Many interesting trends come and go on the internet, but some stay with us forever. Recently, a trend centered on the bond between students and teachers has been warming hearts online. Following Teacher Appreciation Week in early May, videos of many thoughtful gifts given by students to their beloved teachers were shared by both parents and teachers. The inspiration for this trend was taken from the children’s book “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond. In this “If You Give a Teacher a Cookie” trend, teachers receive cookies and a host of other healthy treats.
One of the earliest videos following this trend was created by a parent named Izzy, known on TikTok as @mmmizzy9. The best part of this trend is the book, where each page talks about a useful gift a teacher might need. It starts with a page called “If you give your teacher a cookie,” to which kids can attach a cookie. This is followed by a story about how the teacher might need to buy a drink, go shopping, go to dinner, or just relax. On each page, Izzy’s child, Ariani, attached gifts that included pens, socks, lip balm, face masks, snacks, and even gift cards for restaurants and other stores.
Instead of giving teachers typical gifts like paperweights and ornaments, this booklet trend allows students to give their teachers something more meaningful. This way, teachers have everything they need to make their day even better. The best part about this trend is that it engages kids as they get to choose a gift for each page. “I gave my daughter’s teacher a little gift and she loved picking something for each page,” Izzy said in the caption. The video has garnered over 1 million views and the trend is still going strong across many social media platforms.
Earlier this month, another Reddit user, u/1q8b, jumped on the trend and shared a cute booklet that students made for their teacher. Along with cookies, pens, and socks, the teacher also received a Target gift card for anyone who wanted to go shopping, a gift from Hobby Lobby for anyone who wanted to do some crafts, and snacks for anyone who wanted to eat. Like the other videos, this one ends with the teacher handing out an extra cookie in case she needed one at the end of a tiring day. The video garnered over 500 comments, with people finding it adorable, especially since teachers are usually underpaid and are forced to use their own money to buy materials for the kids they teach.
“This is awesome! People don’t realize this, but elementary school teachers often spend their own money on kids. Gifts like this make a teacher’s day or week amazing. If you have kids in elementary school, do something nice for them, even if it’s just a thank you card,” said u/Stinky_McFarts. “I would 100% do this for my son’s special education teacher. They do a great job and are so underpaid,” said u/kamarsh79. “This is such a thoughtful and unique gift! I’ve been teaching middle school for 32 years and have received a ton of gifts. Usually I gave them at Christmas and the end of the year. But one parent bought all the teachers on my son’s team a Thanksgiving pumpkin pie with a thank you note. This gift stuck in my memory because it was unique,” added u/CatfromLongIsland.
