometimes the best gifts are as simple as a handwritten card!

thank you note for teacher apprecaition week
You can add a little flower with your thank you note to spice it up if you’d like!

So this one might require a little bit of research, but the smile that’ll light up your teacher’s face when they read it will be so worth the effort.

Every teacher loves hearing how well they are doing at their job. Teachers are passionate about what they do and it’s all for the kids. They teach to help future generations grow into good people, so hearing back from their students on how they’ve impacted their life? Nothing quite like it.

Grab some card stock or a simple piece of printer paper and write down a thank you, be specific, and talk about how they’ve helped you grow as a student. Whatever you think they’d treasure, be sure to add that.

And if you think they would appreciate a letter being written to the principal on how great they are as teachers- you can double up! That way the teacher will know how much their effort is being noticed not just by their students but by their boss as well.

A Heated Blanket

When the school year starts, the weather starts to change, so if you run cold, a heated blanket is your friend!

teacher curling up with a book after a long day of work
Come home, turn on your blanket, grab your favorite book, and get cozy!

The school year typically starts towards the end of summer/at the beginning of fall, and that means colder temperatures are on the horizon. Coming home after school hours when it’s cold isn’t fun or being in the classroom that’s kept way too cold isn’t a treat either, so what do we do about it? A heated blanket of course! Heated blankets are great to have, you can adjust the temperature, tuck yourself in, and enjoy relaxing after a long day of teaching. There are a lot of Heated Blanket options out there, some on the thicker side, and some that are thin but still retain heat, whatever you choose, it’s gonna be a great gift!

Hand Sanitizer And Lotion

Schools are known to have germs spread like wildfire, so having something to combat them is very useful!

teacher using hand sanitizer
Get a bottle for the class and get a bottle for the teacher, they should have their own too!

Pencils, books, paper, markers, and highlighters are all class room staples, and on top of that list is hand sanitizer. Hand Sanitizer is crucial for a classroom to have because germs tend to spread a lot more when you have 20 to 30 kids all in class coming and going from different environments. Allergies and the pesky bug that goes around during winter time can be minimized with hand washing and hand sanitizer.

So having a few bottles throughout the class room and one on the teachers desk would be super beneficial to hopefully help lessen those sneezes all around the room.

And having a good quality bottle of lotion for the teacher to have at their desk is just icing on top of the cake! They see a lot of students and interact with a lot of people per day, so it’s safe to say that dry hands are par for the course, meaning a gift like hydrating lotion would be a great addition to the desk drawer.

  • The Germ-X Original Hand Sanitizer comes in a pack of 12!
  • And you can find nice smelling, quality lotion at Bath & BodyWorks. They have a ton of options so don’t be afraid to ask what your teacher likes and go from there.

Blue Apron Subscription

Cooking after a long day dealing with a bunch of people can be…not fun. So why not have the food come to you?

Email A Blue Apron Gift Card

If you are a frequenter of podcasts or Youtube videos, you might see Blue Apron ads every now and then describing how they are a meal-kit delivery service focused on making cooking good quality food accessible for everyone. They’ve been named “Best Overall Meal Delivery Service” by Good Housekeeping this year and have shipped over 465 million meals!

Almost all of their ingredients come straight from the producer so you know that if you stick with Blue Apron you’re going to get good quality stuff. Plus, because the life of a teacher is so busy, the schedule can be modified at any time. Blue Apron makes the future of cooking at home easier.

You can Purchase a GiftYa Gift Card to Blue Apron here!

Custom Visa Gift Card

Whatever the teacher wants, they can get a gift card you can use anywhere!

Buy A Custom Visa Gift Card

There’s a lot of things that teachers can use, they are often running out of supplies, or need something new they didn’t know they needed to have earlier in the year, so why not give them the money to buy it? That way instead of taking money out of their own account, they can use your gift which is a Custom Visa Gift Card from Gift Card Granny!

With a Visa Gift Card, you can use it at almost any store in the country, so there’s not a lot of limits with this kind of gift card. You can select an amount from as little as $10 to as big as $500! And if you want this gift to have a personal twist to it, you can add a picture and message to the card saying how much you appreciate the work they do for you.

This custom card can be bought and sent to you as a plastic card via mail or as an eGift so it’s all done online.

You can Purchase a Custom Visa Gift Card from Gift Card Granny here!

Teacher Appreciation Week is almost here, but even if it’s already past, there’s always time to appreciate your teachers. These gifts can work any time of the year and are sure to be a major help in future classrooms.

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Trae Bodge

Trae Bodge is the shopping expert here at GiftYa. Trae helps people find the best deals and ideas on popular new items to purchase.

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