The holiday season is nearly upon us and with it comes the usual flurry of parties, tree decorating, tradition reliving, and gift-giving. Before you get stressed and start researching ways to avoid it all, I want to invite you to take a look at our gift guide. It just might be the perfect solution to all of your holiday stress—at least the gift-giving portion of it.
Although gifts by themselves aren’t what the holiday season is all about, giving and receiving them is a great way to practice generosity and reflect on the real reason for the season—the gift that we’ve all been given through the birth of Jesus Christ.
In this gift guide, you’ll find all kinds of ideas tailored to teachers. You can use it to find the perfect gift for the teachers in your life, or, if you’re a teacher yourself, you can send this list to the loved ones in your life as a helpful hint of items that you’d like to find under the tree on Christmas morning.
A word to the wise, stay away from colognes and gym memberships—they send the wrong message.
Give the Gift of Education
Another great gift to give to your friends this holiday season is the gift of investing in their futures. If you know that your friend is thinking about returning to school for additional education, refer them to Concordia for one of our degree programs. You refer them, we reach out and take care of the rest. It’s that simple.
1. Classroom Books
Every teacher can always use more books. Get a wish list from your teacher friend and knock a few off the list. You can also check out this post for more recommendations on how educators can build their classroom libraries on a budget.
2. A Shared Meal
A shared meal goes a long way. If you aren’t able to lunch together, use an app like GrubHub, Postmates, and Uber Eats to get a treat delivered to your favorite teacher.
3. Supplies They’d Never Buy
If your teacher friends keep mentioning running low on tissues or are constantly restocking the classroom crayons on their own dime, stockpile some supplies for them.
4. Words that Count
Send a handwritten note in the mail. Sometimes words mean more than any other kind of gift and they come at a time of the year when an uplifting message is most needed!
5. Easy Dinners for Busy Nights
Teachers have a lot going on. Aside from long, exhausting days, many of them are also bogged down with paper grading and lesson planning at night. Something like a HelloFresh subscription provides easy meal options for busy nights when the family can’t take another pizza delivery.
6. Local Entertainment
The holiday season is always a great time to support the local arts scene, and it’s also a great way to spend time together with your teacher friend. Snag a few tickets to a production of the Nutcracker, sign up for an art crawl, or make plans to attend your local symphony’s Christmas production. Your gift is taking care of the details (and cost!).
7. An Apple…
…Watch, phone, iPad. Out with the old apples and in with the new! Pool cash with a few friends and show your teacher friends just how much you appreciate their hard work with a gift that’ll speak for itself.
8. Strong Coffee
Caffeine is a gift that never goes out of style. This can come in the form of a gift card to a local coffee shop, a bag of beans in the mail, or a personal latte delivery on a particularly taxing day. If you’re buying online, a few of our favorites are Blue Bottle and Counter Culture. . If you have a friend who already drinks too much coffee, opt for a tea subscription. A few to check out include Simple Loose Leaf and Amoda.
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