Teachers hold precious places in our childhood memories. It is with their dedication that we learn and thrive in our youth. Naturally, giving them a gift for all of their hard work is desirable, but sometimes children take this kind gesture into their own hands, leading to disastrous, and even painfully embarrassing consequences for the teacher, student, and parents. These individuals have come forth with their most hilarious stories about awkward gifts innocently presented to teachers by their students.
All content has been edited for clarity.
Sweet Treat
“I was a teacher in the late ’80s. I once taught a boy in the third grade. He was a quiet only child who seemed to live a very sheltered life. His journals only ever spoke of going to community centers and spending his weekends at math and language school. Although I tried to encourage him to try a sport or other activities, his mother was not interested in changing his routines. I tried my best to encourage him in my class and was fond of him.
On the final day before the summer, he presented me with a box that was obviously wrapped by himself and he also produced a self-made card. His gift contrasted with the fancier beribboned presents that other children gave me that day. I smiled and opened the card and told him I’d be opening all the pressies at the end of school. I happened to ‘run out of time’ as I always did at year-end because I was never comfortable with the natural comparing of gifts that the students gave. So I decided early on that it worked better to postpone.
My son joined me after classes were dismissed, and asked if he could help open the presents. Suddenly, he let out a shriek as he opened the little boy’s present. I ran over and saw the surprise of a lifetime.
Inside the gift wrap was a box. Once it had been opened by my son, large maggots came crawling out of chocolates!
This would have devastated the little boy if it had happened under the gaze of his classmates. That special present has lingered in my mind for years because I know that he wanted so badly to gift me with something, and no doubt found this neglected box of chocolates in his mum’s cupboard, and though clumsily wrapped, it and his sweet card, that was given to me with such warm intentions and obviously without a parent’s guidance.”
You’re Too Kind
“I taught 8-year-olds for a while. One morning a very sweet, sensitive-type, little boy proudly presented me with a small gift box that he had obviously taken great care to wrap and decorate. He insisted that I open it right away.
I was shocked to open the box and found a very large pair of diamond earrings that appeared to be set in platinum. With me being born in April, my birthstone is actually diamond.
I also have a very spoiling husband who has gifted me with lots of nice jewelry over the years. I could tell that these were definitely the real deal. I knew there was no way that he had purchased these for me with his allowance, yet he really wasn’t the type of kid who would maliciously steal from his mother. I didn’t want to embarrass him.
I thanked him and placed them in my desk drawer that had a lock. On my lunch break, I called his mom and explained the situation. She was a realtor and worked near the school. She dropped by and confirmed that those were her diamond earrings, and I, of course, returned them to her. She told me she would handle it gently at home.
The next day, the same little boy came in with another gift for me. He insisted that I open it right away. It was a little angel figurine. He told me that his mom let him know that I was married and couldn’t accept jewelry from him and that he shouldn’t have taken his mom’s jewelry. She took him to the Dollar Store and let him pick out one item that he thought I’d like. He picked the angel ‘to protect me from the bad kids.’
I kept that angel on my desk for the rest of my career!”
Pre-Historic Embarrasment
“I was about eleven years old and in the 5th grade. I wanted to get my teacher a special Valentine’s Day card. I was a huge dinosaur nerd and thought I’d somehow found the perfect card for her.
My parents tried really, really hard to dissuade me and get me to pick a different card, but my mind was made up.
The card I chose had a little cartoon paleontologist on the front standing next to some cartoon dinosaur bones he was obviously about to excavate.
I was the dinosaur fan girl. I picked out the best card ever, it had a funny dinosaur joke in it, and she’d never forget that I was the one who gave it to her! I loved the phrase written on the inside of the card and was so proud of what I picked out.
On the inside, it read, ‘I really dig your bones.’
Now as I have aged, I realize how naughty the phrase was.
My teacher opened it, literally facepalmed, thanked me very sincerely while trying not to laugh, and slid it into her desk drawer.
Oh, the innocence of youth.”
An Unforgettable Gift
“My friend was working as a second-grade teacher in Kansas City. As a young, energetic, first-year teacher, she was very well-liked by the children in her class.
Toward the end of the year, she announced to her class that she was getting married in June and she’d be returning in the fall as ‘Mrs.’ The kids were very excited to hear the news.
The last day of school came and one of the girls in the class told her that she had a special present for her. As it was the last day, parents had been invited to the classroom for end-of-year parties and goodbyes. As my friend thanked the student and her mother for their thoughtfulness in bringing her an end-of-year gift, the class began clamoring for her to open the box. The student and her mom were also really eager for her to open the gift so they could see if she liked it.
My friend, envisioning a ‘favorite teacher’ plaque or something similar, carefully removed the wrapping paper and bow, then lifted the lid to find a sheer black nighty with matching panties!
She told me she was certain she was beet red when the entire classroom of seven and eight-year-olds as well as their parents then asked her to hold it up so they could see!
As my friend described the scene to me, the kids were ooh-ing and ah-ing about how beautiful it was, while the other parents had puzzled, deer-in-the-headlights looks and the mom and daughter who gave the gift shouted in unison, ‘it’s for your wedding night!’
I still laugh when I recall this truly unforgettable gift!”
Red Hot Willy
“My brother and I went to a preschool near an apartment building my parents owned in Chicago. Just before Christmas, my brother and I helped my mom decorate gingerbread men we were making as gifts for the teachers.
We brought them in cookie tins to hand out the next day. There was a younger but rather strict teacher who received one of the tins and opened it in front of us to show appreciation.
After she had the gingerbread men exposed, my brother piped up. What he said next made the teacher cover her face with a single hand as she avoided everyone’s gaze. How we wish we could have taken his words out of the air the moment he said them.
‘Ms. Smith, you got the one with the willy!’
Ms. Smith turned bright red. Apparently, my brother used Red Hot candies to make a few of the last cookies ‘anatomically correct.'”
How…Thoughtful
“My nephew was a quiet, reserved little boy who would be easily missed in a group of kids. He always said little but took part in everything. When he did finally say something, it was because it was dear to him and so were you. He would share something that he really wanted you to know. This only happened once a week or a month.
Don’t mistake this for a lack of confidence though!
One day when he was around seven years old, he brought his teacher a little gift wrapped in kitchen paper. He waited patiently while she unwrapped the gift. Upon unwrapping the ‘gift’ she thanked him and told him to return to his chair. He innocently asked if he could have one. Trying to hide her embarrassment, she asked him what they were.
‘Mommy sweeties,’ he replied with an innocent grin.
‘And where did you get them?’ The teacher shyly asked.
‘In her drawer where she hides them.’ The boy beamed with joy.
They were hidden for a reason.
The teacher explained that they weren’t ‘sweeties’ but she would give him a pop later after school.
My sister-in-law got a phone call informing her that her sweet little son had gifted his teacher tampons and she could collect them from the secretary once she came to pick up the kids after school!
The teacher later told my sister-in-law that she was only recently qualified and was more embarrassed than my sister-in-law could ever have been!”
A “Special” Gift
“When my children were in grade school, I sent an end-of-year gift to their teachers. It usually was a small box of gift cards for them to enjoy over break.
I wrapped the boxes and tied them with a ribbon before giving them to my kids to disperse to their teachers.
On the way to school, we stopped for gas and my kids came in as I bought a coffee. Near the register, there was a small display of small glass vases, each with a tiny flower inside.
My kids, of course, wanted to include it with their gifts. They were cheap, so I bought one for each box and tucked it in the bows.
I found out later these vials are most commonly used to partake in adult substances.
So the most inappropriate gift I gave to a teacher? ‘A rock pipe.'”
Quiet As A Mouse
“The most inappropriate gift I got myself was when I was teaching adults computer skills early on in my career. Most of them where old enough to be my mother or father at that time, but some where my own age.
The students gave me an actual, living, breathing mouse! They presented it in a freaking shoe box. A single, living mouse.
I also had a cat back home, so… Things got complicated.
While this was also quite fun, since we had a celebration just after that class to celebrate a ten-year anniversary or something and the mouse got out of the box when no one was looking.
I’m still happy to say that a colleague of mine took care of it after the weekend, and went nuts building a huge contraption of pipes for it to run around in with some new friends.
Still: Never ever buy a live animal for anyone unless they’ve asked for it and the whole family is ok with it.”
Old MacDonald Had A Farm
“If you grow up on a farm, it’s not really inappropriate. It’s just that sometimes you are bound to see something not quite for kids.
My brother drew a picture of two animals breeding and gave it to his teacher. He was only in the third grade. I can’t remember if it was two pigs or two cows. But his teacher freaked out and went to the principal. The principal called our parents, who were simply told that they needed to come to pick up their ‘dirty little boy’.
When they arrived, the principal slammed the paper down on his desk and said, ‘Explain this.’
My Father, without skipping a beat, said, ‘It looks like they’re breeding.’
He went on to explain that we had a farm and that my brother had probably seen the animals ‘making little animals’.
My father went on, ‘Are you the one that authorized that nature film my son saw in class last week where the lion took down the little gazelle and ate its guts out? Now that could be traumatizing to a little kid. But fortunately, our kids have seen life and death on our little farm. They’ve grown their own vegetables and collected eggs from the hen house. They’ve also informed me that the milk in your cafeteria is disgusting. They’re used to fresh milk. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a business to run.’
The principal was stunned. My father picked up the drawing and walked out.
The principal was not finished. He tried to take it up with his superiors, but my father had already taken the ‘evidence’ home.
This all happened in the 70’s. I shudder to think what would happen if a kid gave a picture like that to a teacher today. The principal would probably contact child protective services and have the child removed from the home.”
You’re My Favorite!
“Last year, there was this teacher that I liked on my team. She was the only teacher that I did not have a class with. When I went to Taiwan for winter break, I bought pastries to share with my teachers. I handed out one box per teacher, including her.
Well, I made all the teachers a card to go with the pastries, and on my favorite teacher’s card, I wrote ‘I love you’, but erased it with whiteout and wrote ‘Let’s be friends.’ I changed it because it was my friend that told me it might not be appropriate to say that to a teacher. I took a picture of the card because I was proud of my masterpiece that I had gone on out with by using gradient calligraphy and chibi My Little Ponies.
I gave the gifts to all the teachers. When I gave my favorite teacher her gift, she smiled and happily accepted it with a thank you. A few days later, my mom let me bring more pastries for the teachers. When my favorite teacher was outside her room after school, I asked her if she wanted another box. She said that she didn’t want to be selfish, but with me insisting she accepted. The next day, I gave the pastries to her. She happily accepted them along with a friend request I sent her on Facebook. I felt happy at the time.
A month later, I posted the pictures of my cards, including Miss Cheung’s, on Facebook. During chess club, the advisor, who was also one of my team teachers asked me, ‘Are you in love with Miss Cheung?’
I was surprised at how he had known this. The advisor then explained how my favorite teacher had viewed my post and noticed something different between the card that she had and the original photo. It was the ‘I love you.’ I took the pictures before I took my friend’s advice and erased it. My favorite teacher told the advisor that a student was crushing on her’ which was how the advisor was able to inform me of the incident. He said that I was my favorite teacher’s ‘secret admirer.’ I sheepishly admitted to the truth. You could see my face turn as red as a cherry.
However, a few weeks later, I noticed that my favorite teacher was acting strangely around me. Apparently, me being the fool I was, I made a big deal about this new attitude and became more apologetic, apologizing via social media at least once per two weeks. Then, I made a journal spread on this incident and posted it. That’s when it happened.
My favorite teacher blocked me.
I was really sad. I went nuts, believing myself to be a bad person because I had wronged my favorite teacher mightily. I emailed my elementary school librarian about this. On the last day of elementary school, she told me to talk to her about any problems I was having. She felt sorry and said that she would help me but she didn’t know anyone at my school. I didn’t mind. I just needed to rant.
That choice I made was not the best.
The vice principal called my parents during spring break and said that he wanted to have a meeting with them because I had allegedly been “emailing teachers” and ‘posting concerning items via social media.’ I was stressed about this during the whole break.
After the meeting, when my mom drove me home from school, she explained to me what happened. One of the first things the vice principal mentioned was the librarian sending emails to my favorite teacher that had everything we had been discussing in private. The meeting consisted of both of my parents, my favorite teacher, and the vice principal. I was shocked at this. As mentioned earlier, the librarian had said that she didn’t know anyone from my school. I was not expecting her to rat me out like this. My favorite teacher explained to my parents that she felt uncomfortable knowing the fact that a student she didn’t teach had a crush on her, showing all the posts I made with her name on it, including the “I love you” card. I was told never to mention or tag her again in social media posts. I agreed.
I was mad at the librarian for not listening and just going on her merry way, and mad at myself for reaching out to the librarian. No more emails to her. She became the teacher/staff member I despise the most. And as for my favorite teacher, I felt horrible for causing all this trouble for her.
Fast forward to now, we still say hi and occasionally talk on campus.”
Don’t Trash The Stache
“This is a story I still tell with utter embarrassment to illustrate how naive my mom is, but it is pretty funny.
When I was in the eighth grade, in the early ’80s, I had a beloved homeroom teacher named ‘Mr. R.’ He was younger and unmarried, with long hair and a mustache. He always wore casual clothes and was just one of those cool teachers that everyone liked.
We were graduating so of course I went to the mall to get him a really great gift to say thanks. I bought a button with a saying on it as those were extremely popular at the time. I brought it home and showed my mom. She laughed and said it was perfect. I carefully boxed it up and wrapped it for the last day of school.
I proudly presented my perfect gift to Mr. R. and insisted that he open it right then. I’m sure I was standing there with a huge expectant grin on my face, just knowing how much he was going to love the funny, perfect gift I’d chosen just for him. He opened the box and looked at the pin for a moment and quickly stashed it in his desk drawer.
I remember thinking, What? He didn’t like it? But it was so funny! And just perfect for him! I was a little crushed and definitely confused but I continued on and because there were so many other fun graduation things going on, I forgot all about it. I didn’t really see Mr. R. again after that.
Fast forward a few years later. I definitely did some growing up after I left my parent’s home and went on to University. I don’t even know how it came up, but I do remember how mortified I felt when I suddenly realized what ‘Mustache Rides 3 cents’ REALLY meant!”
The Best I Can Do
“In a mixed socio-economic school, I was one of the poorest kids, and it didn’t help that I was raised by a creepy antisocial father. I was also awkward, ignorant, and almost non-verbal. My dad was an auto mechanic that fixed up beaters and wrecks to be drivable.
Often, he would give me little ‘treasures’ he found in the cars he picked up from the salvage auction. I got basically whatever was decent that he found under seats and glove boxes of totaled or impounded cars. Looking back, it was probably very creepy, but back then it was ‘special’.
Our fourth-grade teacher was getting cute presents from the other students. I wanted to give her something special too. She collected bells and I had a brass bell on my shelf, from a junk car, with some corrosion on the side. I wrapped it in old green construction paper I got from school and put it in a clean plastic banana split to-go container.
She opened it after most of the kids were not in class which I am still very grateful for because I’m sure the other children would have taunted me. My teacher smiled and tried her best to show enthusiasm. It made me feel a little happy but I sensed her discomfort. I went up to her and explained the best I could how I felt and how I carefully put it all together with what little I had.
She seemed to understand and I could visibly see her discomfort drift away. My own corroded brass bell wrapped in used paper, enclosed in an ice cream take-out container was THE BEST, well-thought-out gift I had to give her.”
The Gift Of Being Humble
“For my first year of teaching, I received some very special gifts but nothing compared to the gift I got from one of my less fortunate students.
She saw me getting all kinds of wrapped presents from the other children and as a five-year-old, she also wanted me to gift me something. The next day she came in with a gift for me wrapped in newspaper with dozens of pieces of tape holding the paper together.
She was so eager for me to open her present. I looked in at her beaming face and knew it was something very special.
I carefully took off all the tape and there lay a very, very ripe banana. I believe she must have taken the piece of fruit from home and wrapped it so that she could also gift me something for Christmas.
I have never forgotten the gift that humbled me over forty years ago.”
