Best holiday teacher gifts

November 28, 1:56 PMNY Schools ExaminerKathleen Byrne

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Give the teacher an apple (centerpiece).

The best teacher gifts require more effort than money. Don’t spend more than $10, even if you live in a school culture that routinely dishes out ten times that amount. An expensive gift may embarrass a modest teacher, or, worse, create a backlash against your child-student because the teacher is trying to avoid favoritism and the appearance of impropriety. Try these frugal holiday teacher gifts:

Cold, hard cash: Collect $5 or $10 from every parent in your child’s class and exchange the small bills at the bank for the largest combination of hundreds and fifties. Place the money in a card that every student in the class has signed at lunch period. Other parents will be very grateful for your efforts, too.

School supplies gift certificate: If you feel funny about giving cash or you know your child’s teacher is strapped for supplies, use the above money collection method to purchase a gift certificate. Try to include the gift certificate in a card signed by all the students at lunch period: It’s a nice personal touch to an impersonal gift. The best teacher-supplies sites that sell gift certificates are: Homeroom Teacher, Teaching Stuff and Teacher's Paradise.

Holiday cookies kids can bake: Try these kid-friendly recipes at Sound Money Matters. Another idea, you don’t actually bake the cookies; you buy them. You and your child will have fun personally decorating the cookies by hand. Here’s how: Buy some Pepperidge Farm Chessmen Cookies, and with some watered down, food-colored, white canned-frosting and small pastry brushes, paint the cookies with your child. Even if you don't decorate them, these are the tastiest holiday cookies around and they make great gifts.

Fresh green apple holiday centerpiece: The traditional apple gift to a teacher with a twist. With your child you can make a beautiful, simple arrangement of cinnamon, apples and greenery for your teacher’s holiday. If the teacher is a guest for the holidays, be sure to give your blessing as a re-gift. Click here for instructions.