Teacher Appreciation Week 2027 (May 3–7): What Teachers Actually Want, in Their Own Words

Teacher Appreciation Week: Monday, May 3 – Friday, May 7, 2027

Order early: count back 7 business days from the day the gift should arrive (how we count).

Send this gift

We sell a $35 personalized mug gift box, printed, packed and shipped to each person's address. This guide covers the other options too.

Key facts

• The first full week of May, since 1984. "National PTA has designated the first full week of May as Teacher Appreciation Week since 1984" (National PTA). In 2027, May 1 is a Saturday, so the week is May 3–7.
• National Teacher Day is Tuesday, May 4, 2027, on the California Teachers Association's calendar (CTA).
• A note first, a gift card second. WeAreTeachers, a media site for teachers, says "most teachers we surveyed say they appreciate a handwritten thank-you note over just about anything else" and that the top gift answer "is always the same: gift cards" (WeAreTeachers).
• The letter teachers ask for goes to the principal. On r/Teachers: "write a letter to this teacher's administration outlining her work with your daughter" (r/Teachers).
• People search late. In five years of US Google Trends data, a median 50% of the 8-week run-up's searches for "teacher appreciation week" came in the final week (our timing study).

When is Teacher Appreciation Week 2027?

Monday, May 3 to Friday, May 7, 2027. National PTA sets it as the first full week of May, and on CTA's calendar National Teacher Day 2027 is that week's Tuesday, May 4.

Sources: National PTA for the rule, CTA for National Teacher Day 2027.

Schools may mark it on their own days, so check the school calendar.

The search trap. People look the week up when it is already here. In our study of US Google Trends data, a median 50% of the run-up's searches came in the final week, and only 25% came two or more weeks out (timing study). A shipped, printed gift needs about 7 business days, so the order goes in before at least half of those searches happen.

What do teachers actually want?

Words, mostly. Here is what a teachers' media site and commenters on r/Teachers say, in their own words:

WeAreTeachers says it spoke to 120 teachers for its list and surveyed more than 350 about gift cards; it publishes no other method. The r/Teachers quotes come from one 2022 thread, where a parent asked how to thank a teacher who had been "literally life changing" for her daughter, "without giving her her 1000th mug."

The letter to the principal: the thank-you that lasts

It costs nothing, and three commenters in that thread recommended it, each a different way:

• "Personalized cards are wonderful, but I also suggest that you write a letter to this teacher's administration outlining her work with your daughter."
• "A gift card and a letter to the administrator cc'ed to the teacher letting them know what an impact the teacher has made."
• "Teachers always remember parents who singled them out in a good way (and unfortunately the other way as well). As long as you let the teacher know you did it. Sometimes admin will never tell you these things."

How to write one (our suggestion): address it to the principal, copy the teacher, and keep it to three short paragraphs. What the teacher did, with one example. What changed for your child. One line asking that it go in the teacher's file. Send it in Teacher Appreciation Week, when the principal is thinking about staff anyway.

What to write: notes for Teacher Appreciation Week

Specific beats grand. Each line below is under 300 characters, with no sign-off (on a Personalized Gifts Delivered order the sign-off is its own field, so it would print twice). Replace the brackets with your own words.

Thank you for noticing when [child's name] was having a hard week, and for doing something about it. That's the year we'll remember.

[Child's name] reads at the dinner table now. We blame you, and we're grateful. Thank you for a year of books.

You made a room of 24 kids feel like it belonged to each of them. Thank you for everything you did this year that nobody saw.

From all of us in Room 12: thank you for the patience, the jokes and the quiet Fridays. Enjoy the cocoa after the last bell.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week. We've written to the principal about this year, too, because it deserves to be on the record.

The last one pairs the card with the letter. The fourth is written for a gift from the whole class.

Is a mug a good Teacher Appreciation Week gift?

An empty one isn't. The 2022 thread's parent wanted to avoid "her 1000th mug", and one commenter's reply was a joke: "Us teachers can't afford houses so we just live in the many mugs we are given." Our teacher gifts guide collects more of what teachers say about mugs, including "I don't need another one. I need stuff to go in it."

A mug works in two cases (our view):

1. It holds something to use up. Cocoa and chocolate inside, so the gift is the treat, and the mug is what's left.
2. It's one gift from the whole class. The class photo, or three to six drawings scanned together as one picture, so it's the one mug that couldn't come from anyone else.

The May problem: chocolate and heat. Teacher Appreciation Week falls in the months when chocolate shippers change how they ship. Ghirardelli says "only some locations are eligible for Standard Shipping during the months of Mid-April to Mid-November" (Ghirardelli), and Lake Champlain Chocolates says "exposure to heat and humidity can cause the chocolate to bloom or melt" (Lake Champlain Chocolates). Our box holds chocolate truffles. One way to keep it out of a hot lobby (our suggestion): ship it to the room parent's home, where someone can bring it inside, and have a child carry it in.

Are there gift limits for teachers?

Some states and districts set them. We quote the one state rule we have verified word for word, from Massachusetts's State Ethics Commission:

"Public employees, including teachers, are prohibited by Sections 3 and 23(b)(2) of the conflict of interest law from accepting gifts worth $50 or more that are given to them because of the position they hold, or because of some action they could take or have taken in their position."

"Teachers and other public employees may accept gifts that are worth less than $50, but they have to disclose in writing" … "if, based on the circumstances, a reasonable person would think that the teacher might unduly show favor to the giver or the giver's child because of the gift."

"Under the exemption, the parents and students of a class, acting together, may give a gift worth up to $150 to a teacher, provided that the gift is identified only as being from the class, and the names of the givers and the amounts given are not identified to the teacher."

"A single class gift worth up to $150, or several class gifts during the school year with a total value up to $150, may be given. A teacher may not accept any other gift from someone who has contributed to a class gift."

"Parents may give gifts to the classroom or the school in accordance with the rules of the school district."

Massachusetts State Ethics Commission, "State Ethics Commission Issues Reminder About Restrictions on Public School Teachers", dated 9/30/2024, read on Oct 29, 2026 through the Internet Archive's copy of June 12, 2026.

Other states, districts and private schools may set their own rules; we haven't verified them, so we don't list them here.

This is information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rule (or your school district's gift policy) before you send.

What sending these yourself takes

Yes: a room parent can make a class mug at home. For one gift, the printed mug and counter postage alone cost $28.46 (the itemized DIY cost, as of Oct 29, 2026), before the cocoa, the chocolate, a gift box, tissue and a card, each bought separately. Then the proof, the card's spelling and the packing are yours.

For a PTA thanking every teacher in a school, the numbers grow fast. By our estimate, 25 mug gift boxes take about 9 hours of hands-on work, plus a week or more waiting for supplies to arrive. Priced from retail supply packs, they come to about $38 a box with USPS counter postage (about $34 with commercial postage), with $1,192.84 paid up front, with leftovers (DIY vs ordering). Per box, that's about even with our $35, before your time. What one mistake costs: a typo on a printed card means printing it again.

What to know before you order

• The card is printed, not handwritten. It carries your words, greets each teacher by first name, and you see every card before you pay.
• Gift limits. Each box is $35, delivered. Massachusetts limits the gifts public school teachers may accept (its rule, quoted, is above), and other states, districts and private schools may set their own.
• The seal. Today the gold seal sticker that closes the tissue reads "Happy Holidays", the only seal in stock; the order page names the seal in stock when you order. Your card, read first on the lid, carries the thank-you in your words.
• Chocolate in May. LINDOR truffles contain milk, soy and barley malt (gluten); read the labels. The heat facts above apply to any chocolate shipped in May.
• One design per order. Every mug in an order carries the same photo or words, and every card the same message and sign-off, greeting each person by first name. A PTA thanking 25 teachers can send one order, with each teacher's first name on their card.
• Where we ship. From New York to the lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now. The order page flags any row we can't ship to, so you can fix it or take it out before you pay.
• No set delivery day. There's no way to pick a ship date or a delivery day: each box ships within 2 business days of a complete order, so the date you order is the date you choose.

Where Personalized Gifts Delivered fits: the class gift for Teacher Appreciation Week

The gift teachers describe is words first, then something to use up, then one thing only the class could give. Personalized Gifts Delivered makes that one thing, finished:

• The class on the mug: the class photo or the children's drawings, printed up to about 3 in tall on an 11 oz white ceramic mug, on one side or both.
• Something to use up: a 1.5 oz packet of Ghirardelli premium hot cocoa and 4 Lindt LINDOR milk chocolate truffles, packed inside the mug.
• The note, printed: your message on a textured card in an envelope closed with a gold wax-seal sticker, lying on the lid so it's read first. "From all of us in Room 12" fits; so does a line about the letter you sent the principal.
• Packed and shipped: by hand, in foam, in a matte-black gift box with a magnetic lid, to the room parent's home or to each teacher's own address. The return address shows PersonalizedGiftsDelivered.com, never your name.

Choose a personal gift, add your photo or type your words, check the preview of your mug and card, add the address (or a list of addresses), and pay $35 per box. We print, pack and ship each box to its own address.

Ships within 2 business days of a complete order (your design, your address list and payment). Ships by USPS Ground Advantage or UPS Ground, with tracking, and usually arrives 2–5 business days after it ships. Delivery dates are carrier estimates, not guarantees, and run slower in mid-December.

$35 per box, delivered, and one box is a complete order: the personalized mug gift box with a card and treat, shipped to their door. Ready? Start a personal order.