Are you almost done with your Christmas shopping yet still have gifts to buy for your child’s Sunday School teachers, choir directors and other church group leaders? Do you ever wonder if your child’s teachers and other leaders would like to have something different than what you usually get them?
Shopping for individuals like Sunday School teachers oftentimes ends up being some of the most difficult Christmas shopping of all. There are some "tried-and-true" gift ideas, though, guaranteed to put a smile on that teacher’s face.
For those who enjoy shopping for Christmas gifts, there are many store-bought gifts that work well.
Beth Yates, minister of childhood education at First Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, in Tuscaloosa Baptist Association, said some popular store-bought gifts include holiday pins, coffee mugs, Christmas books (she recommends "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever"), pen and pencil sets or a gift certificate for dinner or to a Christian bookstore.
She also noted that store-bought items can be combined to create baskets, such as a spa basket containing hand lotions and bubble baths or a dinner in a basket with items to make a meal.
Judy Bates, a member of Gardendale’s First Baptist Church in North Jefferson Baptist Association and former Sunday School teacher, said gifts with learning and teaching themes are appreciated.
"I’ve received journals, daily devotional books, bookmarks, Bible commentaries, dictionaries and other Bible study-aid books. I also once received a really cool compact reading light," she said. "I think reading material and aids go hand in hand with being a teacher, and I love these kinds of gifts."
Another way to ensure a good store-bought gift is to find out if a teacher collects anything in particular. Roberta Sutherland, a member of First Baptist Church, Haleyville, in Winston Baptist Association and former teacher of a children’s Sunday School class, said she usually got several angel figurines each Christmas season and treasured adding them to her collection.
For those who prefer to make Christmas gifts, Teresa Rylee, children’s minister at Dayspring Baptist Church, Mobile, in Mobile Baptist Association, said homemade items are well-liked and are relatively easy and inexpensive to create. "As children’s minister, I have seen a lot of sweet gifts given to teachers, but I think they most appreciate the homemade gifts," she said.
These gifts can include homemade Christmas goodies on a decorated plate with the recipe attached and homemade ornaments.
Bates said she’s always appreciated such handmade gifts. "I once received a mason jar of homemade hot chocolate mix. It had a little cloth cover and ribbon on the lid and the instructions handwritten on a card attached to the ribbon," she said. "That was the sweetest gift, and I used it all up."
"It also really works well when the class works together to make a gift for the teacher," Yates said.
"Handmade cards or banners signed by the whole class, a picture of all of the children in a frame, a special ornament decorated by all of the kids or a small scrapbook with pictures of all the kids in the class are all wonderful gifts." When she was a child, Sutherland said she always had such joy in giving handmade gifts to her Sunday School teachers. "My mother would make lace hankies, and I would help her make homemade divinity candy to go with them," Sutherland said.
"I was always so proud to give those to my teachers because they took time and thought." She said it’s those types of homemade gifts that mean the most to her.
"One gift I received was a stable scene made of many different colors of foam rubber put together like a puzzle," Sutherland said. "When the little boy gave it to me, he was so proud to say he made it just for me. I still have it on my fridge."
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