<p>What have some of you experienced folks done as far as thanking Guidance Counselors and Teachers who have gone the extra mile by really helping and / or writing wonderful recommendations for your kids? Obviously, my son will be writing Thank Yous... but are gifts in order (if he/we feel moved to do so)...AMEX Gift Certificates... how much? (I was thinking between $25-$50)</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any suggestions :-)</p>
<p>Lisa</p>
<p>We actually did some year end good-bye gifts to teachers and made the ones for the letter writers more special and more personal.</p>
<p>I have never given anything but token material gifts such as a small floral arrangement. The main gift that I have given is a well documented thank-you note, providing specifics about the GC or teacher's help. I gave a copy to the teacher/GC and to the principal so it can go into the teacher/GC's personnel file.</p>
<p>When I was a college prof, I wrote lots of recommendation letters. I never wanted nor expected any kind of material gift. In fact, I felt embarassed if students gave me something like that. My best "gift" was a written note of appreciation as well as a follow-up by the student letting me know about their experiences at the opportunity that my recommendation had helped them get.</p>
<p>I've always liked the idea--mentioned by someone else a while ago--of giving a coffee mug with the logo of your student's matriculation choice along with a thank-you letter.</p>
<p>We plan to give them a batch of our world famous (OK-town famous) brownies.</p>
<p>We did holiday baskets with my home-make jams and preserves for the GC, the Guidance Secretary, and all the teachers that gave recommendations. My son also sent thank-you notes separately to the teachers. When ds's first choice school came through, I sent the GC flowers as well - after a rough start, she really came through for us.</p>
<p>Last year, some parent mentioned giving a charitable contribution in the teacher's name - could be very appropriate this year.</p>
<p>Ohio_mom... I like your ideas... my hubby & I were discussing this over dinner and decided a gift certificate was really inappropriate - almost coming off like a payoff. I love the idea of food gifts (I love gifts that don't add clutter to people's lives - teachers usually get TONS of knick-knack type things - goodness knows what they do with the stuff, year after year!) and charitable contributions in their names is a wonderful idea too!!!! </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
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<blockquote> <p>I've always liked the idea--mentioned by someone else a while ago--of giving a coffee mug with the logo of your student's matriculation choice along with a thank-you letter.<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>That came from us. And also the mugs were filled with Hershey's Kisses. Plus, the need to know which mugs to buy was a useful device back in May to prod D into making up her mind on which college to choose.</p>
<p>I like the idea of a food basket/tray along with a charitable contribution. Actually, I did that one year for one of my son's teachers who went beyond the call of duty and he called me to thank me. I really could hear the surprise and genuine appreciation in his voice (I think for him this was the ultimate compliment and it really made him feel good).</p>
<p>My son's teachers seemed genuinely pleased with a simple thank you card, hand written by him. It is, however, an all-boys school and gift giving is not common...</p>
<p>oh, i'm sure they'd be pleased with a hand-written thank you note (which they will recieve)... it's just we feel we'd like to do something a little more... especially for the GC & one particular teacher (so far) because they've REALLY been WONDERFUL!</p>
<p>all nice ideas - we thought about giving a gift, lord knows we were extremely grateful and pleased with what must have been a glowing and effective GC rec for our difficult S. However, we made sure S wrote a thankyou note and we followed Northstar mom's procedure: wrote a very nice thank you note ourselves and copied the principal. :)<br>
A monetary or valuable gift could have been just a touch awkward - don't want to create the appearance of a payoff.</p>
<p>I think the best thing you can do is to keep in touch with those teachers in an occasional e-mail, maybe a visit when you are home for Christmas or something (college Christmas breaks are usually longer than high school, so you can probably drop by the high school) to let them know how you're doing in school.</p>
<p>Well, here's a question: WHEN should you send a thank you note or gift to people who write recommendations? Do you do it right after all of the recommendations have been sent out and it's fresh in the recommenders mind? After the acceptances have come rolling in? Or maybe something at both times?</p>
<p>Hmmm Carolyn, I was thinking about this as well... My decision is to do it right after the letter has been written- before applications have even been sent out. That way, the letter or gift of thanks is FOR the ACTUAL ACT of WRITING the letter, NOT for what the student may, or may not receive due, in part, to the letter.</p>
<p>Carolyn and lelaellen:
I tend to lean toward the latter. For one thing, teachers know they will be asked to write recommendations....it comes with the territory. I also think they're interested in knowing how it all worked out in the end.</p>
<p>If the teacher has an mp3 player, how about a gift certificate for itunes or some other music service? It's cool and unusual--and $20 goes a long way.</p>