It’s that time of year again, and after the year we have had, there’s no doubt that teachers are at the forefront of our minds when it comes to gifting this Christmas. Here’s how you can GroupTogether to say thank you, and give them a Teacher’s Christmas gift & card that they’ll truly appreciate.
One great gift from the class. No awkward chasing.
They’ve helped 250,000 parents organise class gifts. Sydney mums and creators of GroupTogether, Julie Tylman and Ali Linz, tell us how to make it easy.
If you’ve ever organised a teacher’s gift before, you know the “old fashioned” way can be a nightmare! Sharing bank details, stalking parents at school to sign the card and manually tracking who has paid.
GroupTogether makes it super easy. The money collection, reminders, card and even the gift. One great gift from the class, with less hassle and less waste.
Top 5 tips for organising the teacher’s gift
We’ve been helping parents organise teacher’s gifts for over 5 years, so here’s our top tips to keep it hassle-free.
1. Don’t guess the gift
Unless you really know what they’d like, don’t guess the gift and have it wasted. When we asked teacher’s what they’d prefer to receive, 82% say they’d prefer to receive a gift card rather than a physical gift. Give them a GroupTogether AnyCard and they can choose from 70+ leading brands. In fact, our new AnyCard lets the recipient split the value across several cards. Yay!
2. Give parents a price guide
It’s helpful to give a guide for how much to chip in, but you can let parents sign the card without chipping in to make it inclusive for every child’s situation. Use wording on the invitation such as, “There’s no obligation at all, but if you’d like to contribute $10 – $15 to Miss Honey’s thank you gift….“. Generally, we’ve found that people collect about $23 per child and this is often split across a few teachers.
3. Pad the calendar
There’s ALWAYS a parent who contacts you the day after the due date! Set the end date a few days before you actually need it, so you can easily re-open it for any last-minute contributions. We find that sometimes a short deadline (2 -3 days) can work a treat to get people moving. After all, they can pay online from their phone.
4. Go digital
With COVID restrictions still with us for a while, a digital solution to collect money and get messages on the card is the only way to go. Parents can pay and sign remotely, and you still have the option to print and give or send digitally if you’d prefer.
5. Make it personal
GroupTogether’s card lets everyone leave a message and add a picture. It’s a beautiful keepsake for the teacher, and we’ve found the card looks even better if everyone adds a photo of their child. You could even theme the photo and ask everyone to add a photo of their child with their pet or favourite toy, holding up a sign with a drawing, etc. For those who would prefer not to add a photo, they can choose from our libraries of images or GIFs.
How it works
Simply go to GroupTogether and ‘start’. Then…
- Create a collection: it only takes 2 minutes and you can invite parents via email or simply share a link via text, WhatsApp or Facebook.
- Parents chip in online: they simply click to pay securely online and write a message on the card. No apps, sign ups or subscriptions.
- Give a gift: you can give an eGift Card, withdraw it or split it how you want. Most people give an AnyCard which lets the teacher choose from 70+ leading brands. Then print or send the card & gift online.
About GroupTogether
GroupTogether was created in 2015 by two Sydney mums – Julie Tylman and Ali Linz. They wanted to find a way to give better and with less waste. Since then Aussies have been using GroupTogether to make someone’s day – for farewells, get wells, birthdays, teachers, coaches & more. Last year over 250,000 Australian parents use GroupTogether to say thanks to our teachers and educators.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GroupTogether free? It’s free to set up a collection, share a link, and spend the money with one of our retail partners. If you’d like to withdraw all or part of the money, there is a small fee of 1.7% + 30c per contribution in Australia.
Is it safe? Yes, your pictures and emails are not shared with any third parties. All transactions are encrypted and credit cards are processed by SecurePay and bank transfers by Poli. We do not store credit card details.
Got more than one teacher? There’s one card that parents can sign per collection. So, either write a title like ‘Thank you Mr McGoo & Miss McGee’ or create a separate collection for each recipient.
Can I print the card? Yes! You’ll be sent a PDF so it’s easy to print at home or head to Officeworks and for about $2 you can get it printed on good quality glossy card.
What about limits on teacher Christmas gifts? Teachers can accept gifts greater than $50 as long as it is reported to their supervisor. In our experience as long as the gift comes from the class, this has not been an issue. An alternative is to give your teacher several $50 AnyCards from the class or to split the gift and give some to the teacher and some to a classroom or break room gift.