Christmas Gifts For Daycare Parents From A Grateful Provider?

[TaylorTots]

I have great daycare families and as I start my Christmas shopping (gasp, I know right?!), they are on my mind. We will do handmade gifts from their children to them, but I would like to get the parents something of some kind.

I thought about a coupon:

1/2 rate week of care.... or maybe just taking their Christmas week check and putting it back in a Christmas card and giving it back to them?

Ideas? GO!

[sahm1225]

That's very generous of you!

- How about a gift card for dinner or send them home with a homemade meal?

- A date night babysitting coupon (set it to for a day in December or January and take all the kids on a Saturday for about 4 hours)

- make individual photo books for each family of their kids

[TwinKristi]

Yeah I was thinking of a calendar with pics of them or crafts they've made for every month of the year.

[Controlled Chaos]

My Christmas present to my families is this - I hold a Christmas pajama party on a Saturday in December. The party is 4-9 and I charge $20 to cover dinner and supplies (this is when we make the parent Christmas presents too). It is an opportunity for parents to get their Santa shopping done or have a quiet evening in the midst of holiday chaos. The families have been very appreciative of this as I never to weekend or evening care. I even hire an extra helper so older siblings can join us.

[TaylorTots]

That's very generous of you!

- How about a gift card for dinner or send them home with a homemade meal?

- A date night babysitting coupon (set it to for a day in December or January and take all the kids on a Saturday for about 4 hours)

- make individual photo books for each family of their kids

I do photo books for birthdays from the past year of pictures I've taken of the kiddos crafting/playing. I'd like to steer clear of photo books/calendars for Christmas -- but love the idea as I use it for birthdays!

Date nights are a NO. I love my daycare families, but I am a daycare provider, not a babysitter and don't want to have to turn them down in the future when they will inevitably ask if I want to babysit some night. I hope that doesn't make me seem ungracious... I want to gift them something but not open a door like babysitting in the evenings

A gift card for dinner could work though. I wonder if it is still is a good idea without a babysitting coupon so to speak?

[TaylorTots]

My Christmas present to my families is this - I hold a Christmas pajama party on a Saturday in December. The party is 4-9 and I charge $20 to cover dinner and supplies (this is when we make the parent Christmas presents too). It is an opportunity for parents to get their Santa shopping done or have a quiet evening in the midst of holiday chaos. The families have been very appreciative of this as I never to weekend or evening care. I even hire an extra helper so older siblings can join us.

Neat idea! I find it amazing no one has ever asked about other babysitting nights or such -- I may have to consider an evening care situation after all

[pandamom]

My favorite gift was from one of my sons' 2 year old room. One of the caregivers burned a **** with pictures that had my son in it- a compilation from his time in that room.

I loved it because it gave me a peek into his day and really got to see him grow through the pictures

[llpa]

I gave gift cards to the movies last year to each set of parents. I did not offer my services tho for that evening ::

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I do photo books for birthdays from the past year of pictures I've taken of the kiddos crafting/playing. I'd like to steer clear of photo books/calendars for Christmas -- but love the idea as I use it for birthdays!

Date nights are a NO. I love my daycare families, but I am a daycare provider, not a babysitter and don't want to have to turn them down in the future when they will inevitably ask if I want to babysit some night. I hope that doesn't make me seem ungracious... I want to gift them something but not open a door like babysitting in the evenings

A gift card for dinner could work though. I wonder if it is still is a good idea without a babysitting coupon so to speak?

Actually, I have done many baby-sitting parent night outs here ($16 for 4 hrs) and have never ONCE had a parent ask for baby-sitting.

[rosieteddy]

I usually give a family gift to cover everyone,Last 4 years it has been pj's a movie (fieval,I try to pick an older one they may not have seen)movie snacks,(pirates bootie,fruit snacks or gummie bears) juice box new toothbrush and a holiday story book.I write a note and tellparents put pj's on put movie in give snacks get your own adult snacks and enjoy 1-2 hours of peace.Brush teeth ,read the story and bed.This way the children have matching holiday pj's as well.Parents have liked it so far.

[Annalee]

We prepare a bag/box with things the kids have made/pics and then give them a plate of homemade candy/goodies for the holidays! No evenings/wknds for me...before my own children were born I did a few saturdays to make extra money, but that didn't last long.....needed my weekend...::

[midaycare]

I just plan on doing a little nicer things for the kids. That is for the parent, in a roundabout way.