Christmas hampers for teachers soar to £1,170 as parents battle to outdo each other
HARD-up parents are outdoing each other at Christmas by splashing out a fortune on presents for teachers – with one firm flogging a hamper for £1,170.
And staff in schools in poorer areas are banning presents to stop less well-off mums and dads suffering.
The eye-watering hamper is billed as the perfect gift for your favourite member of staff and comes with a “world’s best teacher” chocolate plaque.
Champagne, chocolate, smoked salmon, Cotswold brie and olives nestle in a handmade wicker basket complete with rustic rope handles and a personalised ribbon.
The Regency Hampers website says: “This exceptional high-end gift basket, the Supreme Indulgence Hamper, certainly lives up to its name as it is packed with a superb selection of Christmas treats, featuring the finest Champagne, wines and spirits plus so many other festive foods and snacks.
“Within an elegant and extremely large wicker hamper we pack Dom Pérignon 2006 Vintage Champagne and Krug Grand Cuvée Champagne as well as bottles of Nyetimber Premium English Sparkling Wine, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Puits Neuf, Muga Rioja Seleccion Especial and Laroche Chablis La Collegiale.
“To continue the supreme indulgence we add Graham’s Late Bottled Vintage Port, prize-winning Cotswold Gin from the local Cotswolds Distillery, Limited Edition Chase Vodka, Monkey Shoulder Scotch Malt Whisky and Hennessy Fine de Cognac.”
GROWING TREND
The hamper is part of a growing trend for expensive personalised gifts for teachers with a range of goods on offer from online gift shops, including silver bracelets, aromatherapy candles, leather-bound diaries and ceramic keepsake boxes.
"It's the way to get yourself to the top of the class," states one gift website.
Last year the Child Poverty Action Group said there were "countless" financial demands on families at Christmas, with seemingly small costs for things like teacher gifts putting pressure on families living on low incomes.
A spokeswoman said: "Children and their families quite rightly want to show thanks, but teachers we've spoken to have said they feel uncomfortable about receiving generous presents because they know it places additional obligation and pressure on families.”
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And a teacher in a deprived area of Lancashire said she’d told kids not to bring in pressies this year.
She said: “Lots of the parents come under pressure from the kids and other parents over who can get the best present for the teacher.
“I’ve told my children that I don’t want anything. Even something like a bottle of wine can put pressure on the family finances at this time of year.”
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