Best gifts for teachers: Pressies they’ll actually want to receive
A good teacher is worth their weight in gold, so why not put a smile on their faces with one of our selection of the best gifts for teachers
With the end of term fast approaching, you’re probably starting to think about how you can thank the teachers who have looked out for and educated your offspring through the year. Teachers certainly don’t expect gifts from parents, but we know that a thoughtful pressie is always appreciated – and you might also think it’s well deserved!
Since every teacher is different, we’ve put together a wide-ranging list of items that will hopefully suit every personality. Covering a range of budgets – starting from under £10 and including some higher-value items – we have items that could be given from individuals or those that would make ideal “class” gifts.
So take the stress out of choosing an appropriate gift for a teacher with our useful guide.
We’ve sub-divided the collection below into different sections, so you can easily find the right gift for your children’s teacher. And there’s also a brief buying guide to help answer any questions you might have.
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Best gifts for teachers: At a glance
- Best for gin lovers: Bathtub Gin Gift Pack with Enamel Mug | £35
- Best for a young child’s gift: Ryman Personalised Thank You Teacher Tote Bag | £13
- Best gadget: Chipolo ONE Spot | £25
- Best for a chilly classroom: Stoov Big Hug XL | £140
- Best for relaxing aromas: Boostology Volcanic Potpourri Essential Oil Diffuser | £53
How to choose the best gifts for your child’s teacher
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to choosing a gift for a teacher. Teachers will be delighted with any gift they receive and the fact that their hard work has been acknowledged and appreciated. Here are a few things to consider:
Price – How much you spend is a personal choice, but you don’t have to spend a fortune to pick up a thoughtful gift; pressies on our list start from as little as £6. If you want to buy a gift from the whole class, you can probably consider some of the more expensive options here, since they’ll break down into small amounts per parent.
The right gift – How do you know what a teacher will like? We’ve tried to include suggestions that we think most people will enjoy, but it’s also worth asking your child (if they’re old enough) for their thoughts and suggestions.
What to avoid – From talking to our teacher friends, the one poor gift that seems to come up time and time again is nasty wine! Unless you’re knowledgeable about wine, we’d recommend avoiding it as a gift.
If you’re buying food, it’s also important to find out what, if any, dietary requirements your child’s teacher has. And it goes without saying that buying alcohol for a teetotal teacher is not a good idea. With that in mind, we’ve included a wide range of gifts in our roundup below, so you’re sure to find something suitable.
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Best food and drink gifts
Good food and drink are always welcome gifts and our choices are a little outside the norm.
1. Bathtub Gin Gift Pack with Enamel Mug: Best for gin lovers
Price: £35 | Buy now from Master of Malt
Gin is one of the most popular spirits on the market and the Bathtub Gin Gift Pack from Ableforth will make a wonderful present for a hardworking teacher to relax with. Beautifully wrapped in brown paper, string and wax, the gin is accompanied by a pretty enamel mug.
We thought the gin had a clean and refreshing taste, with notes of cardamom, cinnamon and orange peel alongside juniper. And the quirky mug that comes with it makes for a fun drinking experience (it’s also great for drinking tea and coffee!).
Key details – Size: 70cl
2. Presca Coffee: Best coffee
Price: £10 | Buy now from Presca
If there’s one thing most teachers will need first thing in the morning, it’s a decent cup of coffee to perk them up for the day ahead. Presca is a climate-positive sportswear brand that also offers these fabulous coffee beans.
The beans are all ethically sourced and roasted in Bristol using a solar-powered roastery. They produce a lovely light roast that’s full of citrus flavours with no hint of bitterness at all. We loved the coffee and thought it was particularly smooth and full of flavour. You could quite easily drink this all day.
Key details – Size: 250g; Type: Coffee beans
3. Villa de Varda Amaretto Liqueur: Best for something different
Price: £29 | Buy now from Independent Wine
If you’re looking for something a little unusual for gifting, this gorgeous amaretto liqueur is an excellent choice. The golden liquid is made in tiny quantities from natural almond skins harvested in the forests of Trentino, Italy, resulting in a very sweet and creamy amaretto.
An extremely smooth and warming liqueur, it has notes of candied peel and a strong marzipan smell. It would certainly be a very evocative drink for Christmas. It’s also beautifully presented in an elegant bottle, with a sensible plastic stopper that makes the bottle easy to seal again.
Key details – Size: 500ml; Alcohol volume: 28%
4. Hawkes Cider: Best eco-friendly choice
Price: £6.45 (for 4) | Buy now from Brewdog
London-based cidery Hawkes is on a mission to stop the waste of apples, using wonky and surplus fruit to make delicious ciders. Working alongside the Orchard Project, which aims to create community-run urban orchards, Hawkes saved over 130,000 apples from going to waste in 2021. The company’s cans are also recyclable, making the cider an excellent eco-friendly choice.
We tried the brand’s three core ciders – Urban Orchard, Dead & Berried and Pineapple Punch. All were delicious, although we particularly enjoyed the latter, with the sharpness of the apples moderating the sweetness of the pineapple. Note that this isn’t a gassy cider, and all three varieties go extremely well with food, with the Dead & Berried cider being an excellent choice for heavier winter meals.
Key details – Size: 330ml can (4- or 12-pack); Alcohol volume: 4%; Available from: Brewdog Online, selected Sainsbury’s stores
5. Crosstown Doughnuts: Best for vegans
Price: £26 (pack of 6) | Buy now from Crosstown
Crosstown delivers doughnuts, biscuits, chocolate, ice cream and various other gifts across the UK, with a huge range of mouth-watering treats on offer. And you can make up various gift boxes to suit your recipient.
We were particularly impressed by the vegan doughnuts, which will be a real treat for vegans who wouldn’t usually be able to indulge in more readily available versions. Our vegan testers thought these doughnuts were incredibly light, offering just the right level of sweetness. If you’re buying as a Christmas present, Crosstown also offers a lovely range of festive doughnuts, with several options among these vegan as well. These are really tasty doughnuts, with a selection of flavours that will appeal to everyone.
Key details – Size: Available in boxes of 6 or 12
6. Lindt Festive Selection: Best for chocoholics
Price: £15 | Buy now from Lindt
A box of chocolates is a safe bet when it comes to choosing a present for teachers, but this generously sized selection box from Lindt is sure to make for a very happy recipient.
Lindt’s Festive Selection is a chocoholic’s dream, with 650g of assorted Lindt chocolates and truffles, all with a Christmassy theme. As with all Lindt products, you’re guaranteed high-quality chocolate that isn’t too sickly sweet (although the truffles are very rich!). There’s a huge selection of different chocolate options on offer on the Lindt website, and we also thought that the Christmas Advent calendars were a great high-quality gift, too.
Key details – Size: 650g; Type: Milk chocolate, Lindor truffles
Best personalised gifts
Adding a personal touch to your child’s gift to their teacher really makes it special and unique.
7. Ryman Personalised Thank You Teacher Tote Bag: Best for a young child’s gift
Price: £13 | Buy now from Ryman
This is an ideal gift for younger children to give their favourite teacher, before they get to the age where outward praise is embarrassing! This strong burlap tote bag is durable and large enough for teachers to carry their essential paperwork.
With a fun logo on the front that will appeal to youngsters, you can choose to personalise the bag with up to 20 characters (fingers crossed your child’s favourite teacher doesn’t have too long a surname!). We think this would be a sweet option for a primary school-aged child and, as well as showing a teacher that they’re appreciated, it’s also a practical gift.
Key details – Size: 41 x 48cm
8. Don’t Buy Her Flowers The Book Gift Box: Best personalised gift box
Price: £26 and upwards | Buy now from Don’t Buy Her Flowers
Don’t Buy Her Flowers offers bespoke gift boxes, and with more than 250 products to choose from, you can give a present that’s truly personal. There are a large selection of ready-made, customisable and create-your-own options on the website, making it easy to find a box to suit your child’s favourite teacher.
We particularly liked the Book Gift Box, which includes a book from a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction titles, refreshment (both alcoholic and non), giant chocolate buttons and crisps, delivering everything the recipient may need for a curled-up, cosy night in. You can also add on a Cook Food voucher and extras for babies and children if you want.
The gift box arrives in beautifully presented recyclable packaging and there’s a handwritten note for the extra personal touch.
Key details – Product choice: 250 products; Packaging: Recyclable
9. Emma Bridgewater Personalised Bumblebee Medium Vase: Best decorative gift
Price: £33 + £1 per letter | Buy now from Emma Bridgewater
Emma Bridgewater products have a deservedly good reputation, with the range comprising high-quality items that many people love collecting. Much of the collection can be personalised, making it an excellent choice for a special teacher.
We particularly loved the Bumblebee vase, with its delicate print of bees and a surface with room for up to 36 letters to personalise. All the personalised pottery is decorated by hand, so you can be sure of a truly unique gift. The vase would be perfect for holding flowers at home or could even be used to store pens and pencils in the classroom.
Key details – Size: 15.3 x 10.6cm; Capacity: 800ml; Care: Dishwasher safe, Not microwave safe; Material: English earthenware
10. Vistaprint Personalised Wall Calendar: Best for a personal class gift
Price: From £15 | Buy now from Vistaprint
For organised classes, how about a personalised wall calendar from Vistaprint, which you can fill with photos of the children and activities from the teacher’s class? We know from talking to teachers that a truly personal gift is appreciated, so this would be well worth the effort.
Vistaprint’s calendars are available in four different sizes (A4, double A4, A3, double A3), with a variety of designs and layouts to choose from. The online design studio is incredibly simple to use – it took us around 10 minutes to put together a calendar. You can add lots of extras such as frames, masks and different backgrounds, as well as highlighting special dates throughout the year. The finished result is a high-quality calendar with glossy paper and a unique set of photos.
Key details – Sizes: A4, double A4, A3, double A3; Paper options: Glossy, Premium Glossy
Best for male teachers
Of course, these gifts would be appreciated by female teachers as well. However, men are notoriously difficult to buy for, so we wanted to make some specific suggestions.
11. Chipolo One Spot: Best gadget
Price: £25 | Buy now from Amazon
We’re not saying that all men enjoy a gadget but, if they do, the Chipolo One Spot is an incredibly useful one. Working with Apple’s Find My Network, the Chipolo One Spot will ensure you never again lose your keys, luggage or even your pet. There are also Android versions available.
This clever little device is small, discreet and easy to set up. Once you’ve connected it to the Find My app, you’ll always be able to view on a map the location of an item, with directions of how to get to it. The Chipolo will play to locate an item in your house and can also be set to notify you when a certain something has been left behind. And if the worst happens and you lose your item, you can put the Chipolo into lost mode where it will notify you if someone finds your item, allowing you to send a message so they can contact you.
Key details – Colour: Black; Features: Out-of-range alerts, alert tone, 200ft line-of-sight finding range, water-resistant, battery life of 1 year (replaceable battery)
12. Original Stormtrooper Glass: Best for Star Wars fans
Price: £12 | Buy now from Amazon
If your kids have a teacher who is a Star Wars fan, then this Stormtrooper glass is sure to raise a smile. Based on the original moulds for the Stormtrooper helmets from 1976, this glass has the truly authentic helmet shape.
Holding 150ml of liquid, the glass works particularly well with dark spirits such as rum and whisky, although younger fans might steal it to fill with a night-time glass of milk. The glass is inverted, so that the Stormtrooper’s helmet is on the inside; this is what will fill up with your chosen liquid. It’s a slightly awkward vessel to drink from as a result of its rather wide lip, but the novelty factor for a true Star Wars fan makes it worth the effort!
Key details – Size: 9.5 x 8.5cm; Capacity: 150ml; Use: Cold drinks only
13. Rocketbook Fusion Reusable Notebook: Best for keeping organised
Price: £40 | Buy now from Amazon
You might be wondering how a notebook can cost £40 – but this isn’t just any notebook. With 42 reusable pages, the Rocketbook Fusion allows you to send your handwritten notes to a variety of cloud services via its app (available on both iOS and Android).
The notebook is divided in different page styles comprising planners, dot grids and lined sections. There’s a Pilot Frixion pen included, although you can use any of their pens, markers or highlighters with the notebook – and, when you want to erase notes, you simply wipe clean with the enclosed microfibre cloth. You can scan notes to cloud services such as Google Drive, Slack, iCloud or your email programme, and enable OCR for full text transcription. The Rocketbook Fusion will prove a real time-saver and it’s environmentally friendly to boot.
Key details – Size: A4 or A5; Allowed pens: Pilot Frixion pens, highlighters, markers; Colours: 8 options including Midnight Blue, Beacon Orange and Scarlet Sky
14. Cheatwell Tension Board Game: Best for big kids
Price: £27 | Buy now from Cheatwell
All adults want the chance to act like a big kid from time to time and this fun board game from Cheatwell is a great way to indulge in that side. With a range of questions in the Family edition to suit ages 8 and upwards, this could be a fun choice for teachers with young families.
The game is simple to understand – it’s a race to call out possible answers to subjects such as James Bond films, pizza toppings, Christmas movies or Animals whose name begins with the letter “P”, for example. There are 400 updated categories, so plenty to choose from, but the tension comes from trying to guess the answers that actually match the 10 on the card. It’s a great way to while away a rainy afternoon and keep the whole family.
Key details – Suitable for: 8+; No. of categories: 400
Best for keeping teachers warm
Kids don’t seem to feel the cold, but schools are notoriously drafty and chilly spaces. As such, teachers are bound to appreciate anything that helps them keep warm.
15. Stoov Big Hug XL: Best for a chilly classroom
Price: £140 | Buy now from Stoov
Stoov’s Big Hug would make a wonderful class present, and is an ideal gift for a teacher stuck teaching in a chilly classroom. The Big Hug is a cordless heating pad with two separate heating elements to warm the back and seat, with three different heat settings.
With rising energy costs, this is a brilliant invention that’s battery powered and easily rechargeable. Teachers can use it in their classrooms, use it on their car seat, or even at home in the evenings and weekends – and it can be rolled up and secured for easy transport. We absolutely loved the Big Hug, which also has the added benefit of soothing aches and pains. Any teacher would be absolutely thrilled to receive this (and Stoov also makes a heated cushion, if you want the complete set).
Key details – Size: 135 x 45cm; Colours: Grey (Original), White (Wooley); Heating Levels: 3 levels – 34C / 38C / 42C; Cordless running time: 4hrs (34C), 2.5hrs (38C), 1.5hrs (42C); Use while charging: Yes
Stoov® - Big Hug XL | Original Grey - Heating Pad, Ideal for Your Chair or Sofa, Cordless Ease of Use, Infrared Heating Technology
16. Red Roam Beanie: Best for playground duty
Price: £20 | Buy now from Red Original
Available in teal and mustard colours, this sleek beanie is both warm and eco-conscious, and a great choice for cold playgrounds in winter. Made from 100% recycled polyester, with a soft fleece lining, the beanie is also packaged in a biodegradable bag.
One size fits all, with the beanie easy to pull down over the ears to keep your whole head warm. It may have been crafted with outdoor walkers and hikers in mind, but we think teachers will also be a fan on cold days. It’s a lovely, soft hat and extremely comfortable to wear.
Key details – Colours: Teal, Mustard; Materials: Recycled polyester, fleece
17. Contigo Luxe Autoseal Travel Mug: Best for hot drinks
Price: £25 | Buy now from Amazon
In conjunction with the Red Roam Beanie, Contigo’s elegant thermal mug could also be a godsend on those chilly days out in school playgrounds. Arriving in six elegant colours, the clever design keeps drinks hot for between 3-5 hours, and cold for up to 10 hours in the summer.
We love the fact that you can open and close the thermos with one hand, simply by pressing the autoseal button to drink and releasing it to seal the mug again. Unlike a lot of travel mugs, the Contigo doesn’t leak at all, and its sleek design means it will fit into most cup holders for easy transportation. This is a great design and it’s dishwasher safe, too, meaning it’s easy to keep clean.
Key details – Size: 7.4 x 7.4 x 18.2cm; Capacity: 360ml; Weight: 290g; Colours: 6, including Cornflower, Merlot and Licorice
18. SHO Food Flask: Best for a hot lunch from home
Price: £15 | Buy now from SHO
With the rising costs of living, bringing lunch from home is a way for all workers to save some money. For teachers, being able to eat a ready prepared lunch can give them valuable time to catch up on paperwork and lesson plans. The SHO flask is a brilliant invention, allowing users to bring a hot lunch to work.
The pretty flask is available in a wide range of colours – both pastel and matte options – and keeps food hot for up to 10 hours, and cold for 20 hours. It comes with a built-in “spork” for eating and the lid can double up as a bowl. We think it’s a great practical gift for any teacher and offers the added bonus of helping to save money.
Key details – Size: 17 x 10 x 10cm; Capacity: 530ml; Weight: 480g
Best for helping teachers relax at home:
Much as we love our kids, teachers – more than most – probably deserve to relax when they get home! Teaching is a tiring profession, so a gift to help them unwind outside of school hours is sure to go down well.
19. Boostology Volcanic Potpourri Essential Oil Diffuser: Best for relaxing aromas
Price: £53 | Buy now from Boostology
This gorgeous essential oil diffuser is a superb eco-friendly alternative to scented candles. The elegant black glass jar contains lava rocks and obsidian stones, which naturally diffuse the scent of your choice of seven essential oils into a room.
We were particularly taken with the “Winter” essential oil, containing orange, cinnamon, clove and pine, although the “Unwind” oil with lavender and bergamot would also be a great choice for a teacher at the end of a busy day. The diffuser is vegan friendly, plastic free, plus the company plants a tree for every order placed. So, not only does your child’s teacher get a beautiful and elegant gift, they’ll be helping to save the environment at the same time.
Key details – Size: 10 x 8.5cm; Weight: 700g; Essential oils: 7
20. Olverum Soothing Hand Lotion: Best for tired hands
Price: £25 | Buy now from Olverum
Olverum’s elegant hand lotion is part of the company’s new range, sitting alongside an equally luxurious body cleanser and hand wash. This lovely light hand lotion soothes tired hands after a long day at work, with a range of essential oils including marjoram and geranium.
The pretty bottle will look great in any home, and we love the inclusion of aloe vera and jojoba for keeping skin smooth and supple. The hand lotion smells lovely and is gentle enough to be used by all skin types, making it a safe bet for your child’s teacher.
Key details – Capacity: 250ml; Bottle: Recyclable; Formula: Vegan friendly, cruelty free
Olverum Soothing Hand Lotion with Shea Butter, Aloe Vera and Vitamin E, Deeply Moisturises and Hydrates. Suitable For All Skin Types - 250ml
21. Belly Button Designs Sunflower Bone China Mug: Best mug
Price: £11 | Buy now from John Lewis
Of course, your child’s teacher could choose to use this mug at school, but we think it’s too pretty to be left to the wilds of a staff room. Made from delicate bone china, this pretty sunflower mug is bound to make tea and coffee taste even better.
Presented in a lovely gift box, the sunflower mug is eminently practical, too, since it’s both dishwasher and microwave safe. You can happily use it every day without any deterioration in quality. We think this is an elegant mug that will brighten up any home and its price point makes it an ideal gift for a favourite teacher.
Key details – Size: 9 x 9 x 13.3cm; Capacity: 350ml; Weight: 325g; Dishwasher safe: Yes; Microwave safe: Yes
22. Felix Unbound / Ring The Hill: Best books with which to curl up
Price: £11 | Buy now from Amazon / Buy now from Amazon
We can’t think of many better ways to relax at home than curling up with a good book, particularly for an English teacher. But where to start?
There are millions of books out there, but we particularly like the idea of supporting first-time fiction writers. Felix Unbound by Cathy Gunn is a humorous tale of what happens when a cat is accidentally turned into a male human. Anyone who knows just how cunning cats can be will probably know that he spells trouble! Or how about a beautiful non-fiction book from author Tom Cox? Ring The Hill is part nature book, part ode to Devon and part quiet musings on life in general. It’s rather magical – but then all good books are.
Key details – Formats: Kindle, audiobook, hardback, paperback (Ring The Hill); Kindle, Hardback, Paperback (Felix Unbound)
23. Amazon Handmade Wildflower Seed Heart Shaped Teacher Gift: Best for the garden
Price: £5.99 | Buy now from Amazon
Perfect for little kids or perhaps for older children with multiple teachers to buy for, this sweet Wildflower Seed bomb is designed to be planted by its recipient. Containing a seed bomb, the resulting wildflowers will hopefully remind your child’s teacher of how appreciated they are year after year.
This thoughtful little gift is part of Amazon’s Handmade collection, which was set up to help micro businesses connect with customers. We love the fact that each wildflower heart is different and that the card is small enough to fit inside a thank-you card as a special little surprise gift. This is a sweet eco-friendly gift that’s well suited to any teacher with a garden.
Key details – Size: 16.2 x 12.9 x 2.2cm; Weight: 50g
And a card so your child’s teacher knows who to thank:
24. Cardology Pop Up Teacher Thank You Card: Best thank you card
Price: £9.50 | Buy now from Amazon
For the finishing touch when buying gifts for teachers, why not include a thank you card so that your child’s teacher knows who their gift is from?
Cardology has a huge range of pop-up cards, with this thank you card having been specially designed for teachers. We’re also big fans of the cards designed in conjunction with Battersea rescue, where money is donated to the charity each time a card is sold.
These pop-up cards are a gift on their own, creating a long-lasting keepsake. We love the well-designed nature of these cards, which are all laser-cut for durability. Your child’s teacher will be thrilled to receive a card with so much thought behind it.
Key details – Size: 15 x 15cm (closed), with a height of 10cm (when opened)
Thank You Teacher 3D Card - Unique Thank You Teacher Gift | 15 x15cm | Handmade Cards by Cardology
