<p>I think gift cards seem kind of tacky too. My D wrote notes to each and we have a bakery in town that makes these gorgeous decorated cupcakes so each got a cupcake in a little box. I have friends who are teachers and many are wary of food made by students so we purchased a bakery item. We waited until she had decided on a school so she could include that in her note.</p>
<p>As a former teacher, I can honestly say that we loved getting gift cards and didn’t think they were tacky at all. Our salaries were (are) modest and a gift card is a nice way for a teacher to splurge a bit for him/herself or a member of the family. With that in mind, when S13 graduated, we did give Visa giftcards to the teachers and counselor who wrote the recommendation letters. They were appreciated.</p>
<p>The best gift, though, is a handwritten note of appreciation from a student. Please don’t give Jean Nate perfume! 
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<p>My husband is a teacher. He definitely appreciates handwritten thank you cards. While he certainly doesn’t expect gift cards, he considers them an unexpected, pleasant (and not tacky) surprise. As Felicita mentioned, teacher salaries can be modest. Our S gave thank you cards with Barnes and Noble gift cards to some teachers. For one teacher, he chose a book he thought she would like, as they have similar interests. For his engineering teacher, he built him something pretty cool that he knew he wanted. His teacher really loved it. For a couple of teachers that he liked but wasn’t as close to, he wrote cards sans gifts. </p>
<p>My teacher friends can get overwhelmed with many gifts of sweets. While I liked getting some overflow, I learned to give gift cards, unless son had something special in mind for someone. Son’s GC got everything for him ready and delivered in 2 days, so she also merited a Levenger pen. I have everlasting good feelings for the 2 teachers and the GC for writing their LORs in one day. </p>
<p>Definitely wrote thank you notes and included a gift card after apps turned in (thanks yous were sent around Christmas when we knew all their letters were turned in). Also sent them follow up emails (if he didn’t have them for a current class) when he chose his college - letting them know of choice and thanking them again. They loved being kept up to date on where the kids go by the kids themselves.
Also got GC a gift when all their work was done.</p>
<p>Bumping this to ask questions for this year’s applications:</p>
<p>Since my son is homeschooled/part time community college, he doesn’t see his recommenders at school.</p>
<p>So far, he’s had two people upload recommendations for this year-- his Spring, 2014, Physics teacher at the community college and his boss (the director of the play that my son played music for) from his summer job. He has two more people who will write letters; one is another CC teacher he doesn’t see anymore. The other is a teacher he had at our co-op for three years but who lives out of state.</p>
<p>Should he get everyone’s mailing address and send them hand written cards? I like gift card ideas, too, but is it appropriate to get college teacher’s home addresses? Would it be better if he can just find them on campus and hand deliver a card? How soon should these be done? He can mail his co-op teacher a thank you, but what about his boss? Do you think it’s ok to get his address? My son has worked for him twice, so they are comfortable with each other, but he’s never been to his house or anything. You think it’s ok to get his address?</p>
<p>Appreciate the advice if anyone has any.</p>
<p>My older DS simply sent nice thank you notes via email using the same email address used to invite teachers in the common app. Actual hard gifts, we did not do. Seemed to be fine since those same teachers happily wrote recs for the younger DS a year later. If you already have their home address, then use it, but I see no need to get their home address specifically to send a thank you for writing a rec. The key, I think, is that you actually say thank you, not how. </p>
<p>Another gift that can be good is a little piece of swag from the college the kid chooses–like a little pennant sticker or something like that. I have seem some teachers collect and display these.</p>
<p>I had planned to just have him email asap (like today since they both submitted yesterday), but then I saw people talking about hand written notes. Thanks for the reassurance that email’s ok. I do have the address of his co-op teacher, so he can send her a thank you via snail mail.</p>
<p>Hunt, that’s a great idea! I never had my oldest do that, but that would have been really fun for his recommenders to get a little trinket of appreciation from the chosen college. </p>
<p>My kids dropped off thank-you notes with personalized gift cards soon after the teachers agreed to write them. The gift cards are always a big hit.
Our GC is the only one who states not to bring her a note or card. She says she gets paid for that so, focus on the teachers who use their family time in the evenings.</p>
<p>In my personal opinion, thank you notes are mandatory but gifts should not be given – smacks too much of a quid pro quo. Gift cards are especially troublesome because they are cash equivalents. If I ruled the world, I would require teachers to return gift cards and most other gifts that they receive as a “thank you” for writing recommendations. </p>
<p>For now, he emailed a thanks to his employer (who is <em>so</em> supportive and kind) and we can decide this evening if he’ll email the college prof or try to get a card to him on campus. </p>
<p>sbjdorlo, don’t worry about the timing too much. At our school lots of kids wait until after acceptances come in and some wait until graduation. My last grad said thank you to recommenders with a little note and nice chocolate during admissions season, and then at graduation she gave a thoughtful thank you card with a book she had specially chosen for favorite teachers, coaches, recommenders and the college counselor. I don’t think gift cards are tacky but D wanted to choose books individually for all ten of them. This turned out to be more time consuming and expensive than I expected, choosing and ordering books, wondering if they were right, changing her mind, deciding to add more gourmet chocolate to the gifts - wrapping and delivering everything! With D4 next June it’s going to be gift cards or college memorabilia (brilliant idea) for sure! But the expression of thanks is what means the most…one recommender wrote a thank you to D, saying the card made her ‘weepy’. They can get very invested in our kids, and it’s really nice to acknowledge all that teachers do…</p>