Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6th-10th for us this year. And with a new year, I give you a new theme – In My Teacher Era. What better year to have this theme than the year of Taylor Swift’s “Era Tour”? It’s okay if parents aren’t Taylor Swift fans, as I’ll lay out ideas below for each day as if you’ve never heard any of the songs before. Not only will I add in some gift ideas for you parents, but I’ll include what our PTO is doing too! If you’re on your school’s PTO/PTA, you’ll get big-picture gift ideas too. Let’s dive in!

Teacher Appreciation Week at a glance:

Having been on my daughters’ PTO board for a couple years, and being active in their PTO even when not a board member, I have loads of advice in regards to Teacher Appreciation Week. For starters, our PTO has always been great about gifting ALL staff, not just the main grade-level teachers. So even the lunch ladies, custodians, office staff, and the School Resource Officer are gifted the same items as the teachers/special ed team/admins. That clocks us in at 80 staff members to buy loot for!

Now, parents tend to stick to bringing in items mainly for their kid’s main teacher. Often they also include the “specials” teachers who teach the electives. (For our school, that includes music, art, gym, and science teachers.) So when you’re trying to figure out who to send in little items for, don’t forget that there are many adults in the building that are there day-in and day-out for your kid, even if they aren’t their main teacher. I tend to also bring little goodies for our front office staff, as I continually am bugging them for things when I’m there for PTO. And let’s not forget the admins who work extremely hard to keep it all running! I will say, I don’t do daily gifts for them and instead do one larger gift.

In order to come up with which day would be which Taylor Swift song, I simply went into my apple music, and wrote down songs that went well with gifts I knew the PTO would be supplying. Then for a couple of the other days, I tried to pick songs that would go with themes I had in mind that don’t require parents buying anything at all.

Monday: “Begin Again”

Since it’s the kick-off for Teacher Appreciation Week, what better song to refer to than Swift’s, “Begin Again”? To start our week off, the gift we are asking students to bring in are either Starbucks/local coffee shop gift cards, or their teacher’s favorite beverage. I should note: Our admins keep a list on our elementary school’s website of “staff favorite” things. It makes it so easy for parents to access in order to see what their teacher’s favorite things are – from restaurants, to colors, to types of snacks.

From the PTO, we are catering in a coffee cart to align with this day.

From me personally, I am gifting my teachers these adorable coin purses with a Starbucks gift card inside.

Tuesday: “Message in a Bottle”

Tuesday’s Teacher Appreciation Day is an easy day to bring in a gift, as today’s gift is completely free! I asked that students write their teacher a card/letter of appreciation. In the cases of our kindergarteners who probably can’t write full letters, I asked them to draw a picture instead. I like to mix up days that we are asking for gifts versus free items that are more from the heart. That way parents don’t get fatigued from having to buy a bunch of crap!

From the PTO on this day, we are catering in lunch for everyone.

Wednesday: “You Need to Calm Down”

For this day, I thought it would be fun to bring in gifts that help our teachers relax. It could be a shower steamer or a face mask, or it could be their favorite tea or coffee. It’s up to the interpretation of the parents, but it’s an easy theme to buy for.

From PTO on Wednesday, we are offering “recess relief” to our EA’s (Educator’s Assistants.) Our EA’s are the ones that do crosswalk duty for all the kids that walk to school in the morning. They also are the teacher’s right-hand women who make copies, take kids out of the class in smaller groups to help with reading or math, etc. They also are the ones that watch our kids during both of their recesses. So, we are having parent volunteers come take over so the EA’s can get a much deserved break from recess duty! All it requires on the PTO’s end is making up a sign-up genius. Then, we blast out to parents who are interested in helping.

From me personally, I’ll be sending in this hilarious candle, this shower scrub, and this bar of soap. (Shameless plug: They’re all available on my gift shop so if you’re local, I can hand-deliver to you if you want to copy my idea!)

Thursday: “Sweet Nothings”

Today is another easy day of gifting on behalf of parents. I figured they could send in their teacher’s favorite candy or treat. It’s an inexpensive gift, yet I have yet to a meet a staff member who will turn down food! From the PTO on this day, we are giving each staff member a cute cooler with bubbly water inside!

If you’re looking for a funny gift instead, I’m sending in this mug filled with their favorite candy. (I also love this one if you know your teacher well and know they aren’t offended by cuss words.)

Below is a photo of what I gifted the core teachers this year!

Friday: “Love Story”

To round out Teacher Appreciation Week, I picked this song because once again, you can go in a few directions. I figured parents could bring in anything at all that they think their teacher would love. I’ll be bringing in higher-denomination gift cards to their favorite stores. But you can also choose an inexpensive treat, like a salty snack you know you’re teacher will love. Or, you can even go the free route and have your child write what they loved most about being in their teacher’s class this year.

Our gift from PTO on the Friday of every Teacher Appreciation Week is always our nicest one. The PTO invites all 80 staff members out to a local restaurant. (We change the location each year to switch it up!) We pay for all of their drinks and dinner, and they get to just unwind and enjoy each other’s company. It’s a great way to close out the year, and always such a fun night.

If you’re looking for other Taylor Swift songs you could sprinkle into the “In my Teacher Era”, I have a few! You could do “Shake it Off” and could offer up a smoothie or ice cream/milk shake station. Or, you could use that song’s theme as a stress-relief day. One year, we brought in a masseuse to give teachers mini massages throughout the day!

You also could use the song “End Game” for Friday’s theme since it’s the end of the week, and you can take many directions. Either you could provide a game (or book) for your teacher’s classroom, or could simply cater in lunch as their end-of-the-week treat.

To see my blog about our Friends Teacher Appreciation Week from a few year’s back, read here. I hope these ideas help you out with your own Teacher Appreciation Week! Thanks as always for stopping by!