This is a sponsored post. I’ve been compensated by GiftCrowd to write about my experience with and opinion about the platform. All opinions are 100% mine and haven’t been influenced by the sponsorship agreement.
With the holiday season just around the corner, Room Parents (formerly known as Room Moms) are beginning to think about organizing a class gift for the teachers to thank them for a great first half of the year.
Similarly, PTOs are thinking of how to recognize all staff for their contributions to the school and usually land on a luncheon or a small token of appreciation, but nothing is usually organized to enable parents to give to all staff.
Sometimes all staff aren’t recognized. The focus is usually just on their child’s classroom teacher.
Here’s what the usual process for organizing a class gift for the teacher looks like:
The Room Parent starts sweating a little, usually in November, since they’re not really sure what the teacher would like most.
They also start hoping they can find out the teacher’s favorite scent and use the intel to get some good smelling candles and body lotions and make up a basket with other things they think the teacher would like too.
So they decide to ask other parents in the class what they think. Surely someone has got to have a fabulous gift idea, right?
Just like usual, contributions are to be sent in discretely marked envelopes via backpack mail. Everyone crosses their fingers in hopes the envelopes make it to the Room Parent safely.
But no super fantastic gift ideas come in from the parents, so a trip to Bath and Body Works yields the good smelling stuff. That’s a start but the basket is looking a little empty, so maybe a coffee gift card is a good idea?
But Starbucks or Dunkin? What if the teacher doesn’t even drink coffee? Ugh, making the call on the best route for the teacher’s gift is hard!
Then when it comes time to give the gift, the Room Parent gets a card and signs “from the class.”
Touching? Eh, no. Personal? Again, not really, but this is how it has to be, right? Actually, no.
There’s a much easier way to give your child’s teacher a gift from the class, as well as give a hassle-free way for parents to contribute towards a gift for every staff member in the school!
What’s more, there’s no money to collect, no card to sign generically and it’ll be the exact gift the teacher or staff member was hoping for.
How could this be, you ask?
Meet GiftCrowd
Made for modern, digital times, GiftCrowd does away with the hassles and uncertainty and headaches involved with teacher gift giving. If you haven’t experienced the simplicity of the GiftCrowd teacher gift, here’s how it works:
After signing up for the free account, the Room Parent enters the teacher’s name and email address and chooses a date for the gift to be delivered.
Or the PTO Staff Appreciation Chair uploads a spreadsheet with the names, roles & email addresses of all school staff and makes it easy for all staff to be recognized!
No more will the custodians and office secretaries feel overlooked or left out and parents will also appreciate having an easy way to give something to highlight these normally unsung heroes of the school.
Regardless of who takes initiative to get the ball rolling on GiftCrowd, once the 5-10 minute set up is done (seriously, that’s all it takes!) a link to the contribution page that’s auto-magically generated is ready to be shared with parents.
Then the parents have the ability to chip in towards the staff and teacher gifts of their choosing up to the gift delivery time. At the same time, they can add a message and even a picture to each staff member’s gift. This feature adds in the personalized aspect that the normal class gift option can’t replicate.
Come gift delivery day, an email goes out to each teacher and staff member with a link to their present. A single click transports them to the gift marketplace where they’re able to choose from over 270 different gift card possibilities, from Amazon to Zappos and everything in between.
Another thoughtful feature of the gift is that the recipient doesn’t have to choose just one gift and they can split the gift across several different brands and companies if they’d like. Let’s say a teacher receives a $250 GiftCrowd gift. They can choose a $100 TJMaxx card, $75 Fandango card and $75 in a prepaid Visa card or any other combination totaling $250.
The flexibility allows the recipient to truly get exactly what they want!
GiftCrowd is truly a game changer
You’re probably thinking that there’s a catch (or at least some fees involved), but no, GiftCrowd is 100% free to use on all sides.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that GiftCrowd switches up the teacher gift game on multiple levels. Some other highlights and reasons to use GiftCrowd:
For PTOs and Room Parents
- Easily organize group gifting for ALL school teachers & staff members.
- No need to collect money
- No pressure to think of and buy the perfect gift
- No running around town finding a gift
- Near zero set up time
- No set up fees
- Easily share link in multiple places (think email, class newsletter, PTO Facebook page or Facebook Group)
- No worries about delivering gift on time
For Parents
- Perfect for last minute gifting
- Conveniently pay via credit card or Paypal
- No hassle of finding an envelope
- No more praying your child delivers the money safely
- Easily contribute towards gifts for all staff members all in one place
- No transaction or payment processing fees
- Quickly craft a personalized message to the teacher
For Teachers and Staff Members
- Never stuck with a gift they can’t or won’t use
- Hundreds of options for gifts
- Get recognized
- Will love seeing all the love notes contributors leave for them
- Nice surprise to pop up in their email
- Get the full value of all contributions made to their gift
- Easily send personalized thank you notes digitally within the platform
Watch this!
Over to you!
Given that times to get gifts for teachers also coincide with the busiest times of the year for parents, it’s smart to use a service like GiftCrowd to cut out hassles and headaches for the gift organizer and everyone who wants to contribute towards this gift as well.
And once you get one gift set up for collection, it’s easy to see how many other uses GiftCrowd has! It’s such a fantastic option for sending a gift to anyone.
From thanking coaches for a great season, to private music teachers, acknowledging the retiring pastor, or showering the book club friend who just had a baby, you name it, GiftCrowd makes it easy to give the perfect gift! Go check out GiftCrowd and simplify the group gift giving experience!
What’s more, GiftCrowd is hosting a giveaway!
Three lucky PTO Leaders will each win a $150 GiftCrowd gift to fund Teacher & Staff Appreciation for their schools when they enter the giveaway by December 1, 2022. Enter here!
