I love many teachers and many of them are also close friends. A reader reached out and asked for teacher gift ideas and I was happy to share. I am passionate about doing my best to bless teachers.

I’m always quizzing my teacher friends about what they want… and what they don’t want. Bottom line… they love gift cards and useful things! You can still be creative and make it pretty, but practical is the way to go. Teachers don’t need another coffee mug or clever sign. I know many also would rather not receive home-baked items for a number of reasons. With all that in mind… here are my go-to teacher gifts.

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Fancy Markers and Pens

Teachers have a deep appreciation for good pens and markers. This is an affordable, functional gift any time of year! I like to give these pens and these markers. A fresh package full of fun colors is such a treat.

A Little Chocolate and a Gift Card

Gift cards paired with chocolate are another one of my go-to gifts. I love these little boxes of caramels from Trader Joe’s with a convenient slot for the gift card.

My other favorite I’ve given dozens of times over the years is a bag of Ghiradelli chocolate caramel squares. This is my favorite variety, but there are so many to choose from. I use a hole puncher to put two holes at the top of the bag, then thread ribbon through and tie a bow. You can give as-is or step it up by adding a gift card to Starbucks or Amazon. I like to use glue dots to attach them.

Personalized Notepad

The next idea came from a wise teacher friend of mine. These notepads come in sets of 8. You can put a different name on each one and give them to all the teachers on your list! This is a lovely gift and it comes out to under $4 per notepad. I like to wrap them in a cello bag and you can easily add a gift card to the mix if you like.

Money Tree

I did this several years ago for a class gift to our preschool teacher. Everyone donated money and we presented it as a money tree. You can find tiny live Christmas trees this time of year just about anywhere, or use one like this so it will last forever. I thought this little flocked tree was darling. Simply tie paper money with twine or ribbon all over the tree. Who wouldn’t love this?! I used dollar bills I had on hand for this example but of course you could go bigger… especially if it’s a group gift.