Teacher Appreciation Week is a chance for principals, students, and parents to pull out all the stops for their teachers. But some gifts, though well-intentioned, don’t quite hit the mark or can leave teachers in stitches.
Education Week rounded up the wackiest gifts teachers received during their special week, sourced from two informal polls on LinkedIn and Facebook. A few honorable mentions before we dive into the list: a single chopstick. A half-eaten burrito. A homemade ashtray.
Hey, it’s the thought that counts!
You can scroll through the responses in each category. They have been lightly edited for clarity.
Alcohol is a popular pick
1 / 6
Bottle of chocolate with tequila filling. A student brought back from Mexico for me!
A bottle of rum. A painting of Shiva. Deer antlers. Obviously, from different students.
A bottle of wine with a photo of the child, with a label: I might be the reason you drink!
Wine. Not complaining. ‘Weird’ as in uniquely awesome.
Food—even half-eaten—is fair game
1 / 11
Lucky Charms in a baggie.
A cheddar bay biscuit from Red Lobster!
A can of Campbell’s soup…with a Post-It that said I was ‘Soup-er.’
A box of potatoes. It was kind of a messed-up box with a few huge potatoes that were pretty dirty. Having recently moved to Idaho at the time, I thought this was hilarious. I was talking to his grandpa at conferences, and I told him about how great I thought the box of potatoes was.
A tomato and a peppermint patty in a box lined with gold tissue paper.
A partly consumed bag of dried onions!
A single packaged Lifesaver piece of candy. We were told: ‘You’re a lifesaver.’
Self-care products?
1 / 6
An already opened tube of CBD foot lotion and a bag of mini marshmallows. I think the 7-year-old just raided his mom’s bathroom drawer and the snack cupboard.
Used candles and body oil.
Lady shaver electric razor.
One family bought me an eyebrow pencil, and another family bought me makeup remover.
A marijuana-less joint made out of paper. The kid said it might help to calm me.
Gifts with a ‘lightly loved’ theme
1 / 12
A used pencil (from a student who saw the other children giving me gifts and did not have one to offer). Meant just as much to me!
A mug that said, ‘Happy Birthday, Joan.’ My name is Nancy.
An ATV tire. In all fairness, I also train cadaver dogs, and she thought it would be a good place to hide [the] source.
A used wine club gift card.
A cooler with mold growing on it.
A sandal. I once had a 1st grader bring me a cute red sandal. She said her mom loved the sandals, so she left one and brought me the other. I still love that memory! Best gift ever.
The top decoration piece from a Christmas cake… with the icing still crusted to it… in May.
A pair of used pantyhose.
A chopstick… yes, just one.
A dirty [stuffed animal].
Gifts with very telling subtexts
1 / 8
A statue of St. Jude Thaddeus, patron saint of lost causes.
A ceramic cow piggy bank with red high heels that said ‘sexy’ on the side from one of my 3rd graders.
A Playboy Bunny notepad set.
A shot glass that the student picked out.
A few morbid entries
1 / 4
A dead cockroach/water bug in a nice little gift box. He laughed so hard as I opened it. Scooped it right up to give to his next teacher.
A bag of feathers. And not the store-bought kind.
A preserved fly in a tiny glass bottle with a cork stopper.
The truly random
1 / 5
My mom has been teaching for 27 years. About 10 years in, she received a large (12″ diameter) ceramic egg covered in a floral pattern. There was no context other than ‘Happy Holidays!’ It’s now part of our family lore.
I was given a love note by one of my freshman English students and a bottle of olive oil by another.
A homemade ashtray, and I don’t even smoke.
Other notable additions
1 / 8
$5, [along with a] ‘Thanks for the memories, Mr. P.’
Victoria’s Secret gift card.
Not me, but a friend had a student notice she was one of a few elementary teachers without a pet, so he captured a rat from his apartment building and proudly presented it to her! I think I would have screamed but she received it with love and joy!
A rock. But it was my student’s only personal belonging, so he gave me what he felt was most important to him. I felt honored.
A $15 [donation] given in my name to a spay and neuter clinic.
A rock and a weed with the root and dirt trailing behind! I work at a Title I school and this sweet student gathered what she could on the way to school.
I like chocolate mousse…so a student bought a stuffed moose and dipped it in chocolate-scented wax.
