Christmas and (Crawling to) HouseParents

[stellavision]

Hi - a bit of advice needed for a newby parent of a 2nd Former - what is the etiquette on buying Christmas (or for that matter Summer as well!) Thank You Gifts for the Houseparents / Matrons .......? on the one had I'm frightfully skint but on the other I feel that I ought to ingratiate myself a little with the people who care for my child ....... at primary school a bottle of plonk was considered the norm what does anyyone think?

[J.R.]

Rather a awkward question, given that house-parents or relatives thereof read and post on here.

I would have thought just a lovely Christmas Card bearing thanks and good wishes would go far.

[Ajarn Philip]

I would have thought just a lovely Christmas Card bearing thanks and good wishes would go far.

I agree.

There's a first time for everything!

[Mrs C.]

We used to get chocolates and bottles of wine etc - but by far the best were the small hand-made gifts we received from some of the parents, and,of course, the personal messages.

I doubt if anyone would expect you to be buying presents though - it is by no means "the norm" , so don`t feel you have to!
If you can just spare a couple of minutes to wish your child`s Houseparents a Happy Christmas, that wil be more than enough!

[stellavision]

Thanks all for your advice, that does take the pressure off somewhat! I shall don my pinny .... and if there is anything chocolatey left in this house by the 13th, I'll take it in.

[englishangel]

My daughter is making goodies for all her Uni friends, she has become known as a bit of a baking queen. She has bought her own muffin pan, and has asked for a baking sheet for her cookie making for a Christmas present.

[huggermugger]

Hello -

a bit of a late reply but we hand over a bottle of wine for the House staff (I know our Housemaster plays fair & shares the largesse around) and something small (smellies/chocs etc) for the Matrons. It's a job of long hours and hard work and certainly in our House they do a sterling job so I like to show my/our appreciation.

[Great Plum]

A very late reply here...

I know when my parents were houseparents, they used to get a large number of presents, from bottles of whiskey to choclates to homemade chutneys and once, a brace of pheasants!