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As the cycle ends I want to send some thank you gifts to recommenders. What sort of gifts do most people get/give? I didn't see a sticky on gifts, so I figured I'd ask.

how about a nice novel

A mug or a shirt or a hat or something like that from the school you'll be attending.

Your first paycheck.

I was thinking a nice bottle of wine

sfxx wrote:I was thinking a nice bottle of wine

+1 if they don't drink flowers/fruit arrangement/dinner certificate

At a certain point no one needs more stuff. Give something that can be used, enjoyed, and then won't become clutter. This is a good idea for this type of small thank you gift in general.

I've never bought my recommenders anything. Didn't know I was supposed to until I came to TLS. I've always thought 1) it's part of their job, and 2) it helps increase the prestige of the school if they write good letters.

NJPitcher wrote:As the cycle ends I want to send some thank you gifts to recommenders. What sort of gifts do most people get/give? I didn't see a sticky on gifts, so I figured I'd ask.

There are tons of threads on this. Generally accepted answers are: nothing, a thank you letter for their time, a small box of hometown candy, bottle of wine, or other small gift. Nothing too expensive, no gift cards (generally, it's kind of impersonal), etc.

shock259 wrote:I've never bought my recommenders anything. Didn't know I was supposed to until I came to TLS. I've always thought 1) it's part of their job, and 2) it helps increase the prestige of the school if they write good letters.

You're not "supposed" to. I got gifts for mine because I like getting gifts for people I care about, and all my recommenders and I had good relationships throughout UG. I doubt any of them expected a gift.

OP, I got mine coffee mugs from the school I ended up choosing and wrote them notes about how their support meant a lot to me and how I was going to attend my dream school. I knew that all 3 drank coffee in their offices. Anything small and thoughtful is fine - no need for extravagance.

I was close with some of my professors throughout college and they also wrote me recs. I got them little thank you card's with $20 starbucks gift cards. Not much, but I think it's more about the content of the thank you note.

EDIT: What that guy said ^.

My recommenders have written letters for me before for other things and I have taken several of their classes. As a thank you for all of their help, I sent them each a gift basket with fruit/ nuts/ candies, etc. and attached a small thank you note expressing my appreciation.

A card should do just fine.

got them chocolates...sent them via mail..melted when they got there...i know this cause they emailed me saying

thanks for the melted chocolates

Free legal advise for life.

shock259 wrote:I've never bought my recommenders anything. Didn't know I was supposed to until I came to TLS. I've always thought 1) it's part of their job, and 2) it helps increase the prestige of the school if they write good letters.

+1

I did homemade gifts with a thoughtful handwritten thank you card on cute stationary and all of my recommenders absolutely loved it. However, one of them did say that gifts are completely unnecessary and it's their job to write letters.