Monday 16 November 2009

Teachers Pet


We have reached that time in the school calendar when emails, phone calls and little notes begin to fly around with requests for ideas for the teachers gift. Now for those of you out of the school loop, there are various options here and that will often depend on the 'class rep' which after my first experience many years ago, I vowed never to hold this post again, a truly thankless task, unless you a. have nothing else to do in your life or b. are immune to rejection, needless to say neither of these apply to me.
Here are some of the options which I have witnessed over the years. Vouchers (boring), jewellery (why bother if it's not Cartier), bathing products (a slight suggestion of bad hygene) chocolates (assumption that the receiver doesn't care about her waistline), candles (no imagination). Of course with all these suggestions is the unquestioning acceptance that all class parents will contribute, and therefore will not need buy a gift themselves. Bluntly speaking this leaves no room for individuality, it simply implies that one just can't be bothered, well not me Mrs Class Rep, I'm Little Miss Rebel and I won't sign up to this sheep like mentality, I pride myself on always being able to pick the correct gift for each person, savouring the whole present selection ritual. So I ignore these emails, and suggestions of 'getting together over coffee' to discuss the selection, and I take myself off. I so much prefer shopping alone, it's not that I don't like the company of friends (or handsome husband), it is simply that I take this process seriously and require full focus and concentration on the task at hand, and when I shop with others, I tend to make errors, and that just won't do when choosing something completely exquisite for the teachers.
I began my search locally, just in case the ideal gift might be lurking in one of the little shops here and oh how fortunate as the tiniest shop in the world (really I mean this, handsome husband always says if he was feeling aroused in there he wouldn't be able to get out - show off), had some wonderful trinkets to choose from, and I calculated that as I hadn't had to drive, therefore saving on petrol I might be able to treat myself too.
The glamorous lady who runs the shop informed me that they had searched with great care to ensure they could offer their clientele exceptional and unique gifts and they succeeded. So I cleared my mind of distractions and focused on my mission of finding the correct gift for the teacher and her assistant. I began to delve through all the brightly coloured and sparkling goodies on offer the choice was dazzling, candles, soaps, mugs, earrings, rings, bangles,whisks, t-shirts, gloves, silk eye masks, hair bands, scarves, belts, roller skates, purses, flasks, torches and all divine and totally random, but not suitable for our special teacher. I knew there was something in here for her I had to think outside the box - of course OUTSIDE, and sitting right there in the little courtyard at the back of the shop was the gift of gifts for this teacher, a tiny herb garden all of her own in its own container and comes with matching snipping scissors. Our lovely fairytale teacher is always growing things for the children and on one of our before drop off chats she has told me how she loves to cook and wishes she had some space to grow her own, so now she can. For the teaching assistant who cycles everywhere I found a clever little gift of a bicycle picnic set so now she can cycle and picnic in style and comfort too. I was so delighted with my finds I had to reward myself with a big gold star, a dainty gold star brooch to be precise which will sit with pride on my lapel. What's on your wish list Little Miss Gorgeous?



3 comments:

English Rose ♥ said...

Sounds like you found the perfect gift

I am EXACTLY the same regarding present shopping - I prefer to be alone and love being thoughtful. I absolutely hate getting generic presents that could be for anyone so I completely sympathise - hope you enjoy your treat!

http://iamanenglishrose.blogspot.com

Tights Lover said...

What thoughtful gifts...I'm sure they'll love them!

Great post...I love your blog!

Unknown said...

I too have to shop for presents on my own. (Besides, Husband usually gets a head ache, or once a piercing pain in his knee, while shopping, hmm...)It is a serious business as you've described. Great post.
Helena xx

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